Springtime Arrivals

Each spring I look forward to the spring peepers, little frogs that belt out a lot of noise in early spring evenings. When I hear the peepers I know spring is here at last. I like to keep track of first sightings and compare them to last year.

Each year 5 starlings arrive in my yard, in 2010 they were here March 14th and this year March 17th. The butterfly that flitted by March 15th 2010 did not appear until April 22nd this year. I looked forward to the woodcocks which called, flew up and then plummeted down in the dusky evening March 19th 2010 but were not seen until April 6th 2011. The call of the sandhill cranes can be heard long before you see this large beautiful bird gliding over, they came on March 31st last year and, April 11th this year. Juncos were 10 days later from April 10th 2010 to April 20th 2011. The Spring peepers I enjoy so much hollered their little hearts out April 3 2010 but since this year the ponds were still frozen over on April 3rd and we had 5-6” of snow on the 20th they were pretty brave to poke their noses out on April 22nd .

It seems most arrivals have been over 10 days later than last year it would be a good idea to keep a close watch on temperature forecasts before planting the garden.
It may be the end of May before we can safely place out seedlings in the ground to give them the best advantage. Especially so for pepper plants, if they get a chill they may not grow into a nice sized bush or they will bush but not fruit.

Always best to keep an eye on Mother Nature before taking a chance and just going by the calendar.