Ginny’s Calendar Archive
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August 2005
Mashed up jewelweed plants applied to poison ivy and other rashes will relieve the inflammation and itching / Larvae of European skippers, introduced to Ontario in 1810, are feeding on timothy and other grasses / Groups of whirligig beetles often swim in circles. Each beetle has four eyes, two looking up and two below the water line / Live-bearing female… (more)
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July 2005
The flowering of Queen Anne’s lace, chicory, and St. Johnswort signal the end of spring and the beginning of summer / Bullfrog eggs float in a jelly envelope in a thin film on the surface and will hatch in one to three weeks, depending on the water temperature / Grown turkeys eat mostly nuts and seeds, but the young require… (more)
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June 2005
Gray tree frogs scatter in the woods to hide in knotholes and tree cavities the rest of the year, so now is the time to find them. Listen for a cross between a loud trill and an air-raid siren / Just before giving birth, pregnant moose drive away their offspring from the previous year / First batch of phoebes are… (more)
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May 2005
Honeybee lore: “A swarm in May is worth a load of hay.” / The Aquarid meteor shower peaks on May 5. This fine, rich stream is visible for only a few hours before dawn / Early saxifrage is blooming, usually on rocky outcrops / There should be plenty of birdsong by now from black-throated green warblers, chestnut-sided warblers, common yellowthroats,… (more)
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April 2005
“If it thunders on All Fools’ Day, it brings good crops of corn and hay.” / Pussy willow roots are in ditches or wetlands, and the shrub responds to the first signs of thawing / Male flowers of beaked hazelnut are casting pollen; the tiny, bright purple female flowers are only evident at close range / The first warm, rainy… (more)
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March 2005
Sumac berries last through the winter and may be eaten by pine grosbeaks – among many other bird species / Barred owls are laying eggs in cavities in old deciduous trees / Warm days bring snow fleas. They look like flecks of pepper on the surface of the snow, except that they appear and disappear / Cedar waxwings may come… (more)
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February 2005
February 2: Groundhog Day. In Europe, badgers were believed to forecast the weather. Early settlers, finding no badgers, resorted to the groundhog / The fly larvae inside of goldenrod galls are eaten by downy woodpeckers if near the woods. Chickadees go after the ones in the open / Balsam firs can deal with massive amounts of snow. Their tapering shape… (more)
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January 2005
In bad weather, turkeys conserve energy by laying low. They may roost for more than a week without feeding / On cold nights a chickadee’s temperature drops by 20˚C. The birds are sluggish but burn far fewer calories – apparently this is a successful trade-off / The woolly leaves of common mullein repel water and are now fresh and dry… (more)
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December 2004
The evergreen leaves of goldthread can form a large, dark green carpet, though each plant is quite tiny / The blue-black berries of Virginia creeper are eaten in fall and winter by many songbirds / Once they find suet hanging by the birdfeeder, hairy and downy woodpeckers will come back to it again and again / Larch seeds are not… (more)