Nature changes most rapidly in April. In only a few weeks, the barren woods fade from gray to pale green with new leaves and the forest floor is carpeted by a weekly succession of wildflowers as their life cycles are played out beneath the ever-darkening forest canopy. Bird migration begins in earnest this month and the woods, meadows, lakes and shorelines of Cleveland Metroparks offer some of the finest bird watching available anywhere in Ohio.

Spring comes quickly and summer is only a few weeks away! The rapid changes of April give way to a slower and more stately procession of nature as May begins.

Birds-

White-throated sparrows, singing their plaintive "old Sam Peabody-Peabody-Peabody" calls continue to pour through Ohio on their way to northern Canada.

Rufous-sided towhees return this week.

Killdeer return in to the Cleveland area in large numbers. If you approach a nest, watch the female perform the "broken wing" act to draw you away.

Wildflowers-

Spring beauty and hepatica begin to bloom throughout most of Cleveland Metroparks. Some years North Chagrin Reservation's wildflowers bloom almost a week later due to the "lake effect."

Trout lily or "yellow adder's tongue" begins to bloom in Cleveland Metroparks southern reservations. Watch for them a week or so later in Rocky River, Mill Stream Run and Garfield Park reservations.

Birds-

Male woodcocks perform their spectacular "sky dance" in morning and evening twilight each day through mid-May in hopes of attracting a female. Watch open fields with some shrub cover and discover the spectacle for yourself.

Canada geese are incubating eggs at Lake Isaac in Big Creek Reservation and Sunset Pond in North Chagrin Reservation.

Wildflowers-

Violets, bloodroot, rue anemone and cut-leaf toothwort should be in bloom this week along most of Cleveland Metroparks nature trails.

Amphibians-

On warm, wet rainy evenings in Brecksville, North Chagrin and Mill Stream Run reservations hundreds of salamanders may trudge to their ancestral breeding ponds. Valley Parkway in Brecksville is occasionally closed to protect them as they cross the road.

American toads' long trilling calls can be heard in wet spots throughout Cleveland Metroparks as their short breeding cycle begins.

Birds-

If south winds prevail this week, a major bird migration should be underway. Look for Swainson's and hermit thrushes, sandpipers and some of these warblers: yellow-throated, yellow-rumped, black-throated green and (especially in North Chagrin Reservation) hooded warblers.

Wildflowers-

Great white trilliums, Ohio's state wildflower, should be up but not quite yet blooming in most Cleveland Metroparks forests.

Marsh marigolds add their yellow beauty to low wet places this week.

Shrubs-

Spicebush and shadbush (serviceberry) are blooming throughout Rocky River Valley. Their soft whites and yellows still provide a contrast with the emerging forest canopy overhead.

Reptiles-

Garter snakes should be seen frequently as they leave their winter dens and soak up the warm spring sunshine.

Birds-

Bluebirds should be back in force this week. Is your bluebird house cleaned out and ready for this year's visitors?

More birds of the deep forest such as the rose-breasted grosbeak and the northern oriole should have returned from their winter haunts in tropical rain-forests.

Wildflowers-

Grassy open places are carpeted with tiny four-petaled bluets. So many may bloom that they resemble a pale blue snowdrift in the spring woods.

Snowy white trilliums now dot most of Cleveland Metroparks deep woodlands. Look around them for Virginia bluebells, Dutchman's breeches and squirrel corn.