Snow Magnolias

Once the temperatures reach the 80°s (F), as they did here on Monday, March 21, you sort of think you're entitled to spring.

But Wednesday brought winds over 30 mph and the sweet gum balls fell like a hailstorm over the St. Louis area. Today, we have 4 inches of snow and counting.

“If spring comes, can winter be far behind?”

(Apologies to Shelley.) Photos by AMcC

Spring Migration in St. Louis' Forest Park

For 20 years, my friend Randy Korotev kept extensive notes on birds in Forest Park on the west edge of Saint Louis MO. His article, "Counting Warblers; A Timetable for the Spring Songbird Migration Through Saint Louis," with original data is available online or as a PDF. Click on "Bird and Birding Information," then "Timetable for Spring Migration."

I decided to illustrate his data using TimeToast, arbitrarily choosing the year 2009. Just hover the mouse over the balloons to display them. Click once to see text, links, photo, and photo credit. To extend the timeline and see the dates farther apart, slide the control on the bottom in toward the center. In my other set of pajamas, I teach computer at an elementary school. I made a tutorial video for TimeToast if you're interested. Please feel free to use my "Peak Migration TimeToast" for non-commercial purposes.

In addition to this amazing feat of record-keeping and persistence, Randy is a true Renaissance man. I interviewed him about moon rocks last summer and returned to the moon rock story last December. Visit him at his lunar meteorite website!

Below is the list of generous photographers who licensed their photo with Creative Commons so we all could enjoy them.
Fox Sparrow, and Golden-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-throated Warbler by Seabrooke Leckie (See her blog, The Marvelous in Nature)
Winter Wren, and Field Sparrow by Kelly Colgan Azar
Louisiana Waterthrush, by Bill Majoros
Hermit Thrush, by Jamie Chavez
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Worm-eating Warbler by Jerry Oldenettel
Pine Warbler and Brown Thrasher, by Vicki DeLoach
Prairie Warbler, by Dominic Sherony
Yellow-rumped Warbler by pheanix
Orange-crowned Warbler by Andrew Reding
Prothonotary Warbler by naathas

Earliest of Trees

Housman called the cherry, "The loveliest of trees." Well, the Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) may not be the loveliest, but it is one of the earliest bloomers. According to Don Kurz' Trees of Missouri, it may bloom as early as January in our state! It prefers moist soil and is common along creeks and streams. It is a prolific seeder, and the "whirlibird" seeds (samaras) find their way into urban yards, alleys, and vacant lots. Those early flowers are not showy, but nevertheless they're welcome, especially after the amount of snow and ice we've had in the midwest this year. They must be even more welcome to the hardy insects that venture out in the short winter thaw.

Silver Maple gets its name from the underside of the leaves, which shows white and pale green. When the wind whips these leaves, displaying that silvery underside, you know you're in for another summer cloudburst.  Limbs are likely to crash down to the yard during that storm since the wood is brittle. Ice storms take their toll too. After a limb splinters, the tree often develops heart rot. In a few years, screech owls or starlings might make a home in the cavity.

I've never heard of anyone tapping Silver Maples for sugar, but according to GardenGuides.com, although its sugar content is low, the syrup has been used to treat coughs and liver disease.

I snapped my photos of the maple blooms last weekend. Houseman said in A Shropshire Lad:

And since to look at things in bloom

Fifty springs are little room,

About the woodlands I will go

To see the cherry hung in snow.