Virginia creeper and grapes are foodplants for Abbott’s sphinx moth caterpillars. Large green spots – much like the immature grapes nearby – cover the back of this striking insect. They will pupate soon, so check for them now.

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Our dog flushed a grouse off a nest containing just three eggs this morning. Grouse normally incubate 9 to 14 eggs but when, after shooing off the dog, I reached into the brush pile to straighten out the situation, the eggs were warm, suggesting that this female was calling it quits at three.
April, Part 2
Toads in the garden and in the lawn. It’s time to do some mowing, but toads come first.
Warm rainy night but not warm enough for major amphibian travel – just four wood frogs got helped across the road.
Turtles are crossing roads. If conditions permit, a helping hand might keep one of them from being hit by a careless vehicle.
Skunks are looking for mates. Roads and cars can be a problem for them.
Some of us need to relearn the thrush songs anew every year: the sort of ee-o-lay of the wood thrush, followed by a buzz; the longish first note of the hermit thrush followed by a jumble; the downward slide (think V) of the veery.
After waiting for a long time for a warm sunny day that didn’t happen, serviceberry buds decided it’s time to open. Roadsides are now very pretty.