Spring life you're most excited for?

Spring wildflowers: I’m in NJ, so spring beauty, toothwort, bloodroot, Dutchman’s breeches, rue anemone, wood anemone, dwarf ginseng, several kinds of violets, trout lilies, may apples, geranium, Virginia saxifrage, golden ragwort, bluets, speedwells. But I’m into weeds so also lesser celandine, henbit, deadettle, ground ivy, bugle, clovers, wintercress, shepherd’s purse, crown vetch, periwinkle, buttercups, celandine. I’m sure I’ve forgotten so many as well.

Already some of the weeds are blooming; whitlow grass, hairy bittercress, common groundsel, bird’s eye speedwell, deadnettle are all things I’ve seen since the snow started melting. And Skunk cabbage is native and blooming right now.

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Trillium, Viola, Penstemon, and lots of ephemeral flowers/plants! Also hoping to see some Morchella along with other fungi this year.

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I’m in NJ too, I’ve only seen some red deadnettle so far, but I haven’t been looking too thoroughly. I’m a hiker at heart so I’ve been inside for much of the winter since all the trails are too icy to go out. I did Bear Mountain in NY yesterday and I didn’t really see any spring blooms yet.

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I am super excited because yesterday I saw the first robin of spring! (At least , it’s the first robin I’ve seen this spring😉)
Usually I go biking around Ketnar Lake every summer, which I am really looking forward to. I love looking for and identifying shells. And let’s not forget the birds! Last year I found lots of Asian Clams!

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Today was a big day. First crows of the year. They’re either a bit late or (more likely) I missed their arrival owing to pandemic lock down and illness but it cheered me enormously to hear them calling. Spring is coming.

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I have a big list of unusual spring blooming species to find and photograph. Including Erigenia bulbosa (I’m in NJ, so out of state), so many Viola spp., Trollius laxus, Houstonia pusilla, various Cardamine spp., Scutellaria nervosa, various Trillium spp., Jeffersonia diphylla, and others! Summer is even more hectic. This is in the effort to find as many plant species in the state. Note that sedges and the like aren’t included (yet). I’m just not there yet.

If you’re in a region where Erigenia bulbosa is native to, then it may even be blooming now!

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It’s been especially miserable here, but spring is SOON.

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It’s very interesting to hear that crows are a sign of spring in some places! Where I am (western Washington state), I see American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) all year around!

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Franklin’s Ground Squirrel. When the prairie dogs come out of hibernation, the land is waking up from our very long winter. Earliest date in my personal records is April 2:

https://inaturalist.ca/observations/41313904

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I’m hoping to find some nesting birds.

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Around here we have ravens all year and crows are migrants. They’re big, boisterous and noisy so their arrival while winter is still very much on the land is a cheerful thing. When the red-winged blackbirds start calling spring will be here.

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I’m most excited for migrant songbirds arriving on the gulf coast of southeast Texas. :heart:

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Me too!

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I second this. I always enjoy having to take a break from work to release arthropods outside. Yesterday was the beginning of this period, as I found a bold jumping spider and a worm and slug hunter.

More generally, I feel I’m about to be overwhelmed by trying to find as many arthropods, herps, birds, flowering plants, and fungi as possible in a fairly short time period. I feel like the Pareto Principle applies to wildlife in that 80 percent of the species you can see locally are observable in the 20 percent of the year between mid-March and late May.

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I forgot. Moths!!!

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Found 3 snakes in as many days; only got a photo of one but THEY ARE STIRRING :D

To mis-use a song…“It’s the most wonderful time of the year”!

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I know right, spring is the most wonderful time of year for me, hang Christmas!

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Pink evening primroses, winecups, the multiple varieties of sisyrinchium angustifolium and the pair of baby opossums that seem to appear every spring.

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There are already Canada geese everywhere NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Actually, I never did agree with the song that Christmas is the most wonderful time. Christmas is the most overhyped time of the year, with manufactured jolliness to distract us from the fact that (in the northern hemisphere) it is dark and cold. I have contemplated writing new lyrics for that song – celebrating high summer, the true most wonderful time of the year. Of course, for you folk in the southern hemisphere, Christmastime is also summertime, so maybe the sentiment of the song is more applicable.

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