HollerPhenology

Post-freeze leafy breakouts in the holler and lots of bird calls

On my first holler-walk since the subfreezing temperatures of last week, I didn't need a coat and didn't take my camera. Of course, I found all kinds of things to report:

Amur honeysuckle and multiflora rose have a few leaves as well as plenty of leaf buds.

I also found more sharp-lobed Hepatica leaves than I can remember, probably two dozen or more individual plants in two different areas. I checked these spots closely, looking for signs of rue anemone and trout lily, and found only the Hepatica leaves. Hepatica comes up every year in the holler but I usually find just two or three plants in each of the places I saw them today. It looked like somebody had been nibbling on a few of them.

Here's an image of Hepatica acutiloba I took last March:

Sharp-lobed Hepatica on March 12, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Several bird species called out while I walked: I heard at least five blue jays all vocalizing at once from five different directions, but only saw one of them. I saw two tufted titmice -- one of them was singing -- also a singing Carolina wren. I heard a cardinal but did not see it. I caught sight of several very small quiet birds but never got close enough to verify their species.

I did find some interesting bird evidence to bring home and photograph. My 2020 phenology observations calendar made an appropriate backdrop for it:

Eastern blue jay feather, February 17, 2020 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

A "better late than never" post from Spring 2019: flowers and breaking buds

Flower, Dogtooth violet (Erythronium americanum) on April 3, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Flower bud, Dogtooth violet (Erythronium americanum) on March 27, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Dogtooth Violet-3 on April 6, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Breaking buds, Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra) on March 19, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Buckeye leaves on April 16, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Emerging leaves of Maple Leaf Viburnam (Viburnam acerifolium) on April 1, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Bud break on my cloned dogwood (Cornus florida-appalachianspring), April 1, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Red Maple on March 26, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Initial and first leaves of Echinacea purpurea on March 24, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird].

 

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) on March 27, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Rue Anemone-2 (Thalictrum thalictroides) on March 27, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Rue Anemone-1 (Thalictrum thalictroides) on April 1, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Cutleaf toothwort (Cardemine concatenata)on March 26, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Yellow trillium (Trillium luteum) on April 1, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Initial growth of Trillim grandiflorum (on the left, next to an emerging rattlesnake plantain) on March 26, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Emerging flower bud, Trillium grandiflorum, on April 1, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Wild blue phlox (Phlox divaricata) on April 3, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

Halberdleaf Yellow Violet (Viola hastata) on March 24, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

 

I guess it's spring now.

Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) leaves on March 12, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I'm going to start this post with an ecopsychological observation as well as a phenological one. This past January 8th, I sensed (rather than saw) a fluttering outside my study window, and turned just in time to see an eastern comma flapping -- somewhat frantically, I thought -- against the glass.

Granted, commas are often the first butterfly species I see every year. But not in January. I felt little joy in seeing it. It was way too early. With some urgency I wondered if I was missing new phenophases of other species I observe in the holler. I often reduce the frequency of holler walks in the winter months. Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually for me, it was still winter. I did not feel ready for it to be spring. And if there were things popping up and out already, I had concerns for the consequences to each and every one of them.

Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) on March 10, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

As calendar-winter went on -- with continued warm spells punctuated by serious cold ones, and more rain, more often than I have ever seen since I moved to Tennessee -- I noted that no trees, shrubs or forbs were taking the bait. My quince bushes eventually began to produce small flower buds, but they didn't swell or open, and endured a few 9- and 10-degree lows very well. By mid-February, daffodils were up and flowering throughout the larger Terry Creek drainage to which my holler's creeks contribute. Orange day lily and Siberian iris leaves began poking through the leaf cover on raised beds around my house.

Cutleaf Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata) on March 12, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

By the end of the first week of March, I had observed new, full leaves of Amur honeysuckle and multiflora rose, forsythia flowers, and first leaves of one of the cutleaf toothworts I have flagged (photos above).

Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba), emerging leaves. March 12, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Now I'm also seeing leaves of sharp-lobed Hepatica, and Dogtooth violets (though not in the 2-sq.ft. plots I have marked). All of the red maples I observe for Nature's Notebook have open flowers, and members of this species all the way from the holler down to Knoxville are in some stage of emergence.

Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) leaves. March 12, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Up in the bird world (I saw/heard very few birds this winter up here in the holler, another point of concern) I've seen and heard an eastern phoebe hanging around old nest sites and calling for a mate. Blue jays, chickadees and cardinals are moving back up into the holler from fields down below. Many of these birds come up here to nest in the forested areas around my house.

