What a difference a month makes. Your May images featured new life, flowers, and green scenes – a marked change from April's mud and snow. An eastern box turtle climbed a hill, white trillium glowed among the leaves, and young pine saplings welcomed the sun.
May 2018
Ontario, NY. We love this photo of a turkey vulture on its nest. Check out this recent Outside Story article on the species: https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/turkey-vultures. Credit: Laurie Dirx
Dalton, NH. Ferns unfurling. Credit: AM Dannis
First of two photos: Wolfeboro, NH. A newly emerged cecropia moth. Credit: Sally Cornwell
Continued. The same moth, a little while later. Credit: Sally Cornwell
Sharon, VT. Alex Barrett from Long View Forest Management shared this image of white pine saplings in a forest opening, “waking up to some spring sunlight.” Credit: Alex Barrett
Norwich, VT. Chris Rimmer from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, vtecostudies.org, shows a child how to release a chickadee. Credit: Tig Tillinghast
Plymouth, NH. Fringed milkwort, also called gaywing (Polygala paucifolia). “This stand was found on a small sandy rise among oak, beech, and pine.” Credit: Eric D’Aleo
Dalton, NH. “Momma killdeer nesting right by the side of a gravel road so her eggs blend in!” Credit: AM Dannis
Bethel, VT. “Bloodroot at the edge of the woods on May 4th.” Credit: Ken Hatch
Rushville, NY. “New life!” Credit: Samantha Wolf
Bethel, VT. A yellow-rumped warbler, photographed on May 5. “One of the first warblers I have seen here this spring.” Credit: Ken Hatch
South Trescott, ME. Common evening-primrose, “getting ready for a new summer.” Credit: Nate Rosebrooks
Waitsfield, VT. “Indigo buntings arrived, such a vivid blue!” Credit: Gib Geiger
Mohnton, PA. “My daughter found this baby snapping turtle along the route she takes to walk the dogs.” Credit: Bonnie Honaberger
Salisbury, NH. “Afternoon clouds over the Mt. Kearsarge range from Iron Creek Farm B&B.” Credit: Pam Landry
South Williamsport, PA. White-footed mouse, “taken by a homebrewed trail camera based on a Sony digital camera.” Credit: Charlie Schwarz
Plymouth, NH. “A little green heron perched perfectly still in the trees is easy to overlook.” Credit: Eric D’Aleo
Tiverton, RI. Highbush cranberry (Viburnum opulus). “With leaves like these, who needs flowers?” Credit: Garry Plunkett
Dalton, NH. A moose ravaged by winter ticks. Credit: AM Dannis
Peterborough, NH. Bumblebee and azaleas. Credit: Ann Day
First of two photos: Farmington, Valley, CT. Eastern box turtle. The photographer moved from Michigan to a hillside in Connecticut. “We never anticipated our hillside yard to be so popular with animals – red-tailed hawks and owls, foxes, bears and coyotes...and now turtles!” Credit: Nora Acsadi
Continued. What appears to be a turtle egg site. Credit: Nora Acsadi
Cornwall, VT. An immature bald eagle. You can read more about their awkward adolescence here: https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/eagles. Credit: John D. E. Roberts
Ontario, NY. And here’s how that unkempt youngster should look in a year or so. Credit: Laurie Dirkx
Mohnton, PA. A brightly feathered male red-bellied woodpecker. Credit: Ryan Shenk
Freedom, NY. “Surprise encounter with this young fox. It showed no fear of the first human that came into its world.” Credit: Jim DeLellis
Franconia, NH. Another foxy photo. “Haven't seen mom around, but we've seen the kits almost every day for the past week or so lying in the sun or playing.” Credit: Meghan McCarthy McPhaul
Savoy, MA. Dutch crocus. A native of Eastern Europe, this hardy flower often pops up as a volunteer in human-disturbed habitats, such as the woody edges of lawns. Credit: James Najimy
South Williamsport, PA. Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica), a plant of dry, well-drained soils, is one of the earliest blooming sedges in the spring. Credit: Charlie Schwarz
Orrs Island, ME. Red squirrel on high alert. Credit: Ed Robinson
Waitsfield, VT. “Orioles are back.” Credit: Gib Geiger
Thetford, VT. Moonrise over pines. Credit: Tig Tillinghast
Snydertown, PA. Foam flower and trillium in the garden. Credit: Bonnie Honaberger
Cornwall, VT. This porcupine is probably happy to be switching from its winter diet of tree bark to spring greens. Credit: John D. E. Roberts
Elka Park, NY. Trout lilies are one of our most brightly colored spring flowers. Credit: Nancy Allen
Rushville, NY. A beautiful patch of white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), photographed early in the month. Credit: Samantha Wolf
Plymouth, NH. “The common loon has returned to the ponds and lakes of New Hampshire. Pairs are forming and territories are being reestablished. Soon there will be chicks again on the water.” Credit: Eric D’Aleo
Bennington, VT. Red columbine. Credit: Bonita Choly
Dalton, NH. “Spruce buds shedding their casings.” Credit: AM Dannis
Wolfeboro, NH. A pickerel frog and red eft, photographed late in the month. Credit: Sally Cornwell
First of three photos: Petersham, MA. Pam Landry took a number of great images from Tom Swamp, “an ancient red spruce, black spruce, tamarack, quaking bog.” Here’s a photo of a somewhat beaten-up purple pitcherplant, Sarracenia purpurea next to three-leaved goldthread, Coptis trifolia. Credit: Pam Landry
Continued. And here’s a red eft, accompanied by water springtails. Credit: Pam Landry
Continued. Here’s a close up image of sphagnum moss and partridge-berry, Mitchella repens. Sphagnum typically grows in acidic conditions. Credit: Pam Landry
Waitsfield, VT. Two female hooded mergansers. “All three nest boxes were occupied in our little pond.” Learn more about these “beaver birds” here: https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/beaver-bird-hooded-merganser. Credit: Gib Geiger
Strafford, VT. A rose-breasted grosbeak shortly after taking a birdbath. Credit: Tig Tillinghast