Yellow jackets are wasps that are often mistakenly called hornets or bees. The workers and males are dead and the queens are hibernating. They will build new nests in the spring / The dead remains of Canada lilies are easy to identify. Look in moist places for upright three-parted capsules on tall candelabra-like stalks / Southbound snow geese will spend time feeding and resting in suitable wetlands / Kingfishers stick around until ponds and streams freeze

Deer are mating. Fawns will appear at the end of May / Late migrants may include red throated loons, common loons, and ring billed gulls / Brook trout are spawning in swift, clean streams / Mourning doves are forming winter flocks, organized in the hierarchical manner typical of most gregarious birds / Cedar waxwings have left their nesting areas to gather into wandering flocks. They will search out crabapples and other persistent fruits throughout the winter

Some northern saw whet owls migrate, others will hunt in fields for meadow voles / Monarch butterflies will soon settle into cypress trees in central Mexico / Redbreasted nuthatches favor softwoods; the white breasted ones are more common in hardwoods. Both will visit feeders in either habitat / Porcupines are back to feeding on bark, now that leaves have fallen: aspen, basswood, and mountain maple are favorites / Bullfrogs usually spend two winters as tadpoles

If falling birch seeds are blown across crusted snow, they may end up a long way from the parent tree / Males of many migrating bird species don’t fly as far south as the females, perhaps so that they can return north earlier to establish a high-quality breeding territory / Until snow covers the fields, waste grain is an important food source for crows / Green lacewings may prefer to winter inside your house, instead of seeking shelter under bark