Back from “America,” I am eager to see spring arrive in Nantucket. There are insects and pollinators dancing around on the moors. There is more air traffic: as many planes as eastern towhees calling. The dance of the daffodils against the bare oaks makes a statement. Target species: Mayflower aka trailing arbutus , epigea repens, the Massachusetts state flower.
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| Trailing Arbutus, Epigea Repens |
Back in Boston, spring is one week earlier this year than last, say my garden phenology charts. We have trees budding out and a babble of birds, including early migrants like Ruby-crowned kinglets, palm and pine warblers...Here, huckleberry buds, bear berry bells and a few wood anemones. No winter ducks hiding in the ponds, now green along their edges. A daring yellow-masked yellow-rumped warbler peers from the tangle.
In the sun: first of year brown elfin butterfly, a Quaker lady (Houstonia caerulea)….a mayflower!
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Quaker Ladies,
Houstonia Caerulea |
At Squam swamp, barely a fiddlehead… the biggest signs of spring are the maple flowers on the moss. Well, and a few early wood anemones. Stay low to the ground, soak up the sun seems to be spring’s mantra.
Milestone Bog harbors killdeers, wood ducks and multiple swallows. I feel happy to get pics of the fast moving northern rough-winged swallow and killdeer ( charadrius vociferous), who is indeed vociferous. And here the Quaker ladies hug the grass in abundance.
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| Kildeer |
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| Wood Ducks at Miacomet Pond |
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| Northern Rough-winged Swallow |
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Wood Anemone
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