Outdoor Almanac

May is full of reasons to look a little closer at the natural world around you, from the glow of a full moon to the excitement of pre-dawn meteor showers. Visit wetlands to watch newly hatched Wood Duck ducklings make their remarkable first leap, and tune in early in the day for the songs of migrating warblers and nesting Red-winged Blackbirds. Woodland walks may reveal true morels pushing up through the leaf litter, flashes of Spring Azure butterflies, or the first pink blooms of lady’s slipper orchids.

What will you discover this May? Visit a nearby wildlife sanctuary or join a program to make the most of your month.

MAY 

1 

Full moon. 

3 

Wood Ducks are nesting in tree hollows or nest boxes in or near freshwater wetlands. Within a day of hatching, the ducklings leap from their nests to the ground or water below. 

5-6 

Height of the Eta Aquarids meteor shower. In the northern hemisphere, roughly 30 shooting stars per hour, most prominent before dawn, grace the dark sky. 

7 

In marshes and wetlands, female Red-winged Blackbirds are gathering nesting materials, such as cattails, reeds, and rootlets. Males are easily recognizable with their black plumage and bright red shoulder patches, but females are brown streaked and often mistaken for a sparrow. Compared to sparrows female red-wings are larger with undersides covered with dense, dark streaking and only found in marshes.  

10 

Colorful and uniquely shaped fungi grow in the woods. Look for true morels with their distinct, elongated honeycomb caps. 

15 

Tiny, strikingly blue Spring Azure butterflies patrol their territories in late afternoon at woodland edges and in forest clearings.  

12 

Height of the spring warbler migration. Listen to the dawn chorus and watch the treetops and shrubbery at sunrise and sunset for these beautiful little birds. 

17 

Look for the large, pink blooms of lady’s slipper orchids along upland forest floors. 

20 

Happy World Bee Day! Although this day originally started to honor honeybees, which are an introduced species in North America, we can take the moment to celebrate the 400 native bee species in Massachusetts that are a critical part of our local habitats. 

22 

Male and female Common Loons share the incubating responsibilities for their two, green speckled eggs. Successful and safe nest sites are often reused by the loon couple every year.  

25 

Pickerel frogs are calling and breeding. Sensitive to water pollution, these frogs stick to clear waters where females lay masses of eggs attached to underwater vegetation.  

27 

Listen for the Wood Thrushes ee-o-lay songs early and late in the day when the light is lower. 

30 

Muskrats can be seen carrying cattails and other plants back to their dens to feed their young. 

31 

Full moon.