Phenology is the study of the timing of re-occurring environmental and biological events. So Wild Ozark Phenology is just limiting my study to what I observe right here at Wild Ozark.
This is hit or miss with me, as I keep forgetting to add to it. I’ve already missed several of my usual spring markers, but it’s a start.
Please comment to add your location and sightings of blooms, birds, or other seasonal events from wherever you are! It’ll be interesting to see how it varies from place to place.
Wild Ozark Phenology Record
2024
- Oct 16-17 29*F both mornings
- May 2 Showy orchids already blooming, summer tanagers are singing
2023
- August 10 Jewelweed is blooming, ginseng berries have dropped, and Asiatic dayflowers have been blooming for a few weeks
- May 31 hearing rain crows, started earlier but I forgot to record the first one
- May 5 Saw the first rose-breasted grosbeak this morning and Rob saw the summer tanager yesterday. Showy orchid (lower colony) is still blooming.
- Apr 28 First fireflies already!
- Apr 21 Oh, I’m way behind and I’ve missed several entries. Anyway, first time I heard a whippoorwill this season was last night.
- Apr 15 I’m back-dating and guessing, but ginseng seedlings unfurled around this date.
- Feb 1 Still heavy ice/sleet coating on the ground, about 1″. Saw first purple finch today, one male and a few females.
- Jan 30 Heavy sleet. Walking is only possible with cleats, or else too slippery. Still ice coating on 1/31 and 2/1.
- Jan 24 Heavy wet snow, about 11″. Broke many trees. Rob got a hernia or two clearing trees from the driveway afterwards
2022
- 12-22-22 First day of winter. An arctic blast is moving in, bringing sleet, snow, and dangerous cold and wind chill. I’m on a 5-hour feeding hay schedule now until Saturday for the horses. Wind chill could go as low as -30, actual temp today should drop from 34 to 2 by 4 pm.
- 11-14-22 second snow. Obviously, I’ve forgotten to update this with the first freeze and first frost, but that happened maybe more than a month ago now. We didn’t even get a first frost, just went straight to freezing this year.
- 11-11-22 First snow
- 6-26-22 Black cohosh is blooming (the ones with flower stalks left after the hailstorm last month), doll’s eyes berries still green. Heard the first rain crow of the season yesterday.
- 5-25-22 Adam and Eve orchid flower stalks are up, buds not fully opened yet. Twayblade in full bloom. Rattlesnake rosettes easy to spot on the ground under the cedars.
- 5-14-22 Unbelievable crop-killing hail storm this evening. Golf ball to marble sized hail for a good 30+ minutes. Devastated the garden and ginseng garden.
- 5-1-22 Rose-breasted grosbeaks arrived. A flock of about 6, male and female.
- 4-25-22 some ginseng are almost completely unfurled, some still unfurling, some first year up, some not up at all yet. bloodroot have seed capsules, finished with flowers already.
- 4-23-22 late with my records this year. Orioles have found the jelly. A flock of about 10, mostly males.
- 4-20-22 fireflies and whippoorwill first sight and sound
2021
- 11-04-21 first frost. 32* at sunrise. So far this year, we haven’t seen the swarm of ladybugs. Maybe the freeze in April knocked them back. Fingers crossed! It’s not the native ladybugs but the invasive ones.
- 07-01-21 heard the call of the first rain crow of the season
- 05-01-21 First grosbeak at the feeder (male Rose-breasted)
- 04-25-21 showy orchids getting ready to bloom, flower stalk not fully extended yet, buds tight
- 04-25-21 first female hummer, now total of 3 seen at feeders
- 04-24-21 Baltimore orioles came looking for jelly
- 04-20-21 hard freeze and snow flurries (24*F Tuesday night)
- 04-11-21 first hummingbird spotted at the feeder
- 04-09-21 ginseng beginning to unfurl, only older ones no seedlings yet
- 04-08-21 blue cohosh, doll’s eyes, black cohosh, maidenhair ferns unfurling. Bloodroot bloomed last week but I missed the start date. Now seed pods are developing.
2020
- 03-13-20 First flocks of cedar waxwings swished and swooshed into the oak, elm, and sweet gum to feast on buds. Continued on the next day, too.
- 04-17-20 low temp 29, light skin of ice on cat’s water, also have been seeing tiger and zebra swallowtail butterflies. The screech owl is in her tree, but she’s still staying out of sight except at night. I think I missed the fledging because last year it happened in early April.
- 04-19-20 Saw fireflies in the trees last night. Seems early! Still seeing flocks of cedar waxwings.
- 04-20-20 Saw the first blue grosbeak and the hummers arrived. Very close to the same dates as last year for the hummers!
- 04-21-20 Saw the first Baltimore Oriole
- 05-08-20 the first female rose-breasted grosbeak was at the feeder today. I haven’t seen the male, but I saw a male blue one on 4/20. Gloria (the old white oak) is fully leafed out now.
- skipped a few months again…
- 08-15-20 The rain crows have been calling for a few weeks now.
- 09-16-20 Most of the hummingbirds have gone for the season now. A few stragglers now and then.
- 10-03-20 First frost. Not sure it was on the ground, but definitely on the roof.
2019
04-21-19 Hummingbird scouts arrived
04-23-19 Large flock of American goldfinches arrived
04-23-19 First tick on me
04-27-19 Scorpion weed (Phacelia crenulata ) is blooming
04-27-19 Saw a lone cedar waxwing
04-27-19 Rusty Blackhaw (Viburnum rufidulum) is blooming
04-27-19 Native red honeysuckle almost blooming
04-28-19 Doll’s Eyes (Actaea pachypoda) is blooming
Forgot the entire month of May!!
06-05-19 First June bugs clunking around after dark, fireflies are lighting up the trees sporadically after sunset
Well, now I’ve skipped July, August, and September too!
10-11-19 First freeze warning for tonight. Possible high 20’s low 30’s
10-12-19 First skin of ice on the critter’s water bucket. None in the creek, though. Color is slow in coming this year, it seems. Gloria is just beginning to bronze a little. Some of the sycamores and sweet gums are turning yellow now.
10-31-19 28*F, First snow flurries in the pre-dawn hours. Very windy this morning, and no precip accumulation. There are still doll’s eye berries clinging to the bushes. Leaf color right around peak now.
