MAY NATURE HAPPENINGS

 • Orioles return this month and begin nesting. Get feeders, nectar, jelly and fruit out early. Go to: Rose-breasted grosbeakshttps://www.nephotographyguild.com/2016/03/baltimore-oriole-nest/ and see their nest site being built.  Photographs by John Vose.

• Get up early one morning and listen to male birds sing proclaiming their territory as well and announcing their presence to females.  This is the “Dawn Chorus”.

• Check out nesting boxes to see what songbirds are building nests or laying their eggs ~ Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Bluebirds, House Wrens or Tree Swallows.  There is still time to put up a nesting box for nesting season.

• Keep a watchful eye for the English sparrow (House Sparrow) aggressively taking over Bluebird and Tree Swallow nesting boxes.

• Broad-winged and Sharp-shinned Hawk migration at its peak early in month. Take a road trip to Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania.

• Northern Mockingbirds can be heard singing through the night into early summer.

• Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are back building strength from their arduous migration from Central America. Keep the nectar feeders filled!

• Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Wood Thrushes, Indigo Buntings, and Chimney Swifts return, plus the mimic thrushes ~ Grey Catbirds and Brown Thrashers.

• Sub-adult Purple Martins return to establish new colonies early in month.  There is still time to put up Purple Martin houses.

• Nesting materials are being collected, put out some cotton batting, dog hair or nesting balls.

• Look for Cedar Waxwing pairs passing a flower petal, berry, or insect back and forth as a courtship behavior.

• Watch for the male Cardinal to feed the female as part of their courtship behavior.

• Chickadees and titmice become scarce at feeders as they nest and raise their young.

• Pink Lady Slippers, Painted Trillium, and Bunchberry are in bloom.

• Poison Ivy is blooming. Watch for it in flower gardens.

• Monarch Butterflies have arrived and are laying eggs on milkweed plants.

• Yearling Black Bears leave their mothers to find a new home now through July, becoming major nuisances in neighborhoods.

• Before mowing the lawn, walk around your yard to see if there are any rabbit nesting spots.  They are usually evident by dead patches of grass. 

• Check dead trees before cutting them down for squirrel nests.

• Painted and Snapping Turtles are moving to dry land to lay their eggs; look for them while driving as they cross highways and back roads. If possible give them an assist ~ but only in the direction they are traveling.

 

 SPECIAL DATES:

 • May 3, International “Dawn Chorus Day” For more information go to: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/dawn-chorus-day

• May 4-5, Eta Aquarids meteor shower peaks - best time to watch is in the early morning before dawn.

• May 7, Full Moon, also called the Full “Flower Moon”.  Early settlers called it the "Corn Planting Moon” and marks a time of increasing fertility with temperatures warm enough for safely bearing young, an end to late frosts, and plants in bloom.

• May 10, Mother’s Day.

• May 15, Endangered Species Day, For more information go to: http://www.fws.gov/Endangered/esday/index.html

• May 18, Last frost date for Northern Virginia ~ Winchester area.

• May 22, New Moon.

• May 23, Comet Atlas, newly discovered comet Atlas will make its closest approach to Earth at a distance of 72 million miles. In the months following this close approach, the comet is expected to brighten. All though comets are extremely difficult to forecast, some astronomers believe that comet Atlas could potentially make it the second brightest object in the night sky besides the moon.

• May 25, Memorial Day, Wild Birds Unlimited is closed.

 

 HISTORICAL DATES:

 • May 13, 1847, birthdate of Genevieve Estelle Jones, illustrator and author of Illustration of Nest and Eggs of Birds of Ohio (1879).

• May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupts.

• May 25, 1900, President McKinley signed into law the Lacey Act of 1900 that prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported or sold.

• May 27, 1907, birthdate of Rachael Carson, author of Silent Spring (1962).

• May 28, 1892, Sierra Club established by John Muir.

• May 29, 1932, birthdate of Paul Ehrlich author of The Population Bomb (1968).