What season is it today? Part two

It seemed like we fast forwarded right past spring and into summer during the first full week in April.
Just as soon as the spring peepers started singing the bullfrogs started to make an appearance.

I noticed several larger tadpoles already swimming in the neighbor's pond. They were probably bullfrog tadpoles. A post about raising tadpoles on the Missouri Department of Conservation's website  stated "This bullfrog tadpole may take up to 14 months to mature into a frog. This tadpole is four inches long and may be as much as 10 months old."

Meanwhile around the pond, the skunk cabbage started to unfurl their green leaves. This surely would help the area bears get "moving."

The dogs were enjoying the warmer weather by cooling off in the pond. Clem got in trouble for trying to drown Sadie.

The warmer weather also appeared to have the neighborhood herd of deer on the move.  One morning they were fairly close to our path of travel. I worked to convince them they needed to move one. They only obliged when Clem and Sadie moved in too close. 

Meanwhile, the trail camera in along a right-of-way captured a tom turkey strutting his stuff.  A week earlier he was spotted in my parents' yard with his harem of hens, but was too far away for a good photo. This time he was too close to the camera to get fully in the frame..

Nonetheless, blooms abounded during the warm spell.

The narcissus started to open and the peach tree blossoms had unfurled.

 "Of course there were some that met an unnatural demise as a snack for Kennedy the goat."

Hyacinths, forsythia, daffodils and more appeared in all their brilliant glory. I went crazy photographing the colorful hues displayed by the flowers.

A conversation between my mother and I ended in the same opinion.

​We both thought that in addition to things being a little ahead of schedule this was the most blossoms we had seen in spring.

We were not the only ones with this observation.
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The US National Weather Service Pittsburgh PA had a post that stated "With Bradford Pear trees in full bloom, you may wonder if the recent warm March and early April has these peaking earlier than normal?  ....  most of the region is about a week ahead of schedule. 

​Even farther ahead are locations adjacent to the Great Lakes."

 The post referred to a graphic found on the National Phenology Network's website.

​The status of spring map showed that areas in our region ranged from no difference to almost 20 days earlier than "normal" in the image for April 10.

I gave into the pressure to garden early and bought some pansies for a couple of hanging baskets.

​I'm trying not to rush the season as previous springs have included a hard frost that tended to harm plants. 

It was so weird that the daffodils that I had taken photos of just a few days ago were already done blooming. Of course there were some that met an unnatural demise as a snack for Kennedy the goat.

Meanwhile, in the world of native plants. The violets have sprung up.

Trailing arbutus blooms have spread their fragrance across the woodlands. In fact, some of them are almost done for the season.

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On Sunday, I found some service-berry blossoms. I thought they seemed early, but a post by the National Arbor Day Foundation appeared to contradict that.

A post on www.arborday.org said that serviceberry "Blooms in March and April (depending on location), with delicate white flowers arranged in clusters."

Also on Sunday, the mayapples reached the surface and opened their umbrella of green leaves. This also seemed a little ahead of schedule.

​Last week I was thrilled to capture some shots of a few mourning cloak butterflies.

Usually I only have one shot to get a photo of one a season.

This year I saw three in one location at one time and they continued to visit that site throughout the week.

A little research found that " The common name 'mourning cloak' refers to the wings resembling a traditional dark-colored cloak worn when one was in mourning, according to a post on statesymbolsusa.org.

The mourning cloak is the state butterfly of Montana.

​The post went on to say that the butterflies "... lead a long life for  butterfly, living as long as 10 months as adults."

Also if you were wondering, Pennsylvania doesn't have a state butterfly, but it has a state insect, the firefly. Folks can help celebrate our state insect during the 9th Annual PA Firefly Festival which will be held Friday June 25, in Tionesta. More information can be found at www.pafireflyevents.org;

Nonetheless, the dogs managed through the warmer temps with dips in the pond.

Will the warmth stay? Will there be a late frost? What about April showers? Only Mother Nature knows the answer to these questions and she seemed to be saying "No comment."

That's just the nature of things 'round here.