Happy New Year. Here are a few events that will occur in Georgia‘s wild places this year:
January: Right whales give birth offshore. Gray foxes, squirrels, bobcats, raccoons, opossums, beavers breed. Bald eagles and great horned owls tend chicks in nests. Spring peepers call.
February: Black bear cubs are born. Purple martins arrive. Bluebirds check nesting sites. Trout lilies and red maples bloom.
March: Bluebirds and Carolina wrens nest. Early spring wildflowers — toothwort, Dutchman breeches, windflower, spring beauty, bloodroot, violets — bloom.
April: Neo-tropical migrants — ruby-throated hummingbirds, warblers, tanagers, thrushes, flycatchers and others — return, sporting bright breeding colors. Dogwoods and trilliums bloom. The landscape is many shades of green.
May: Migrating shorebirds on the coast devour horseshoe crab eggs. Loggerhead sea turtles lay eggs on beaches. Songbird nesting season is in full swing. Wildflower blooms peak.
June: White-tailed fawns are born. Female alligators build nests. Eastern box turtles and snapping turtles breed.
July: Jewel weed, black-eyed Susan and common milkweed bloom. Ruby-throated hummingbirds fatten up for migration. Katydids and cicadas call.
August: The young of most of the state's 41 snake species are born. Orb-weaving spiders' big webs appear. Baby sea turtles hatch and crawl into the ocean.
September: Goldenrods, asters and other fall wildflowers are in full bloom. Fall bird migration goes into full swing.
October: Deer rutting begins. Black bears fatten up for winter. Wild fruits — paw paw, blackgum, devil's walking stick, wild grapes — are abundant. Winter songbirds, ducks and raptors arrive. By month's end, fall leaf color in the mountains is dazzling.
November: Fall color peaks. Bald eagles prepare to nest.
December: Hollies are full of red berries. Witch-hazel blooms. Evergreens stand out among the leafless hardwoods.
In the sky: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The Quadrantid meteor shower, visible most of next week, peaks at about 80 meteors per hour Sunday and Monday nights — in the north after dark until dawn.
The moon is in the last quarter. Venus is in the east about an hour before sunrise. Mars rises in the east about five hours before sunrise and appears near the moon Sunday morning. Jupiter is in the east before midnight. Saturn rises in the east about two hours before sunrise. Venus and Saturn appear near the moon before dawn Thursday.
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