And, of course, with the movement of these smaller birds comes the more frequent hunting parties of a resident hawk (red-shouldered or broad-winged, not sure which). I even saw some wild turkeys up in the air last week. And heard some barred owls.

I think it's spring. I've increased the number of phenology observation days significantly. And that feels okay now.

 

Fall creeps into the holler

My holler walk with Shadow on 11/11/18 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Peak color for most of the trees in the holler happened around the 25th of October. With windy storm fronts moving through during the first week of November, many of the leaves came down. RedMaple2, for example, lost all remaining leaves --95% or more-- early on November 6th in a thunderstorm strong enough to wake me and my pets up at 3am.

As of today -- except for the Amur honeysuckle, forsythia, multiflora rose and the beech tree farther down the holler -- all the forbs, shrubs and trees I observe have lost 95% or more of their leaves.

The holler had a couple of light frosts that shriveled leaves up and down the lane. Out in my planters, however, the chives, lavender, foxglove, and a few of the bee balms still look good. Time for one final chive and lavender harvest, I think.

So, in terms of phenology observations and reporting, I'm pretty much down to noting phenophase shifts for 3-4 plants and watching for birds and animals that will be around the rest of this fall and winter. The quieter times in the holler gave me some space to think about what's happened since my last post, and to write a little about how things went for some of the plant species this season.

White avens (Geum canadense) on July 1, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I noticed tons of white avens (image above) in more places around the holler than I'd seen since I moved here. The same was true for orange coneflowers and common St. Johnswort (images below).

Orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida) on July 13, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I hadn't seen much St. Johnswort the last 2-3 years. I'm still checking photos to decipher the species. On occasion I've observed Spotted St. Johnswort considered to be "rare" in terms of frequency in this part of Tennessee. If they come up in such perfusion next year, I need to get a better record of the tops and bottoms of the leaves, and clearer images of the flowers to help myself out on identification.

Common St. Johnswort (Hypericum perforatum) on July 13, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

A new arrival to my eyes this far up the holler is one of the dayflowers. I've seen these down near Terry Creek for many years, but not up here. The blue color of this flower is striking, but it only flowers for one day. Maybe I've just missed them. For now I've decided this one is the non-native Asiatic dayflower:

Asiatic dayflower (Commelina communis) on July 13, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Among the abundant populations around the house and the holler was Echinacea, leafy elephant's foot, orange jewelweed, and the smaller of the two purple aster species that grow here.

Mature fruit of Echinacea purpurea, some of which has been harvested by goldfinches. August 29, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Leafy elephant's foot (Elephantopus carolinianus) on September 3, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I try to mow around patches of Elephant's foot because it produces a thistle-like fruit that draws goldfinches, white-throated sparrows and other birds to the yard on cold, snowy days.

I observe two different jewelweed plants, both of which are in an area that receives less sunlight than when I began to track them. Compared to larger patches in a sunny area on the opposite side of the lane, the individuals I track did not produce as many buds, flowers or fruits this year.

Orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) on August 29, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

A year or so ago the utility company did a massive clearing of trees and brush around the power lines that run along State Route 297 from Pioneer to Jellico. Since then, populations of small purple asters have flourished. This summer there were tons of them to inspire jaw-drops and wows from me every time I drove to town. I even had some up here in the holler, but I photographed these growing at the end of Terry Creek Lane just before it intersects with TN297:

Small purple asters on October 9, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Plants having lower numbers than usual throughout the summer and early fall included white wood asters, lobelia, and goldenrod.

For example, this is about as good as things got for the wood aster I track. Before it could produce any buds, the leaves got holes in them, turned gray-brown and disappeared:

Initial and first leaves of a white wood aster (Aster divaricatus) on July 1, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

On November 5th, however, I happened to catch activity of a relative just a few feet away, on the other side of the tree from WoodAster1:

White wood aster (Aster divaricatus) on November 5, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

The wood aster a few inches away from this flowering one already had mature fruit:

Aster divaricatus on November 5, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

So many factors impact the lives of each individual forb, shrub or tree -- a good reason to track more than one plant of the same species.

