I was walking on a sunny path along the Flint River near Albany the other day when I came across an early Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly nectaring on yellow jessamine. While I paused to admire the yellow on yellow, a brown thrasher landed on a live oak festooned with Spanish moss.
A few steps further I found some honeybees buzzing around purple wisteria blooms.
Then, it occurred to me: I was seeing four of Georgia's official state symbols almost at the same time: state butterfly, state tree, state bird, state insect. I'm not sure of the significance of that, but it got me to thinking about our state symbols -- the living ones, at least -- and how April is such a busy time for them. Here’s a rundown:
- Honeybee swarms are flying out now. Swarming is the way the social insects create new hives. Honeybees, though, are in alarming decline in Georgia and elsewhere due to parasitic mites, viruses, pesticides and other causes. Bee experts hope for a better year, but it doesn't seem likely for the bees.
- The brown thrasher is in prime breeding season now. Some thrashers already are building their cup-shaped nests on or close to the ground.
- Eastern tiger swallowtails are emerging after over-wintering in the chrysalis stage. Those now flitting about will lay more eggs and produce more butterflies. By late May, we should have the usual scores of tiger swallowtails visiting our nectar-producing flowers.
- The green tree frog, the state amphibian, is early in its breeding season. After a rain, you might hear large groups of males performing their night-time choruses, which sound like a riot of nasal queenks, queenks, queenks. The frogs are abundant in Georgia's coastal plain and piedmont, but not in the mountains.
- The nesting season for the gopher tortoise, Georgia's state reptile, is starting in the piney flatwoods and sandhills of Georgia's coastal plain. The animal, whose burrows may be 10 feet deep, is on Georgia's protected list because of habitat loss.
- The state's official wildflower is the wild azalea, which is confusing because there are 14 native azalea species in Georgia that bloom as early as March or as late as mid-summer. The whitish-pink piedmont azalea is blooming now in north Georgia's woods and forests. The yellowish-orange Florida azalea is blooming on wooded bluffs and wooded stream banks in south Georgia.
- The Cherokee rose, the state flower (not to be confused with wildflower), is blooming now. It is not a native, though; it was imported from China in the 1700s. Legend says the Cherokee Indians widely distributed the vine. In some areas, it is now considered an invasive species.
In the sky: The moon will be first quarter on Monday, rising out of the east around lunch time and setting in the west around midnight, said David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Science Museum. Venus rises out of the east about three hours before sunrise. Saturn rises out of the east at dark and is visible the night long. Mercury, Mars and Jupiter are not easily seen right now.
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