Birds
As spring arrives in the Piedmont this month, we begin to see profound changes in the composition of our avifauna. Wood Ducks, Blue-winged Teal (local breeders), Double-crested Cormorants, and Ospreys become more abundant. Expect to start seeing vireos, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Purple Martins, and other swallows as well. Lucky observers may even spot a Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Mississippi Kite, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, returning sandpipers, or early warblers such as Black-and-white, Prothonotary, Yellow-throated, Blue-winged, and Tennessee Warblers. At the same time, you can generally say goodbye to winter rarities like Snow Geese and Mute Swans.
March is also the start of nesting season for many birds. By the end of the month, some species may already be incubating eggs. You may see both male and female woodpeckers excavating nest cavities (though males often do most of the work). Woodpeckers typically excavate a new cavity each year, and empty cavities are quickly claimed by species such as starlings, sparrows, and titmice. Even when a tree looks alive, many woodpeckers choose sites with dead heartwood. One notable exception is the Red-cockaded Woodpecker of the North Carolina Sandhills, which excavates cavities in living pine trees.
Later this month, you may notice a few Ruby-throated Hummingbirds arriving at Piedmont feeders from forests and scrublands of Central America—though sightings usually increase by the second week of April. In the Piedmont, females build tiny nests of soft thistle and dandelion down, bound with spider silk and camouflaged with lichen and bud scales. Nests are typically placed 10–20 feet off the ground and may be reused in a later season after repairs.
Butterflies
March brings a noticeable uptick in butterfly activity. Watch for hairstreaks (including Red-banded, Gray, Juniper, and Great Purple) and early swallowtails such as Black and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails. If you want to find Zebra Swallowtails, seek the right habitat: breeding occurs in rich, moist woodlands, often near rivers and swamps. Zebra Swallowtail caterpillars feed only on pawpaw (Asimina spp.), though adults may wander to forest edges to nectar on a variety of flowers, including milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) and Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis).
Lucky observers may find Henry’s Elfins and Eastern Pine Elfins, while most people will definitely notice more Cabbage Whites, sulphurs, Spring Azures, Question Marks, Eastern Commas, and Mourning Cloaks. Toward the end of the month, keep an eye out for Sleeper, Juvenal’s, and Horace’s Duskywings; adults are often found perched on bare ground—dirt roads and trails—where they take up minerals.
Did you know?
Butterflies have neither lungs nor blood in the way we do. Both caterpillars and adults breathe through small openings along the sides of the body called spiracles. From each spiracle, a tube (the trachea) carries oxygen directly to tissues. Because oxygen is delivered directly, butterflies don’t need blood to transport it. They do circulate a greenish fluid called hemolymph, which moves nutrients (but not oxygen) throughout the body.
Reptiles and amphibians
Throughout March, expect to continue hearing Southeastern Chorus Frogs, Spring Peepers, Northern Cricket Frogs, American Toads, Pickerel Frogs, and Eastern Spadefoots. Fowler’s Toads, Bullfrogs, and Green Frogs may start calling this month, though large choruses usually ramp up in April.
March frog call guide
Southeastern Chorus Frog: raspy, rising call—like dragging a thumb over the teeth of a comb
Spring Peeper: loud, medium-pitched “peeep”
Northern Cricket Frog: clinking like two small metal balls tapped together
American Toad: long, musical trill
Pickerel Frog: a drawn-out snore
Eastern Spadefoot: a crabby, deep “eeeerrrr”
Continue to watch for breeding salamanders. You may also see basking Yellow-bellied Sliders, and the occasional Black Ratsnake or racer warming in dappled sunlight.
In bloom this month
March is a great time to brush up on herbaceous plant identification, starting with spring ephemerals—fragile wildflowers that disappear after a brief burst of growth.
One of the first flowers to bloom is round-lobed hepatica (Hepatica americana). Other March ephemerals include spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) and trout lilies (Erythronium americanum), with nodding yellow flowers rising from a pair of dark green, spotted leaves. In richer woods, you might also find red trillium (Trillium cuneatum), may-apple (Podophyllum peltatum), wild gingers/heartleaf (Hexastylis spp.), and bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis).
Bloodroot is a particularly fascinating plant. From its clasping, multi-lobed dark green leaves emerges a delicate white flower with 8–12 petals. The flowers are pollinated by small bees and flies, and the seeds are dispersed by ants—a process called myrmecochory. Ants are attracted to a fleshy, edible structure on the seed called an elaiosome. They carry the seed to the nest, eat the elaiosome, and then discard the seed in nutrient-rich nest debris—effectively planting it.
Soil series of the month
The United States contains more than 19,000 soil series (the most specific grouping of soils based on shared history, chemistry, and physical properties). The broadest category is soil order; worldwide there are only 12. North Carolina is home to seven: Entisols, Inceptisols, Alfisols, Ultisols, Mollisols, and Spodosols.
Ultisols—the quintessential deep red, clay-rich soils of the Piedmont—are the most common soil order in North Carolina. Found in humid regions such as the southeastern United States and parts of southeast Asia, Ultisols tend to be highly weathered, relatively low in native fertility, and clay-rich at depth.
North Carolina’s state soil, the Cecil soil series, is an Ultisol. Cecil soils are deep red and clayey, forming over igneous and metamorphic rocks with granitic qualities. In an undisturbed (“virgin”) state, Cecil soils support mixed hardwood and pine forests and typically have a darker, richer topsoil. Much of the Cecil soil in the Piedmont is no longer in that condition; the fertile surface layer has often been eroded away, exposing the less fertile red subsoil.
References
Cook D. 2001. The Piedmont Almanac. Chapel Hill (NC): Mystic Crow Publishing.
LeGrand HE Jr. 2009. Notes on the Butterflies of North Carolina.
Martof BS, Palmer WM, Bailey JR, Harrison JR. 1980. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia. Chapel Hill (NC): University of North Carolina Press.
Sense of Place 