HollerPhenology

Caught in the act: Buckeye Bud Burst

Buckeye-1, March 23, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Bucky! I pretty much shouted for joy to have caught Buckeye-1 with leaves just breaking through its bud scales. Such are the simple pleasures of a phenology observer.

When I did my holler walk on March 23rd, I wasn't sure what I'd find. Two inches of snow in the early morning hours and most of the day of the 21st covered most plants. That night and the next, we had freeze warnings, with daytime temperatures just high enough to melt most of the snow. Many of the plants I observe already had leaves, buds or flowers; I guessed others were close to popping up because I'd been seeing their relatives in lower elevations of the holler for several days.

Trillium grandiflorum, March 23, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

When I finally got out for a closer look on the 23rd, I found everybody in good shape. Stuff that had already come up, as well as new arrivals like the buckeye leaves and white trillium (above) looked lively and undamaged. I also found yellow trillium (see photo below), many with buds forming, in several locations by the house and the creek.

Trillium luteum, March 23, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Never knowing what I'll find, and being surprised, is yet another joy of tracking life cycles of plants, birds, insects and animals in the holler. In my last post I noted that yellow trout lily (aka dogtooth violet) leaves had emerged, so I knew buds and flowers would be along soon. Here's what I saw around the marker for dogtooth violet-1 before I even got to the buckeye and trillium flags:

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), March 23, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Further down the lane, I noticed that Jewelweed-3's leaves had grown some. The photo below illustrates the presence of initial growth--the larger, rounder structures, and the first phenophase I watch for in spring--as well as the first actual leaves, another phenophase, visible between them at their base. As the leaves grow, the initial growth will turn yellow and drop off. Until then, when I submit data on Nature's Notebook for this plant, I'll mark that I observed both phenophases for Jewelweed-3.

Orange Jewelweed-3 on March 23, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

The star chickweed, another common early spring flower in the holler, started coming up about the same time rue anemone did this year. This one only has a couple of flowers now, but during its usual season from April to May, these chickweeds will have many flowers per plant. In the holler, I often find them near violets and trout lilies--very photogenic groupings. I'll try to illustrate this in a future post.

Star chickweed (Stellaria pubera), March 23, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Rue Anemone-1 (below) made it through the snow and freezes and shows one of its flowers fully open and moving toward the seed phenophase. This is one of the plants I thought might take more of a beating with the harsh weather last week. 

Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides), March 23, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

The amur honeysuckle and multiflora rose plants I observe have lots of leaves now, some of which have reached full size, even as other parts of the plant have breaking buds. Here's the multiflora rose on March 23rd:

Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora), March 23, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Last night we had a few minutes of hail accompanied by thunder, lightning and heavy rain here in the holler, a total of 6-inches of rain out of this last system. Many of the flowering plants I observe have at least some shrub and tree cover above them, which helps break the impact of hail. I'm guessing I might see a lot of forsythia blossoms on the ground today, as that bush is more in the open. I hope to get out later to see what's up--or down.

By the way, I added a new Phenology album to my Flickr pages. I'll add photos and comments there that illustrate phenophases of the species I observe for Nature's Notebook. You can also access my photostream from the Flickr link in the sidebar.

Toothwort flowers, yellow trout lily leaves, and other early risers in the holler

Early risers such as this cutleaf toothwort (Dentaria lacinata) continue progress through their phenophases, despite freezing night temperatures. Flower buds on this plant opened around March 17, 2018 [Cathie Bird photo]

 

After my last post, I decided to track daily weather highs and lows more closely for awhile, and notice how different plants fared. So far, the coldest temperatures of any 24-hour cycle have not lasted long -- for the most part, just 2-3 hours of freezing air before it starts getting warmer again. The lows themselves have not been more than 6-7 degrees below 32ºF. I'm speculating that this situation is consistent with weather history of the holler.

I hadn't done such close surveillance before and had not thought much about resilience of wild plants to what seemed pretty darned cold for little lives out in the woods. Thinking more about it this week, in light of considerations for how long earth, air and water stay warm during a day and how long they have to cool down before a reversal, it made more sense to me why most wild things seem to do pretty well even though this human worries about them!

