A weekly feature on the timing of outdoor occurrences
In an effort to bring more seasonal sanity to our lives, this is the last episode of The Nature of Phenology—but before we go, let’s revisit the joys and importance of phenology that we hopefully highlighted these past 7 ½ years.
So many popular children’s stories come from England, where stories about rabbits seem to run (hop?) rampant, wearing clothes, eating garden vegetables, and hiding underground. But our snowshoe hares are made of sturdier stock.
Grasshoppers seem cute and unintimidating until the variables that cause a locust swarm occur.
Adult monarch butterflies seek out milkweed in particular to lay their eggs. Milkweed is a native species so named for the slightly toxic milky sap that oozes from the broken leaves or stems. This diet of milkweed, which the monarch caterpillars evolved to not be harmed by, is actually essential to their survival.
The Nature of Phenology 