Great blue lobelias were also missing in the holler this season. I love these plants. They are photogenic and often have an interesting mix of little bugs and pollinators crawling around on them (though this one didn't have any on the day I walked by):

Great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) on October 9, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Didn't see as much goldenrod this year, either, and most of what I saw -- at least around the holler -- was early goldenrod:

Early goldenrod (Solidago juncea) on August 29, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Some of the other plant stories of 2018 that I'd classify under "kind of weird": I didn't see as much heath aster in the holler, and the one I finally spotted was a volunteer in one of my planters. By the time this species starts to come up, they are already surrounded by a lot of other plants, making initial leaves hard to see. In fact I almost pulled initial leaves of this aster out because I thought it was a weed. As it continued to grow, I didn't really notice its distinctive narrow, pointed leaves because they blended in with the little snapdragons that were supposed to be the only residents of that planter. I didn't figure out I had a white heath aster in there until it made flowers:

White heath aster (Aster pilosus) in the planter on September 29, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I finally located the real HeathAster1 after it grew taller than the surrounding Echinaceas and the bright white flowers caught my eye. It did not produce a lot of leaves or flowers this year though. I wondered if it had to spend most of its energy reserves just to get up out of the Echinaceas.

And one final weirdness: the mapleleaf viburnams had a tough year for some reason. I track only one of this species, but new viburnams in its neighborhood have been increasing yearly since I began observing them, seeming to do very well. This year, the only one to get all the way to the flowering phenophase was the plant next to the one I track, and it never made fruits.

As the holler slides deeper into fall and winter, I'm thinking about future posts for the slower observation season. I have expanded my Phenology Album at Flickr. In my next post -- unless something unexpected emerges -- I decided to gather images of my Nature's Notebook observation area and its neighboring landscapes to share more of a "whole holler" background for blog posts on species I observe.

The bird is the word in the holler this week

An amazing new bird week started the day after my last post. On Monday, the 23rd of April, within a space of 2-3 minutes, I saw all of these birds right outside my study window (and not near the new bird feeder that no one has discovered yet!): a pair of tufted titmice, blue-gray gnatcatcher, male indigo bunting, two white-eyed vireos, a brown thrasher, cardinal, blue-headed vireo, male yellow-throated warbler, and an American redstart -- the first one of its species I have ever seen.

But it didn't stop there. On the 24th, I noticed a female Carolina wren catching food and flying toward a nest under my satellite dish. Over the next couple of days I saw both parents bringing food to the nest with greater frequency.

During my holler walk on April 27th, I heard the first wood thrush of the season, and, on the 28th, the song of a common yellow-throated warbler. 

Wren feeding nestlings on April 28, 2018. [Video: Cathie Bird]

I'm now into day 5 of the wren nest watch. After getting my video camera charged up for the occasion, I caught one of the parents -- the mom, I think -- bringing more food to the nest.

Yesterday while I was watching the wrens, I saw another holler neighbor crawling up my porch steps while my cat, Buddy, looked on:

Left to right: rat snake, buddy. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Once it crawled out of sight, I decided I should monitor its progress, first, to make sure it didn't turn back toward the wren nest, and, second, to make sure it didn't try to go through the pet door.

Up on the porch, I got the next two photos of the snake, and of the snake approaching my dog, Shadow, who came close to sniff but otherwise took alternate routes to his favorite porch spots:

Rat snake on April 28, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Left to right: Shadow, rat snake. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Very slowly the snake kept moving across the porch, occasionally winding its way up the hemlock sticks then back down to the rails. When I was sure it intended to keep heading north, I went back to wren watching.

Plenty of new things happened with trees and flowering plants as well this past week. The other American beech I observe for Nature's Notebook leafed out, and the Amur honeysuckle now has flowers.

Dogwood-3 has flowers, too:

Dogwood-3 flowers on April 28, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

After a rough growing season last year, Cutleaf Toothwort-1 has safely arrived at its fruit production stage. This is the first year I've seen its fruits develop this far. I hope to catch their ripening and seed drop in days to come:

Cutleaf toothwort (Dentaria lacinata) fruits on April 28, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Finally, here's a dwarf crested iris in bloom -- not too many out yet:

Dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata) on April 28, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Such an exciting week in the holler, and it's only the end of April!

 

Out in the holler on Earth Day 2018

I watched Today Show coverage of the very first Earth Day in 1970 from a motel room in Denver, Colorado. I remember it well. I had just graduated from Michigan State, just gotten married, and wasn't sure what I'd be doing next. The room served as temporary housing for us while we waited to hear what my husband's next field assignment with the Federal Highway Administration would be.

I had spent the previous few years studying environmental interpretation, hoping to work as a naturalist, or maybe write about nature and the ecological systems of planet Earth. It blew my mind to see so many people celebrating that day -- in retrospect, the demands of completing undergraduate education had drawn my attention into a much smaller geographic area than the world I studied.