Initial leaf of a yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum), March 17, 2018. [Cathie Bird photo]

I have seen frost on my car during this period but not on the ground or plants. So far. Most wild plants I observe seem to do okay with one session of frost, but not with several in a row.

Rue Anemone-2 (Thalictrum thalictroides) has moved beyond its initial leaf stage, and has multiple flowers. March 17, 2018. [Cathie Bird photo]

One of the species that has not shown signs of a spring breakout is the apple tree down the lane. When earlier-than-usual warming periods began happening a few years ago, this tree responded with disastrous results. What I notice now is that it doesn't start budding or leafing out during the first warm days, even though other plants do. The quince bushes also seem to have adapted in this way, although they put out what I call "test buds" early, then more as the warm periods stretch out. Speculating again: the apple and quince are making adjustments to a warming climate.

Echinacea leaves are up, March 6, 2018. This particular group grows in front of a large rock that probably serves as a bed warmer of sorts. [Cathie Bird photo]

I'm seeing leaves of several violet species throughout the holler. The haldberdleaf yellow violet (below) grows in the woodland edges close to my house. I don't observe this species for Nature's Notebook, but they are one of my favorite early spring flowers.

Haldberdleaf Yellow Violet (Viola hastata), March 6, 2018. [Cathie Bird photo]

The day I checked on yellow violet progress, I also scanned the area for yellow trillium and leaf bud activity on a nearby Mapleleaf Viburnam. No action here yet, but, on my way back from town on Saturday (the 17th), I spotted a yellow trillium in the lower regions of Terry Creek. I look forward to emergence of the four trillium species that grow in the holler neighborhood.

Narcissus in my rock garden, March 6, 2018.

Activity in rock garden and planter areas includes narcissus, daffodils, phlox and bee balm. Orange daylily and iris leaves are much bigger than they were at the time of my February 27th post. A few dandelions are up, and grass on the lane and around the house will need to be mowed soon.

This morning as I wrote this post, a pair of eastern phoebes flew around an old nesting site on the porchlight above the planters. I'll check later today for placement of new nesting material. They have plenty of bugs to keep them energized for now!

 

Out in the holler: goldfinches, white wood aster, heath aster

American goldfinches returned to this end of the holler as soon as the Echinacea patch fruits ripened, and I finally got a decent photo of the female. She and two males harvested the seeds for about a month before returning -- most likely -- to the huge fields beyond my observation plot. I still see them or their relations when I drive out to town.

American Goldfinch female (Carduelis tristis) feeding on Echinacea seeds, September 19, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

My last sighting of goldfinches up here was on September 24th when I saw one of the males feeding on yellow crownbeard, just around the corner from the Echinacea patch.

This year I added a couple of asters to my observation list: white wood asters and white heath asters. I delayed reporting observations on these species until they had flowers, even though I'd been watching areas where I'd seen them growing. I'm more familiar with the flower phenophases of most forbs -- once the flowers are present, I start anchoring images of their leaves into memory so I can catch their initial growth the following season. Next year, of course, I'll have the marker flags to help me out.

Wood asters -- lots of them -- populate the moist woods behind my house. If I have not already sensed a shift into fall energy, the flowering of Eurybia divaricata gives me a shove. I identified these plants very soon after my move to the holler seventeen years ago.

White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricata), September 19, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

White heath asters, on the other hand, have only recently begun to grow around my house. I think this is only the second or third year I've noticed them. They have integrated the Echinacea patch that grows on ground disturbed by construction of an addition to the house in the late 1990s. I'm wondering if they were seeded by birds that visit the Echinacea, or maybe by my dog, who brings all kinds of seeds into the yard and house in his fur!

White Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides), September 26, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

The first heath asters I observed in the area grew further down the holler along the lane that goes through my neighbors' field. Over the years I noticed them spreading up the Hudson Branch drainage toward my place. Identification of these plants as Symphyotrichum ericoides is still in the realm of "my best guess", however. Plants commonly called "white heath aster" come up under several genus/species designations in plant guides and online sources, and differentiation has not always been clear to me. I'll keep following this but, for now, I'm going with this ID.

So, now that the asters are flowering, I'm reflecting on observations of holler phenophases over the spring and summer of 2017. Last year, an early spring followed by late summer/early fall drought and wildfires shaped what I saw in the holler and in my neighborhood. An early spring came again in 2017, but spring and summer were noticeably wetter, and generally cooler. Add to this the ongoing maturation of plant and animal communities that have been relatively free of significant disturbance for several years. In my next post, I'll share some thoughts about all of this.

