What's Happening In Nature

May: Nature Wakes Up In Full Color

May arrives with a kind of joyful urgency. After months of muted colors and quiet woods, the natural world leaps back to life. This is the month when every walk outdoors feels like a discovery, every morning starts with a chorus, and every patch of green seems to grow fuller by the day.

Migration is one of the biggest highlights of May. Many of our long-distance travelers return right on schedule, bringing a burst of color and song to our backyards and forests. Baltimore Orioles brighten treetops with their electric orange plumage, while Ruby-throated Hummingbirds—our only hummingbird species in the Northeast—dart in and out of flowering gardens. Observers may also spot Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, whose striking pink chest patches make them stand out among the spring foliage.

While new arrivals settle in, our year-round residents are busy with family life. Black-capped Chickadees, Carolina Wrens, and Tufted Titmice are actively nesting this month, carrying soft materials like moss, bark, and animal fur to line their homes. If you’ve noticed birds zipping back and forth with beakfuls of found treasures, you’re likely watching the unseen architecture behind their growing families.

May also brings a lovely bit of symbolism with Mother’s Day right in the middle of it. Many bird species are incubating eggs or tending nestlings during this time, which feels fitting as nature’s own celebration of motherhood. It’s a wonderful reminder of just how much care, dedication, and energy wild mothers invest—whether it’s a hummingbird fiercely defending her tiny cup nest or a wren tirelessly delivering food to her growing brood.

The plant world is putting on a show of its own. Dogwoods scatter their soft white blooms along neighborhood streets. Shadbush—also known as serviceberry—erupts in delicate flowers that glow at woodland edges. Ferns begin their slow uncurling, and trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit pop up for those willing to look closely along shaded trails. By mid-May, the landscape is a shifting palette of fresh greens punctuated by wildflower color.

Marshes and wetlands are equally lively. Red-winged blackbirds perch atop cattails, declaring their territories with the unmistakable “konk-la-ree!” Frogs call from pond edges, turtles bask on logs, and dragonflies make their seasonal debut as shimmering adults.

With the longer days and returning wildlife, May invites us to pause, appreciate, and simply look around. Nature is offering daily reminders that spring is in full swing—and there’s beauty waiting everywhere you turn.