May was gentle here, which unfortunately wasn’t always the case elsewhere. She performed a brilliant opening act for Summer, leaving us eager for the rest of Maine’s most famous show. Part of May’s job is simply to freshen up everything, turning browns and grays to greens, bringing billowing clouds on sunny days, releasing the scent of balsam in the woods, and providing the warmth to do spring maintenance.
Our resident wildlife prospered during our winter, despite several vicious storms. Among the mammals, the deer and red squirrels were shedding their winter coats and the muskrats were exploring the ponds to build nests and lodges. (The one shown below had lost part of his tail, perhaps in a close call with a bobcat or coyote.)
Of course, May is the beginning of courting time of our resident wild turkeys, with the Toms flexing their feathers all over the place. Feathered summer tourists came early to nest, including Canada geese, ospreys, robins, greater yellowlegs sandpipers, and Eastern phoebes.
As usual, the Mallard ducks came up early and created families that were learning to swim in May. Warblers continually swept through during May, including a black-throated green warbler that was barely visible nesting in a spruce and a magnolia warbler that appeared to be looking to rent a summer place.
Finally for fauna, the painted turtles rose from the depths of their winter tombs in May and the early dragonflies, including Eastern amberwings, began to flit and whir over our ponds.
On the working waterfront, May is the time to take down the booms and masts of winter scallop fishing and to get the lobster traps in shape for the summer. Specialized vessels roam the waters returning floats to piers and setting heavy moorings in place, while the lobster boats are made ready.
On the recreational waterfront here, May is when the WoodenBoat School alumni return for two weeks to spruce up their renowned alma mater for the classes that begin during the first week of June. The class rooms are readied for boatbuilding and other marine-oriented classes, the sailboat mooring gear is cleaned, and the School’s fleet of small boats is returned to Great Cove, where other sail boats have started to appear. The alumni work hard and enjoy it.
As for flora, May is known as the bringer of flowers. But it’s also when you can see how fast spruce and balsam trees grow and how larch (tamarack) trees regain their needles that were shed in the fall. Of course, May also is pink and white apple tree blossom time, red maple tree leaf time, and white horse chestnut tree pyramid time..
We’re far from done here, flora-wise: May is when the vibrantly green leaves of mountain ash (rowan) trees spiral out and the red leaves and white blossoms of shadblow trees mingle; when plum tree blossoms and buds create purple galaxies, and when yellow magnolia tree and white star magnolia blossoms reach for the sky.
Wait! There’s even more around the houses. May is when forsythia bushes form yellow tidal waves, lilac bushes erupt in bursts of white and purple, crabapple trees become bundles of buds and flowers, rhododendron bushes try to upstage everything, and daffodils are everywhere.
Not done yet! Back on the wild side, May is when star flowers begin to appear in the darker woods with bunchberry ground covering. In the sunny fields, the blues are played: bluets, Eastern blue-eyed grass, wild blue flag iris, and wild blue lupines with their starburst leaves. Of course, we dare not forget the mighty yellow dandelion, many of which have turned to seed pappi in May.
In the bogs and ponds, skunk cabbages are well on their way to becoming immense in May; lily pads are rising, and arrow arum is starting to form its green arrow heads. We could go on and on with the May flora, but we’ve done more than enough, don’t you think?
Finally, we end with May’s full moon. It will not surprise you to hear that it is known as the Flower Moon. This May it rose through a fog which soon lifted so that we could see this very old friend’s craggy features.
(All images in this post were taken in Blue Hill and Brooklin, Maine, during May 2024.)