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Sightings in the holler: wood sorrels, blackberry, maple-leaf viburnam, lyreleaf sage, wood thrush

I have been recording the presence of wood thrushes for several years, but had not seen active individuals until one flew up out of the grass and landed on a branch, at eye level, only 10 feet or so from me on April 24th. I had my camera but focused on a mental picture so I could double-check the field marks when I got home. I'd have to say that was the most treasured sighting since my last post.

This spring, I discovered several new colonies of Oxalis violacea -- the violet wood sorrel -- mixed in with violets, orange jewelweed, wingstems and several other species:

Violet Wood sorrel (Oxalis violacea), April 25, 2017, [Photo: Cathie Bird]

This week, the fading O. violacea have been succeeded by their yellow relatives, Oxalis stricta, in numbers greater than I recall ever seeing before:

Common wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta), April 30, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

In other areas of the holler, multiflora rose bushes were loaded with flowers this week. The one I observe is in a shadier spot, and slower to flower. I saw its first flowers on April 25th, and got this photo on the 30th:

Multiflora rose flowers, April 30, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I ended last week's holler report with a screen shot of a storm system that ended up dumping 10+ inches of rain in 2 days before moving on. For a few hours, Terry Creek came over the access lane and bridge, trapping me at the high end of the holler. Because many of the plant and tree species in my Nature's Notebook observation area grow on or near the banks of Hudson Branch, I was worried. When I did my first holler walk on Monday after the storm, I was happy to find all of them unharmed. Here's a photo of a downed tree and the gravel deposit it created; the white flowers in the bottom right area of the photo belong to Multiflora Rose-1:

Material left by areal flooding last weekend in the main channel of Hudson Branch, about 20 feet from the multiflora rose [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Also flowering in the past week: the mapleleaf viburnam...

Mapleleaf Viburnam, May 2, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

and blackberries, yay! Later in the season, I'll start taking a container on my holler walks so I can bring some ripe berries back to the house:

Blackberry flowers, April 30, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Higher in the holler, and closer to my house, the lyreleaf sage is plentiful and peaking:

Lyreleaf Sage, May 1, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I don't see a lot of bedstraw in the holler, which makes it more fun when I do spot some:

Bedstraw (Galium aparine), April 30, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I think the early spring and its erratic temperatures made it hard for the Dwarf Crested Iris. Very few bloomed this year (photo below) and the ones I saw seemed smaller than usual:

Dwarf Crested Iris, April 26, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Another group that seemed to suffer from early emergence into shifting air temperatures and weather patterns was the toothworts. I saw only one plant of one species with any flowers -- a Dentaria diphylla -- though many individuals of at least three of the four species found in the holler made it into the leaf phenophase.

Among the species showing up last week, but for which I rarely snag photos: whitetail dragonflies, tent worm caterpillars, little satyr butterflies.

One of my main projects this week is to settle a bunch of new garden plants into their permanent homes. The annuals I got from the greenhouse will give butterflies and insects something to sip on while the perennials put their flowering act together.

 

Songs and flowers in the holler this week: hooded warbler, stonecrop, wood anemone and more violets

In my last post I wrote a little about the violets that live in Frog Pond Hollow, and the order that they usually appear in the spring. I included an image of Viola sororia, the common blue violet. The Halberdleaf and woodland yellow violets are long gone, but all of the later-flowering violets are out now, so here are some fresh images of the other ones:

Marsh blue violet (Viola cuculata), April 14, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata) April 9, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Sweet white violet (Viola blanda), April 12, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

The Anemones, members of the Buttercup Family, have several relatives that live in the holler. I posted a photo of a rue anemone a couple of weeks ago. Rue's peak has passed, but once I start seeing their fruit phenophase, I start looking for Anemone quinquefolia, the wood anemone:

Wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia), April 16, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

When I lived in Colorado I enjoyed seeing yellow stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum), so I was happy to discover that Mountain stonecrop (Sedum teratum) grows in the holler. It took me awhile to recognize this plant as a relative of the Rocky Mountain species I was familiar with. In the image below, the stonecrop's small succulent leaves are directly below the flower, a little hard to see through the leaves of several larger-leafed neighbors:

Mountain stonecrop (Sedum teratum), April 16, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Among the special projects of the National Phenology Network is the "nectar connector" program. Observations about the timing of nectar sources for monarchs and other pollinators help scientists better understand threats to flowering plants and crops that may in turn threaten pollinators.

