After a cold March–very different from last year–there are a few signs of spring. Today, at the Oshtemo Township oak area I heard a few wood frogs call mid-afternoon.  The day had gotten steadily warmer and it must have been in the high 50s by then. Air temperature.  I didn’t have a thermometer so I’m not sure what the water temperature was.

Looking back, I see that wood frogs first called here last year on 12 March.  Not only that, I led a spring wild flower field trip to Harris Sanctuary on 7 April 2012.  That corresponds to this coming weekend.  I haven’t been to Harris yet this spring, but at the beech-maple forest in Pavilion Township, about the only things up are spring beauty, wild leek, false mermaid weed, and harbinger of spring.  The last is the only thing that was in bloom as of Monday (1 April). It came up a few days earlier, with flowers that looked like white pin-heads.

Here in the oak woods probably no native herbs are yet in bloom, but winter aconite, snow drops, and crocus are, and honey-bees were visiting the crocus in late afternoon with the air temperature at 59 degrees. Few native herbs are visible above ground, but the rosettes of rather heart-shaped leaves of golden ragwort  were green and healthy a little upslope from the same pond where the wood frogs had been calling.