Things have been happening so fast this week that I missed Chuck Tague’s phenology for late May through early June that he published on Monday.
Both Chuck and I have been so busy drinking in what Nature has to offer that we easily slipped past mid-May without telling you what to look for.
So here’s a hint of what you’ll see and hear in late May through early June… about ten days late.
- Long days as we approach the summer solstice. Today is 14 hours, 45 minutes long. By June 15th we’ll have 15 hours and 3 minutes of daylight.
- Nesting! Everywhere birds are singing, courting, defending their territory, carrying nesting material, carrying food, feeding fledglings, warning of danger. At this time of year Canada Warblers jump out of the bushes and yell at me when I hike in the Laurel Highlands. Not to be missed!
- Flowers – especially long-tubed flowers that feed hummingbirds and butterflies.
- Fireflies, crickets and dragonflies.
- Mosquitoes 🙁
- Baby bunnies, baby birds, babies of all kinds.
- and my personal favorite, fledgling peregrine falcons at the University of Pittsburgh.
Now is the best time to observe Nature and, frankly, I’d much rather be outdoors than at my computer. So I’m going out to enjoy it!
(photo of a female chestnut-sided warbler by Chuck Tague)
I found your website because I wanted to find something about “robin rescue,” which I see you did last year. I have had a young robin in my courtyard (surrounded by 5 ft. walls) who cannot fly yet. He is almost full size but with the color and feathers of an immature bird. He hops around just fine, and is very aware. His mother brings him food, but not very often. I’ve seen him try to fly, but he can’t achieve liftoff. He runs for cover when I approach. Any suggestions of how to help, or do I just let him be?
We have a pair of Flickers nesting in a hole in one of the trees behind our house. It looked like the male was cleaning out the nesting area (he was throwing stuff out of the hole). I’m assuming they haven’t laid eggs yet since it looks like he’s cleaning, and I’ve seen both of the birds away from the nest at the same time. It’s a lot of fun to watch. The birds are so used to us being out on our deck, they don’t bother us while we watch (we have a Robin nest on the support beam under the deck…they nest there every year).
Robin Rescue: If he is safe from predators where he is, just leave him alone & he will fly on his own. The good news is that his mother knows where he is. He will shout for her more often than he actually needs to eat.
We have a finch who seems to be defending his territory by fighting the finch in the car’s rearview mirrors. We put towels over the mirrors because we were afraid the poor thing would go mad.
Can’t wait for fireflies! I never saw them much until moving to Pennsylvania and now I can’t get enough of them.
I had a few “lightning” bugs on May 22nd…this is much earlier than when I was little and used to run around catching them in my pjs…after I got a bath since I was out side playing ALL day….no computers, tv…..riding bikes, playing in the dirt, looking at things…guess I didn’t grow up yet…wish more kids did this and actually get outside and see some of the cool things they miss, right under their faces.
I just had a Chestnut-sided Warbler in my “creek” yesterday…first time for that…the best was the male Scarlet Tanager taking a bath…(Kate got to see it, too.) Having water around sure brings in things…even a small snapping turtle in my 10 x 12 foot water feature. It had to crawl up hill to get here…
Ahh, yes–fireflies/lightning bugs been around for a while already (just a few, but they’re here!) Bluebirds sitting on top of my wooden swing facing the field–think they’re nesting in a tree somewhere as noone including me has bluebird houses yet (I’m in middle of attaching one to pole so it’ll be up soon)…and last week I photographed a strange (to me) fly (at first wasn’t sure it was a fly, but the BUG MAN identified it as a Golden Backed Snipe Fly — and of course I photographed 2 copulating so that made it hard to get more detail. Very black lacy wings and bright gold back. They only fly in spring I was told. This was in the grass at Crooked Creek.