I have observed Echinacea purpurea, one of many "nectar connectors" for which data is collected, for several years. Next week I'm planning a pilgrimage to my favorite greenhouse to get some butterfly milkweed for my planter garden. The 2017 crop of Echinacea is up in the holler, this one being right outside my study window:

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), April 16, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

The two Trillium plants that I observe have leaves, but so far only one of their colony has flowered. Further down the holler, these things are all over the place. Here's one of those:

Trillium grandiflorum, April 12, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Activity of winged beings in the holler has intensified this week. For the past two days I've heard a hooded warbler very close to the house, sometimes for intermittent musical stretches of several hours. I hope this means there will be a nest of them nearby soon. Other birds setting up nest-keeping near the house include pairs of northern cardinals and yellow-throated warblers. I heard titmouse and male chickadee calls most of the days last week.

I finally got my new phoebe house up, but not before a pair had started a nest on my back door frame. They finished this nest but apparently are using another one, probably an old nest on one of my outbuildings. I still hear and see them a lot...just can't figure out exactly where they are nesting.

This morning my neighbors and I compared butterfly notes. The small, dark Horace's duskywings are ubiquitous, with smaller numbers of tiger swallowtails, West Virginia whites, and, just this week, a few eastern-tailed blues.

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The holler's violet family

A week of old favorites and a welcome surprise in the holler

In a post last week, I focused on plants I observe for Nature's Notebook. On more recent holler walks I collected images of some of the other species that live here and have also made the spring shift.

I love it when the apple tree leafs out and blooms. I find the flowers impressive and really easy to photograph compared to others. Beyond that, I know that this apple tree serves other species with its pollen and fruit, attracting insects, deer, and all kinds of birds, including wild turkeys and crows. It's always a little scary when the flowers come early, though. Yesterday the holler had temperatures below freezing.

Apple blossom on April 7, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Just down the lane from the apple tree is a flowering crabapple. I mostly see insects and butterflies feeding on this tree. I saw my first bumblebees of 2017 this week around flowers of the autumn olive (see yesterday's post for more on this). Now that the apple and crabapple have flowers, I expect to see bumblebees and honeybees there as well.

Flowering Crabapple on April 7, 2017

As long as we don't get too many freezing nights in a row, I've noticed that most of the wild flowering plants do pretty well. I recall one year when the apple tree's flowers were wiped out by a succession of freezes. I found it a little heart-breaking and really missed seeing all of the wild beings that use its flowers and fruit.

Star chickweed, April 8, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Star chickweed (Stellaria pubera) started coming out in late March and is pretty much peaking right now.

One of two phlox species in the holler entered its flowering phase last week. I believe this is Woodland aka Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricota):

Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata), April 7, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Leaves of the foamflower, a member of the saxifrage family, come out early but take awhile to move into an open flower phenophase. This week I spotted one that has flower buds:

Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), April 7, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

So, for violets, this is the order that holler species generally appear in the spring: Halberd Yellow, occasionally followed by Roundleaf Yellows; then the Sweet White, Common Blue and Marsh Blue; and finally, the Longspur violets that I've seen in just the last 2-3 days. Here's a photo of what I think is Viola sororia, or Common Blue Violet:

Probably a Common Blue violet (Viola sororia), April 8, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Also flowering in the past 2-3 days is not only one of my favorites but one the West Virginia White butterflies seem to like -- the Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum):

Wild geranium, April 7, 2017. [Photo: Cathie bird]

I often see Yellow trillium (Trillium luteum) leaves popping up before the white Trillium grandiflorum, and the yellows are more numerous around this part of the holler. Here's one in its open flower phase:

Trilleum luteum, April 5, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Yesterday I spotted what I think is initial growth of Wingstem-1. I should know for sure in a few days, and, if it is, I think I'll be more confident that I can catch this phenophase in the future:

Probably a wingstem emerging, April 8, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

To wrap up this post, I just have to share this photo of a Six-spotted Tiger Beetle:

Cincindella sexguttata - Six-spotted tiger beetle, April 8, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I've seen these in the holler since I moved here 17 years ago, but this is the first time I've gotten close enough, quick enough for a clear photo! Looking at this beetle from several feet away, I thought it was solid green, but a larger image view and plenty of time to look at it revealed the white spots characteristic of Cincindella sexguttata. Information at BugGuide helped me figure out which green beetle it was.

