The birds are calling and foliage is starting to bloom. It’s officially spring!
Spring is in the air, and the trees and forest is abuzz with activity. The birdfeeder is busy as Northern Cardinals, American Robins, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatches, Song Sparrows, and WoodPeckers sing, chirp, and peck away. Temperatures are rising, and winter essentials will soon be safely packed away.
Trees and flowers are beginning to blossom.
Depending on where you live, you may start to see buds arrive on trees, shrubs, and spring flowers. Snowdrops are beginning to peek out from under the layers of leaves or remnants of snow. These delicate beautiful white flowers are so lovely to see, heralding a new season of green.
Still stuck in those dreary days of the late winter season? You can bring some springtime joy inside by snipping a few branches and force plants into blooming. Forsythia and Pussy Willows are great candidates for forced blooming, and the process is quite simple. Check out Fine Gardening for tips on how to force branches to bloom indoors during the winter season.
Daffodils
Crocuses
grape hyacinths
Crocuses, daffodils, and grape hyacinths are the next bulbs that flower in the mid-Atlantic area.
Seeing early signs of these bulbed plants is a great reminder to wander into the woods and see what spring ephemerals are blossoming. We love using free apps such as iNaturalist, PictureThis, and Google Lens to help identify various plants, moss, ferns, mushrooms, and trees. One can also identify birds, insects, etc. with these same apps.
Bring on the BioBlitz!
Spring is a great time to catalog what you’re seeing in nature, also called a bioblitz challenge event. A bioblitz is a fun activity individuals can partake in to learn more about the local world around them. During a bioblitz, citizen scientists focus on finding and identifying as many springtime plants, trees, birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and fungi they can – usually over the course of a day or weekend.
An Olloclip, Xenvo, or a Macro Fisheye lens systems for mobile phones can help you better capture what you discover with startling clarity. It’s so fun to view nature from this perspective!
Whatever you’re discovering this spring, we wish you luck in your outdoor adventures! Share some of your bioblitz photos on the Community tab of the One Planet Life app.
Written by Yvonne Dwyer
Master Naturalist and OPL Content Contributor
“It is truly an honor for me to be a contributor to One Planet Life. By sharing my experiences and lifetime of learning, I hope to inspire conservation, sustainability, stewardship, and awareness of enjoying the natural wonders of the world for the wellbeing of people and the planet.”
