I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.  ~e.e. cummings

Ah, May, beautiful May. Rain showers are periodically falling to give way to colorful wildflowers, spring green leaves, and bright blue skies. The green is greener and the blue is bluer than any other time of year I think. Perhaps this is the most beautiful month of the year. Nature is simply alive everywhere and ready for you to enjoy it. There are countless opportunities almost every day to observe and learn something new. Don’t let the month slip away without taking time to enjoy it.

Here are some May nature noteables:

• Wildflowers are popping up everywhere! Take frequent walks in the same places and different places to be sure to observe as many as you can. Make note of the ones that are here for short amounts of time and the ones that stay with us all spring and summer.

• Creeks and rivers continue to be on the move. Now is an excellent time to take a walk along the creekside to observe signs of life. As the temperatures continue to warm, look for frogs jumping off the sides, frogs/toad eggs, crayfish and salamanders swimming about, and water striders all over the creek’s surface.

• Deciduous trees are almost fully bloomed out with leaves. The young leaves are a gorgeous, almost neon, green color. Now would be a great time to study about leaves and choose a tree to keep track of the leaves progression into fall.

• Conifer (evergreen) trees are a wonderful sight to behold right now too. Check out my post about this at Shining Dawn Books.

• Babies are being born. Especially look for baby birds in nests. Be careful not to disturb them. We have a Robin’s nest built in the rafters beneath our deck; we’ve been able to watch the blue eggs and now the cute babies that have hatched out this week.

• The “dawn chorus” of bird songs is still going strong. Take time, especially early in the morning to sit and listen to the orchestra.

• May can still pack a strong thunderstorm. Use this opportunity to not only study about the science of a thunderstorm but you could also talk about safety during a thunderstorm.

• May 4th is National Weather Observers Day. Spend this day tracking weather in your area.

• May 9th is Mother’s Day. Take one day that week to take a nature walk by yourself! Enjoy the peace offered by God in nature.

• May 12th is Kite Day…go fly a kite! That is if it’s windy enough. Use this opportunity to discuss what causes wind.

• Keep looking for the fungi! Look on trees, fallen logs, around creeks and even in your yard to find all sorts of fungi! As the temperatures grown warmer and still stay wet, you’ll find more and more.

• May is often muddy which means it’s an excellent time for finding animal tracks. Especially look around areas where there is water.

• Rainy days and warm muggy mornings make for excellent fog. Be sure to be up in time to catch the view of the sun breaking through the fog, then talk about the fact that fog is just stratus clouds on the ground!

• Pond life is bursting forth too. Make a visit to a pond to observe new animal and plant life emerging. Watch for frogs and toads, ducks, green plants pushing out from the water and dragonflies zipping around.

• Here are some applicable NaturExplorers units for spring:  Wonderful Wildflowers, Frogs and Toads, Constant Conifers, Beautiful Birds, Animal Signs, Delightful Deciduous Trees, Peaceful Ponds, A Fungus Among Us. Visit the Shining Dawn Books website to find out more information about these units and see samples of each!

Enjoy the beautiful month of May in nature!

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This entry was posted by Melissa on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Monthly Nature Notables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.