What's up in the holler: rue anemone, trout lily, white trillium, buckeye, maple leaf viburnam

New activity in the holler has kind of left me breathless this week -- and with a lot of images in my photo files!

Rue Anemone-1 (Thalictrum thalictroides) on March 29, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

The rue anemones, as a whole, have more plants up, with multiple buds and flowers, than I recall seeing last year. I added a second anemone from a group in slightly different conditions than Rue Anemone-1. Both have made it through a few frosty nights since they emerged.

Rue Anemone-2 (Thalictrum thalictroides) on March 29, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

The space in which Rue Anemone-2 grows has more tree cover, thus more shade. Both plants get sun once it comes over the ridge into the holler, but with less cover, Rue-1 gets a little more of it.

This species is one of my favorites of the early spring flowers, maybe because it's one of the first signs that my least favorite season is on its way out.

Trout lily-1 (Erythronium americanum) on March 27, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I finally caught a trout lily bud at a very early stage (above). Two days later it stood taller on the stem (below); the following day it had opened but, alas, no camera. Today I noticed five or six of Trout Lily-1's colony mates have buds or flowers out, more than I've ever seen in this 1-square foot area.

Trout lily-1 (Erythronium americanum) on March 29, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Trillium-2 was the first of two Trillium grandiflorum on my list to appear. The plant behind it (in the image below) has a bud that opened a day or two ago. No sign of a bud on Trillium-2, no sign of anything yet around the Trillium-1 marker. Along the road about  a mile from my house, quite a few white trilliums have open flowers.

White trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), March 29, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

In the middle of my watch for turning leaves last fall, some animal -- maybe a deer -- bit off most of the buckeye I observe. I had it flagged with sticks rather than white flags, and, unfortunately, the twiggy thing I'd been been watching turned out not to be the real Buckeye-1. I rediscovered it when I checked out an awesome patch of trout lilies, star chickweed, rue anemone and yellow trillium on March 26th. The earliest buckeye leaves, being dark and slender, blend into the forest floor really well. I planted an official flag nearby immediately, enabling me to find it again for the photo below a few days later:

Buckeye-1 and some of its neighbors, March 29, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I wrote a little about the shady invaders project in my last post, which includes a photo of a multiflora rose bush. Buds on a second species I observe for this project -- a mapleleaf viburnam -- broke out around March 27th. To get the image below I had to use some of my marker flags to help the camera focus on the bud.

Just to compare the two species to date, buds on the multiflora rose are all open and, as I noted today on my holler walk, 95% or more of its leaves are about as big as they're going to get. It definitely has a headstart on the native mapleleaf viburnam.

Mapleleaf viburnam (Viburnam acerifolium), March 29, 2017 [Cathie Bird]

Leaf buds on the cloned Appalachian Spring dogwood I observe (image below) opened the same day as the viburnam. They grow within 50 feet of each other, in similar canopy cover, soil and moisture conditions.

Appalachian Spring dogwood, March 29, 2017 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Although I don't observe them for Nature's Notebook, I watch for phlox and several yellow buttercup species. I saw a few individuals of each species already flowering this week. Several species of violets -- yellow, white, and blue-ish purple ones -- are out as well.

Busy week for all of us species here. Spring really does seem to sweep through the holler.

Spring 2017 phenophase shifts are well underway in the holler!

I observe phenophases for a number of plant, animal and insect species throughout the year, but activity generally takes off in March and April here in Frog Pond Hollow. This year some plants I observe made the spring shift earlier, and I go out every day now to catch the changes.

A multiflora rose, one of two understory shrubs I observe for Penn State's "shady invader" project, erupted into a new phase with breaking leaf buds on January 18th. Last year, I volunteered for this project that aims to explore the timing of leaves on invasive and native shrubs. Because invasive shrubs leaf out earlier in the spring and hold onto leaves longer in the fall, they shade the forest floor just when native plants and animals need greater sunlight. (Check out this link to see the findings for 2016.)

Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) on February 24, 2017, about a month after the first leaf tips broke out of the buds. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

A second project species, native mapleleaf viburnam, also grows within my observation area, and I added one of those to my list as well. No sign of buds even swelling up so far.

Among the tree-beings in the holler, a forsythia and three red maples I track all had flowers by February 24th.

I stalk phase shifts of two dogwoods. One (photo below) is a wild flowering dogwood that I added to my list this year. I also observe an Appalachian Spring dogwood, grown from a seedling I got free when I volunteered for USA-NPN's Cloned Plant Project.

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) bud on February 24, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

While I wait for the dogwoods to move into flowering phases, toothworts, spring beauties, and trout lilies wow me with their emergence:

Cutleaf toothwort (Dentaria laciniata) on March 22, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Carolina spring beauty (Claytonia caroliniana), March 22, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum), March 22, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Deer tracks on the lane. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I see white-tailed deer tracks more often than I see the track-makers throughout the year. Lately I've seen eastern cottontail tracks in these same mud-holes. Other recent mud-hole visitors include spring azures, a small butterfly with white wings below and blue wings above.

After a brief absence, the eastern gray squirrels are back out, and birds that are here year round are becoming more active. Two eastern phoebes have paired up and I've seen at least one of them with nest material in its beak.

For about two weeks I've spotted eastern comma butterflies in the yard, and, as I write this post, the first eastern tiger swallowtail of the season has made a couple of appearances at the window.

Temperatures in the holler will be in the low 70s over the next few days. I anticipate an even busier observation week coming up!

Observing my phenology observer phenophases

I had to laugh a bit the other day as I wondered whether or not there might be phenophases of phenology observers as well as those of the species they observe?

A great-spangled fritillary feeds on the zinnias I added to my 2016 planter garden. [Photo on July 1st: Cathie Bird]

Consider this definition of "phenophase" from USA-National Phenology Network's Project Budburst: "A phenophase is a distinct event in the annual life cycle of a plant or animal in relation to changes in seasons and climate. In plants, examples of these observable events include budburst, first flower, first ripe fruit, and color change."

Well, being human, I am an animal, and being a phenology observer, I am aware of distinct cycles of my own thought, feeling and action in relation to changes in season, climate, and the species I observe.

In spring and summer I spend most of my time observing and recording what I see and hear. I continue to record observations in the fall and winter, but find myself with more time to review experiences of the busier months, or to think about what species I see all the time but don't have on my list.

For me, the quieter months are a good time to mess around with my lists -- to add new plants or animals, or (as I did this month) reorganize my observations into multiple lists rather than one giant one. I now have one list for plants, one for birds, and one for mammals, amphibians and insects -- but all within the same holler. With shorter lists, the online data input goes a little more smoothly.

In the past I've used the slower months to vary the content of posts for HollerPhenology -- stuff on citizen science or species conservation efforts or a more in-depth look at one of the species I observe. I didn't do so well with that the past year, or, for that matter, post as many "what's out in the holler" reports during the busy months as I had hoped to do. I'm thinking about how to write more this year.

My slow season thoughts often include how to make the holler more supportive of species I observe.

My Spring 2016 planter project included an insect and skink friendly watering hole (right). [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I used to put out bird seed and suet, but soon discovered problems here in the Cumberland Mountains that I had not experienced in the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico -- like throwing out seeds that had mildewed in an outdoor raccoon-possum-squirrel-proof container. One day I almost stepped on a timber rattlesnake that was lying in wait for birds beneath a feeder at the same time I was trying to fill it. I decided to encourage bird-bee-and-butterfly-friendly plants after that.

Last spring I planted Coreopsis that did great, butterfly weed that failed to grow, and bee balm that went bananas but did not produce any flowers. A second eruption of baby bee balms from the parent plant in one of my planters are still green even after a brief period of snow and several days of freezing temperatures in the first week of January.

