1.   This nighttime bird of prey has keen hearing and good night vision and nests in winter. These birds frequently become patients at the Wildlife Clinic at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton after being hit by a car while hunting or feeding along roads at night.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

2.   These “early birds,” which tend to sing earlier in the morning and to nest earlier in the season than most other songbirds, are famous as a sign of spring when they start to hunt earthworms on our lawns.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

3.   This large, shiny black beetle with white spots and long antennae is an invasive species that feeds inside maple trees and other hardwoods (in its larval stage), and has been found in Worcester and some surrounding towns, including nearby Shrewsbury.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

4.   This small, early woodland wildflower has cream-colored bell-like blossoms that appear before the trees leaf out, and has a name that makes us think of our morning oatmeal.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

5.   These woodland shrubs bear drooping clusters of small white bell-shaped flowers that attract bumblebees in the spring, and then in summer produce sweet, nutritious wild berries.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

6.   These large plants come up in damp areas in May, growing leaves or fronds that are 3-5 feet tall and bearing spores (rather than seeds). On has spores on long spikes that look like cinnamon-sticks, and the other has them on dark leaflets that interrupt the regular leaves.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

7.   Best known as a game bird, this chicken-like native bird burrows into deep snow on cold winter nights, and on spring mornings males make a muffled drumming sound with their wings to advertise their territory and attract mates.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

8.   June and July are good months to look for these small, mostly gray butterflies (but with blue, orange, black, and white patterns on the undersides of their wings) at milkweed blossoms as well as shallower flowers that are easy for them to dip their short “tongues” into.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

9.   This native plant has spikes of purple blossoms that grow right out of shallow water along shorelines, and its leaves and fruit were food for Native Americans and colonists and are still eaten by ducks, muskrats, and deer.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

10.   This non-native plant of poor soils has soft, fuzzy, gray-pink flowerheads that are fun for kids to find, and its name calls to mind a popular animal of childhood stories.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

11.   These two mushrooms – a purple one and a shaggy one – grow on the ground in woods with oaks, where they form a mutually beneficial underground “fungus-root” connection with tree roots.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

12.   This climbing native vine produces blazing red foliage and dark blue berries in the fall, clinging to tree trunks and fences with tiny, sticky disks on its tendrils.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

13.   These mushrooms with a pleasant-sounding name grow in clumps on hardwood trees, and eventually kill the trees.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats

14.   These little birds, heavily streaked in brown, occasionally appear in Westborough – south of their usual range – in years when seed production is skimpy in the pine and spruce forests farther north.
American robin Asian longhorned beetle barred owls blueberry cinnamon fern and interrupted fern hairstreaks – gray, banded, and striped honey mushrooms pickerel-weed pine siskins rabbit’s foot clover ruffed grouse Virginia creeper viscid violet cort & old man of the woods wild oats