In this week's episode, notes from Bill Felker's 40 years of observing what happens in nature.
Bill Felker: This is Bill Felker with Poor Will's Almanack for the fifth week of early spring.
White cabbage butterflies are the surest sign of the beginning of the end of early spring. And once you notice the familiar white cabbage butterfly, then you know the more elusive morning cloak butterflies, and the question mark butterflies, and the tortoiseshell butterflies, and the tiny blues are flying too.
When you see cabbage butterflies, then you know that goldfinches are turning gold, and soon you may see ants working on the sidewalk. If you see a cabbage butterfly, then you know that catfish have begun spring feeding and breeding, and then green bottle flies have hatched, and termites are swarming, looking for new sweet wood to eat.
When cabbage butterflies are out, then soft sprouts of touch-me-nots have emerged in the wetlands, and the branches of weeping willow trees are turning pale yellow-green as their buds expand. In the city, cornice moss shrubs produce golden blossoms, promising forsythia in the first week of middle spring.
If you see a white cabbage butterfly on your way to work, you can know that middle spring's hepatica and twin leaf are pushing out in the sanctuary of the woodlands. Toadtrillium and Dutchman's britches are ready to open there, and the entire spectrum of wildflowers is surging to encounter April.
I'll be back again next week with notes for the sixth week of early spring. In the meantime, watch for the first white cabbage butterfly. And then imagine all the rest of spring coming right behind it.
Bill Felker contributes to newspapers nationwide, including the "Yellow Springs News." Bill resides in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Poor Will's Almanack is brought to you by Tree Care Inc., offering services in arboriculture throughout the region. Trees make life better.
