Animal Crackers by Mike Osbun for March 11, 2024

So true. Welcome, spring flower!

With the climate warming the plant food that insects rely on are gone by the time the insects mature. We are dead without insects.

One more week to go ! Snow on the ground here in SW PA.

Only the weeds pop up that quickly with that smile!!!! Although our azaleas are blooming beautifully

We’ve had a bit of spring with crocus in bloom, yesterday was snowy, today it’s 28 with a high of 55. Good morning y’all.

False alarm!!!!!

SPRING! Hurry up!

8 more days

I’ve seen quite a few flies, and one butterfly in DC already,

Mistimed phenology (cycle coordination) is a huge issue. We had a crazy warm winter and the ground has now warmed two months early, and woke up the wild pollinators. They are ravenously hungry now, but there is no nectar availble for them to recharge. Everything is still brown and nothing is blooming yet. They are starving to death before they can start this year’s broods. It’s horrible. We can only hope enough new ones will fill in from elsewhere when the flowers/trees finally bloom (the drought is a whole ‘nother cataclysmic problem) or it is could be a catastrophe this year. I don’t think there are nearly enough domestic bees to do the job.