My planter project as it looked on July 1, 2016. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Over the years I’ve also figured out what native flowers I need to protect from mowing and foot/paw traffic. In particular I leave the Leafy Elephant's Foot alone. Goldfinches, wrens, cardinals, sparrows and titmice forage for the thistle-like fruits, especially when it snows, or in early spring before bugs are more plentiful. Last year's crop of Echinacea and Elephantopus suffered because of the severe late summer and fall drought in Tennessee. I noted fewer plants, severe dehydration right when flowers needed water to thrive, and, consequently, fewer fruits. We had such a mild winter here, though, I didn't see many birds foraging in the yard until it began to warm up this month.

Leafy Elephant's Foot (Elephantosus carolinianus), July 31, 2011 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

When I experienced the days of rain instead of snow, and temperatures in the 60's and 70's instead of 30's and 40's during January and February, I anticipated earlier-than-usual budbursts and flowers. I went on green alert early. As of February 26, 2017, I am reporting, in addition to leafout of the multiflora rose above, open flowers on all three red maples and the forsythia I observe.

I also saw spring azure butterflies on several occasions last week. Activity of year-round birds seems to be picking up as well. I'm rushing to get a new phoebe nest platform stained and installed before anybody's ready to use it. It may be too late though. As I was writing this post I saw and heard a male phoebe that came to check out old nest sites. I haven't seen other spring and summer birds up in the forest yet, but I watched an eastern bluebird looking for insects in my neighbors' field on Sunday.

I photographed these leaves of a multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) on January 22, 2017. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

My sense (now that February has passed without a major snow/ice storm and cold snap) is that spring will indeed be early and that I'll have photos and exciting reports on what's new out in the holler much earlier than usual. Whether this is good news depends on your species and the timing of your phenophases, I'd guess.

I now have some evidence for this. Last week the USGS published an article saying that spring is arriving at least 2-3 weeks early across almost the entire Southeast, from San Antonio to Atlanta to Washington, D.C. Some really interesting maps and USA-NPN data are included in the report. And the maps are built on data that comes from a bunch of citizen scientists like me.

By the way, it's easy to become an observer and engage in critical citizen science on our warming planet. You can sign up and get instruction at USA-NPN's Nature's Notebook.

Based on this brief reflection, I'm ready to explore the notion of phenology observer phenophases further. Full spring ahead!

 

Update on March 1, 2017: What's Dangerous About an Early Spring? (The Atlantic)

 

Toads in the holler

When I started seeing a toad in one of my planters this fall, I decided to add them to my observation list at Nature's Notebook. But what species?

Fowler's toad (Anaxyrus fowleri), September 30, 2016  [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I saw several different species available on the USA-NPN list, so I decided to dig into my photo archives and do some online searches before I officially added toads to my list. I assumed the one I saw (above) was an American toad because that's the only species I'd seen around the holler, like this one I almost stepped on because it blended with the leaves so well:

American toad (Anaxyrus americanus), scanned February 14, 2010 from a 2003 slide [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

I checked out USA-NPN and other websites for help on differentiating these two species. While each site noted the number of warts per dark spot and the relationship of the cranial crest to the parotid gland as keys to identification, the photos did not clearly illustrate the latter. Once I had my own photos in view, this drawing at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's page on frogs helped me sort them out:

The view below of "Potter" -- my planter toad -- shows the cranial ridge touching the parotid gland. Potter appears to be a Fowler's toad:

Fowler's toad (Anaxyrus fowleri), November 17, 2016 [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

The image of this toad clearly shows the space between the cranial crest and the parotid gland, so I'd say it's an American toad:

American toad (Anaxyrus americanus), August 26, 2012. [Photo credit: Cathie Bird]

I ended up adding both species to my observation list.

USA-NPN notes several reasons for observing the Fowler's toad:

This locally common toad has a very conspicuous call that facilitates detection of breeding sites. It is also readily found on land. Seasonal movements between land and water, breeding, and development rate of embryos and larvae depend in part on environmental temperature and precipitation patterns, which in turn are likely to be affected by climate change.

I last saw Potter on November 18th. That night we had some rain, and the temperature dropped significantly the next day. When I checked the planter yesterday on my holler walk, all I saw was an empty toad cave. I took this photo a few minutes ago:

Empty toad burrow, November 20, 2016. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I suppose Potter might have dug further in, but it's possible that common toad sense has sent her or him to a more protected hibernation site.

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