Mesic Mixed Forest -- Seasonal Highlights

Spring Highlights

Fresh pale green of new emerging leaves
White blooms of flowering dogwood, common serviceberry, mayapple, Solomon’s plume, hairy sweet-cicely, mapleleaf viburnum
Yellow blooms of tuliptree
Occasional maroon blooms of pawpaw
Greenish to purple hoods of Jack-in-the-pulpit
Resident and migratory birds: eastern phoebe, eastern wood-pewee, wood thrush (listen for flute-like song), ovenbird (often on the forest floor), screech owl, barred owls, woodpeckers (such as red-bellied, pileated, downy, and hairy)
Male white-tailed deer beginning their annual re-growth of bony antlers cloaked in velvet-covered skin
Scentless, spotted newborn fawns, left to sleep unattended on the forest floor, while the doe forages for food, returning every few hours to nurse

Shadiest time of year in the forest and easiest time to identify plants by leaves
Ferns fully unfurled
Tiny white blooms of broadleaf enchanter’s-nightshade
Odd wine-colored blooms (late summer and fall) of beechdrops
Occasional red berries of common serviceberry
Birds most active at dawn and dusk; but listen for the red-eyed vireo’s song in the afternoon when most birds are quiet
Gray squirrels (some black in color!) scrambling around the trees or forest floor, pausing frequently to feed Ecobit: When Black is Only Gray
One or two spotted fawns trailing mother white-tailed deer, nibbling on leaves and nursing

Nuts (hard mast)—oak acorns, beechnuts, hickory nuts
Colorful leaves—yellow American beech and tuliptree; red, purple and brown hues of oaks, red maple, and flowering dogwood; dark green Christmas fern and American holly
Ribbony yellow blooms of American witch-hazel
White blooms of white wood-aster
Dark berries of mapleleaf viburnum
Red berries of Jack-in-the-pulpit, flowering dogwood, American holly
White wooly strings of the “Boogie-Woogie Aphid” on beech twigs (some years abundant) Ecobit: The Boogie Woogie Aphid
Migratory birds heading south, feeding on the fruits of wild grapes, flowering dogwood and mapleleaf viburnum
Male white-tailed deer scraping off the drying, peeling velvety antler covering on small trees or shrubs—revealing bone-white antlers, ready for mock battles of the mating season

Tan leaves clinging to American beech trees amid spear-shaped, long buds of next season’s leaves
Prickly dark green leaves of American holly, accented with red berries (popular with winter resident birds, and returning migrant birds in late winter/early spring)
Brown and gray hues of twigs and bark with interesting textures
Sword-like tan seeds of tuliptree
Onion-shaped, fat flower buds of flowering dogwood tree
Winter resident birds such as dark-eyed junco, Carolina chickadee, tufted titmouse, American robin, hairy woodpecker, pileated woodpecker, yellow-bellied sapsucker, downy woodpecker
Male white-tailed deer sporting antlers—or not (shedding them in late winter)