Category Archives: Phenology

May Flowers: Fairy Bells

Phenology, Plants & Fungi

Fairy Bells (photo by Dianne Machesney)

I love the name of this flower: Fairy Bells (Disporum lanuginosum). 

The plant is about 30 inches high, the leaves droop and the pale green flowers hide beneath the leaves.  The flowers are so delicate they are aptly named fairy bells.  They are actually an Appalachian flower and are hard to find in Pennsylvania unless you’re in the mountains. 

For Dianne Machesney these Fairy Bells were a “life flower” when she took this picture last weekend in the Laurel Highlands.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

May Flowers: White Trillium

Phenology, Plants & Fungi

White Trillium (photo by Dianne Machesney)

White Trillium are in full bloom throughout southwestern Pennsylvania.  Last weekend I saw them carpeting the hillsides in the Laurel Highlands at Indian Creek and at Wolf Creek Narrows near Slippery Rock. 

Trillium used to be quite plentiful at the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel until the deer ate all the wildflowers.  Fox Chapel fenced the trail a few years ago and the flowers made a comeback.  Here are some Dianne Machesney found there last weekend.

Such beauty!

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

Here They Come! or What to Look For in Early May

Phenology
Prairie Warbler (photo by Chuck Tague)
Prairie warbler (photo by Chuck Tague)

30 April 2009

The beginning of May is a birder’s paradise in eastern North America.

Spring migration was exciting at the end of April but it runs full force when the trees leaf out in early May.

What had been a trickle of warblers turns into a torrent.  First-of-year sightings (“I saw my first hummingbird”) give way to contests for the number of species seen in a single day (“I saw 75.” “Well, I saw 102.”).

Pittsburgh birders move with the birds.  In early May we hug the southern shore of Lake Erie, watching migrants as they pause to eat and regain energy before crossing the lake to Canada.  The lake is a barrier so they stop in a few hot spots – especially Magee Marsh and Presque Isle State Park.

There is so much to see!  Birds migrating and nesting, new butterflies and moths, more wildflowers blooming.  Chuck Tague made a list of what to expect.  I tried to summarize below, but it’s hard to be brief about May.

  • The trees leaf out.  Pollen counts are up.  Gesundheit!
  • Birds, birds and more birds!
    • My favorite reds, oranges and blues: scarlet tanager, rose-breasted grosbeak, Baltimore oriole, indigo bunting, cerulean warblers.
    • Every thrush is a favorite: Swainsons thrush, wood thrush, veery and hermit thrush.  The gray-cheeked thrush comes last, later in May.
    • Warblers and vireos galore!  My favorite ovenbirds, redstarts, Blackburnians, Canadas, black-throated blues and prothonotary warblers.  Prairie warblers (pictured here), bay-breasted and chestnut-sided warblers.  Vireos of many kinds: red-eyed, white-eyed, blue-headed, yellow-throated and warbling.  So many yellow warblers they become boring.  (Imagine being bored by a warbler!)
  • Nesting everywhere.  The first robins fledge, the killdeer hatch, blue-gray gnatcatchers lay eggs.  Too many to list.
  • Baby bunnies and mammals
  • Moths and butterflies
  • More flowers…

But in early May I only have eyes for birds.

(Prairie Warbler photo by Chuck Tague)

Signs of Spring: the first leaves

Phenology, Trees

Norway Maple leaves have just opened (photo by Kate St. John)

After a very warm day yesterday – 82 degrees! – leaves are popping open in the city of Pittsburgh.

The new leaves pictured here are on a Norway maple in my yard.  Norway maples are invasive and can out-compete native trees.  This one is a “volunteer” that grew on its own, seeded from a tree that was cut down two houses away to make room for a deck.

If I was a purist I should cut down my invasive “volunteer” but I’m grateful for all the trees in my neighborhood – there are so few of them – so it stays.

(photo by Kate St. John… not a good picture but it’s all I can do with my cell phone.)

Nest Building or What to Look for in Late April

Phenology
Black-capped Chickadee with nesting material (photo by Marcy Cunkelman)

It’s already late April and Spring is popping. Here’s what to look forward to in April’s remaining days:

  • Songbirds are building nests.  Robins are already on eggs.  Other species will be carrying nesting material.  If you brush your dog, leave its fur in the back yard and birds like this black-capped chickadee will collect it for their nests.
  • Peregrine falcon eggs will hatch at the Pittsburgh nests.  Watch them on the webcams here.
  • More migrants will return:  blue-gray gnatcatchers, pine warblers, northern parulas, chimney swifts, barn swallows, house wrens, hermit thrushes and ruby-crowned kinglets.  I used to see my first ruby-crowned kinglet of the year exactly on Earth Day (April 22) in my back yard.  It was probably the same individual because the pattern ceased at about the life expectancy of a kinglet.  I remember him fondly.
  • Spring wildflowers galore!  Visit a nearby woodland to find violets, large-flowered trillium, trout lilies, Virginia bluebells and many, many more.  Go on a nature walk with the Wissahickon Nature Club or visit Enlow Fork on the last Sunday in April for the The Enlow Fork Extravaganza starting at 8:00am.
  • More leaves!  The trees will fill out as their leaves unfurl.
  • Listen for toads trilling.
  • Look for more butterflies. We’ve already seen spring azures, cabbage whites, eastern commas and mourning cloaks.
  • Be careful in the woods if you hear a turkey calling.  Spring Gobbler hunting season runs from the last Sunday in April through all of May. Junior hunters get an early start on April 18.  Turkey hunters wear camouflage and use turkey calls to attract turkeys to approach them. 
  • And Trout Season begins in April.  Expect to see lots of fishermen at local streams.

Get outdoors and enjoy it.  As I said in my last phenology, April is the frenzied month.  My, how time flies in the spring!

(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)