Everything is happening so fast. We went from a long winter where we saw a near record late ice-out to a summer where I am starting to see stuff near record early.
In my 22 years of records, I have never seen such a rapid change, such as how quickly the berry bushes went from bloom to setting fruit, the number of new plants blooming, the new species of butterfly and dragonfly daily. Each walk is a new adventure with several new species for the year.
It's looking like it will be a good berry year if we get the badly needed rain. For lots of fruit set on thanks to a abundance of bumble bees and other pollinators.
The monarch butterfly arrived from its journey from Mexico right on schedule. I'm seeing lots of healthy milkweed and starting to see them in fair numbers. I saw my first monarch caterpillar for the year on June 8.
I'm seeing a good number of species and individuals for both butterflies and dragonflies. Even though we're low on moisture, all are looking healthy in the woods.
ADVERTISEMENT
There have been good number of frogs calling. I've noticed lots of baby geese, and I'm starting to see fawns and ducklings. Any day now the first young loons will be riding their parents backs and showy lady slippers blooming.
