mid-May update #phenology

Two events to report from yesterday:

male scarlet tanager

Photo by J. Harrington

A male scarlet tanager showed up on the deck near the feeders.

wild strawberry flowers

Photo by J. Harrington

We noticed some wild strawberries are coming into flower along the  drive.

For today, the dogs weren't pleased to be walked in the rain. (Neither was the dog walker.) There seems to be at least three male Baltimore orioles coming to the feeders, one of which has orange feathers colored florescent or chrome orange. We'll try to get a picture some day soon, when the sun is shining. Last, and hopefully least, several kinds of ants have become very active in the past couple of days.

aspen leaf out

Photo by J. Harrington

The aspen patches on our property have tiny leaves that give the trees an etherial air, especially when the breeze catches them. We're approaching the Spring frost-free date for our area but haven't yet turned that corner, although the temperature forecast looks promising, more so than the wildflower patch I planted last Autumn. Our  fingers are still crossed but we're not going to hold our breath over the next week or so. Coming up this week: the grass gets cut for the first time this year. But first there's a number of dead branches to be picked up. Spending more time in the sunshine-lit real world will be good for us. Try it.

May to April

Philip Freneau - 1752-1832

Without your showers, I breed no flowers,
    Each field a barren waste appears;
If you don't weep, my blossoms sleep,
    They take such pleasures in your tears. 

As your decay made room for May,
    So I must part with all that’s mine:
My balmy breeze, my blooming trees
    To torrid suns their sweets resign! 

O’er April dead, my shades I spread:
    To her I owe my dress so gay—
Of daughters three, it falls on me
    To close our triumphs on one day: 

Thus, to repose, all Nature goes;
    Month after month must find its doom:
Time on the wing, May ends the Spring,
    And Summer dances on her tomb!

First published in the Freeman's Journal where it was signed Philadelphia, April 16, 1787.

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