Now, 48 years later, as I enter the final decade or two of my life on the planet, I celebrate this Earth Day writing a post at HollerPhenology.

American beech (Fagus grandifolia) on April 22, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I thought Beech-1 would leaf out sooner than it did. It was not until yesterday morning that I saw a few buds that looked like the image above. Today, more buds are breaking, and many others already have little leaves hanging down:

New leaves of American beech on April 22, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

This particular beech is a very mature one. You can see its huge trunk behind the leaves in the image above. As I recall, this tree produced nuts last year, so it will be just the leaves I'm watching for phenophase shifts this season.

Dogwood (Cornus florida) on April 18, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

A few days after my last post, Dogwood-3 (above) started its flowering cycle. Today it has quite a few buds as well as some leaves starting to emerge.

I can't get real close to white oak-1's buds, however, a view through binoculars and a telescoping camera lens both show what looks like buds breaking:

White oak (Quercus alba) on April 22, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I have never seen flowers or nuts on this tree, but it's surrounded by other oaks that bomb my roof and driveway with acorns every fall. Then, it's kind of like trying to walk on ball-bearings out there. This year I have a bunch of baby oaks sprouting in my planters (thanks to squirrels and their kin), and around the yard:

Sprouting acorn on April 18, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Looking out across the holler's landscape and beyond this week, I can see that the pale spring greens, reds, golds and purples create more of a continuous coloration of hillsides.

On April 20th, in the planters, I spotted this butterfly milkweed (photo above) coming out.

A few fleabanes have planted themselves in my planters as well. I usually let them do their thing, since they will have finished flowering before I need to plant anything else in their spot. Their flower colors range from white to pink to purple, adding some nice color in the yard before I dare plant the more cold-sensitive garden species. The fleabane below is over in the Echinacea patch, so it's in a safe zone:

Fleabane (Erigeron sp.) on April 18, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I think this is probably a common fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus), but I'm still in the process of learning to differentiate the fleabane species that grow here. I had been calling flowers like this daisy fleabanes, but I think it has too many of the white rays to be Erigeron anuus. Now I need to take a closer look at the leaf structures to figure this out.

Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) on April 18, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Wild geraniums are flowering up and down the holler. I look forward to these every year. I took the image above from a slightly different angle than usual, giving a bit of a profile to the pistil and stamens rather than viewing them head on. Bees and butterflies seem to like this species, too.

Dwarf cinquefoil (Potentilla canadensis) on April 22, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Near my house there is a large area with lots of dwarf cinquefoil (above) this week. And just to compare the difference, here's an Indian strawberry growing a couple of feet away from the cinquefoil:

Indian strawberry (Duchesnea indica) on April 22, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Earlier in the week I found violet wood sorrel leaves near some of the other plants I observe. Here's a little colony of them:

Violet wood sorrel (Oxalis violacea) on April 18, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

I finally got a photo this week of what I think is a "sweet betsy" trillium. It's on a steep hillside with tricky footing, otherwise I would have tried to get closer to see all of its parts better. According to my look-here-first guide for southern Appalachian wildflowers, the Sweet Betsy and Yellow trillium form 'hybrid swarms' in Tennessee. Sweet Betsy is more prevalent until you get to the west flank of the Smoky Mountains, the authors say, where it's replaced by yellow trillium.

Trillium cuneatum, a.k.a. Sweet Betsy, on April 17, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Just a few notes on birds before I finish up: I saw a male hooded warbler and great blue heron in the holler this week. I had been hearing the hooded warbler for a couple of days, and it sounds likely that I'll have a nesting pair of them near the house again this season. Other bird voices common in the holler this week were titmice, white-eyed vireos and blue-headed vireos.

I bent down to pull some vegetation away from the edge of my planters a couple of days ago and found this skink sunning itself. I think this one is a broad-headed skink, not the eastern five-lined species I observe for Nature's Notebook:

All in all, a great Earth Day week out in Frog Pond Hollow.

Buckeye leaves, trout lily, violets, and other stuff out in the holler this week

Buckeye-1 leaves on March 29, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

First, an update on last week's buckeye bud burst: from that tight wad of reddish-green that was the terminal bud came all of these leaves. I'm really happy to have this young buckeye on my observation list because I can get so close to it. Last year I discovered lots of mature buckeyes growing across the creek from Buckeye-1, but I have to view their phenophases with binoculars.

The trout lily community has many more members this week with buds and flowers:

Trout lily-1 on March 29, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Just down the lane from Trout lily-1, I found two more growing close together, and got the earliest photo yet of a newly emerging bud. Four days later, both plants had flowers. You can see them at my photo blog here.

This lily community has so many members that it's hard to get to some of the other plants I observe without stepping on somebody. Over the years, though, I've marked a certain path in mind, and stuck very close to it when I walked through this area of the holler. By now, the safe way through is pretty clear, but I limit my trips off of the lane to protect these small plants as much as possible.

Cutleaf Toothwort-1, March 29, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Last year, very few toothworts made it to, or through, their flowering phenophases in the holler. Cutleaf toothwort-1 (above) has a full load of flowers now, but like many of its relatives, it had no flowers last season, then quickly yellowed and died. I'm pretty sure cold air and frosts at critical points in their development played a part in the toothwort demise. This year they seem to be doing better. Cutleaf (Dentaria lacinata) and Slender (D. heterophyla) toothworts -- historically with a flowering season from March to April -- both have individuals up and flowering now. Fineleaf toothwort, another early species, also grows in the holler, but I have not seen any for several years. If I ever find another one, I'm going to mark it.

The fourth toothwort species in the holler, Broadleaf toothwort (D. diphylla), has leaves up now but typically flowers later (April to May) in this part of Tennessee. With the exception of one cutleaf toothwort, the broadleaf toothwort was the only species I saw with flowers last year.

Toothwort-2 on March 29, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Both trillium plants I observe have unfurled leaves this week but no sign of buds yet:

Trillium-1 on March 29, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Just a few inches from Trillium-1, however, this Trillium grandiflorum has a new bud:

New bud on White Trillium, March 29, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

A few yellow trilliums that came up a week or so ago have open flowers. Further down the lane I spotted one of the red trillium species with buds, though not sure which one it is yet.

Foamflower, another early spring species, and one of several Saxifrage Family members that grow in the holler, is up. The one below is the first I've seen with buds:

Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), March 29, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

The Violet family has great early spring representation in the holler. I found several longspur violets up, but failed to get decent photos of any. However, many of the common blue violets -- like the one below -- opened enough to verify their identity this week: 

Common blue violet (Viola sororia), March 29, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Sweet white violet leaves and buds started appearing around March 25th. I found these open flowers later in the week:

Sweet white violet (Viola blanda) on March 29, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

So much more is happening now, from my end of the holler to the end of Terry Creek Lane, that I'll just list a few for now:

Plants with leaves, buds or flowers up now: woodland phlox, dwarf crested iris, Robin plantain, wood vetch.

New bird songs: hooded warbler, yellow-throated warbler.

Nesting pairs: Carolina wren and eastern phoebe couples are building nests near the house.

More butterflies showing up: West Virginia white, Horace duskywing.

And...the first carpenter bee of the season came to the window and looked in at me!

 

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.

Out in the holler: planter stuff, daylillies, forsythia, red maples, jewelweed and a spring azure!

Warm air and lots of rain fired up a lot of plant life over the past 10 days or so. Compare these photos of chives:

Chives on February 18, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Same chives, February 26, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

And orange daylilies:

Daylilies on February 18, 2018 [Photo: Cathie Bird]

Same ones from the opposite side of their bed on February 26, 2018. [Photo: Cathie Bird]

No photos yet, but some of the red maples up here and around the neighborhood have flowers. I noticed this especially along Interstate 75 yesterday, and today on the south-facing slopes of Sexton Mountain. Some of the forsythia in the neighborhood are loaded with flowers; I'm guessing mine have about half a full load.

On my holler walk today, I spotted initial leaves of several orange jewelweed plants.

Activity among cardinals, Carolina wrens and eastern phoebes has jumped up a notch in the past week. Yesterday I saw a spring azure, the first of all the butterfly species I observe to make its holler appearance in 2018.

I will be watching everything carefully for the next week or so as freezing night temperatures return.

 

American Trees Are Moving West, and No One Knows Why -- The Atlantic

I'm still working on a new blog post, but wanted to share a great article I saw at The Atlantic. I found it fascinating and relevant to the general content of HollerPhenology. The article at Science Advances is open access, and can be downloaded here.

From the article:

About three-quarters of tree species common to eastern American forests—including white oaks, sugar maples, and American hollies—have shifted their population center west since 1980. More than half of the species studied also moved northward during the same period.

These results, among the first to use empirical data to look at how climate change is shaping eastern forests, were published in Science Advances on Wednesday.

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