This is a collaboration between MEEC and Miami River Valley Wild Church. For information on the Wild Church movement, visit wildchurchnetwork.com. If you would like to be kept informed of changes to the Wild Church schedule and receive reminders for future Wild Church events, click here.
Wild Church is an opportunity to explore nature with others, to slow down, and to renew your spirit, refresh your body and expand your mind. These gatherings are facilitated by Methodist Deaconness Beth Vanoli. We begin with a liturgy of poetry and readings, followed by a time of Centering Prayer. The “homily” is our soul in conversation with the Divine, each in our own way— around the grounds and nature trails at Mount Saint John before gathering back together for a time of sharing.
We will meet at the Deacon Greg Cecere Pavilion on Lot C at Mount Saint John; in case of inclement weather, we will begin in the MEEC meeting room in Saint Joseph Hall. For a map and directions, click the "visit" tab at the top of this page. Bring a reading or a poem about nature and creation to share, if you wish. We love to hear what speaks to your heart in this season. It is helpful if you can arrive a little before 10:00 so we can begin on time. If you have questions, email Beth.
Here are a few things you might encounter on the land in May:
Songbird migration is in full swing, including about 30 species of warblers. Many of these long-haul migrants winter in South and Central America and pass through Ohio in flocks large enough to be detected by weather radar. They congregate for rest and refueling in northern Ohio at sites such as Magee Marsh, known as the warbler capital of the world, waiting for southerly winds to help propel them across Lake Erie to their summer breeding grounds in Canada and beyond.
Great Horned Owlets fledge (fly from the nest) but often stay close enough to their parents to beg for spare food throughout the summer as they hone their hunting skills.
Adult butterfly numbers surge. Most have overwintered in an immature stage; swallowtails, for example, winter as pupae in chrysalides and fritillaries spend the winter as caterpillars. Many moths survive until spring as egg masses. A few migrate, the monarch being the most charismatic example, and some moths and just three butterflies - commas, question marks and mourning cloaks - overwinter as adults.
Mammal young are spending more time on their own, but most won't fully emancipate until fall.
Queen bumblebees are rearing daughters to carry on the work of foraging and by month's end have retired from field work to focus on egg laying full time. It's mostly sterile workers of Bombus and other bee species you see gathering nectar and pollen from the mid- to late-spring blooms.
The earliest prairie wildflowers begin to bloom, led by the baptisias and beardtongues.
The canopy has closed in the woods, and spring ephemeral wildflower seeds continue to mature. Many are dispered by ants attracted to fatty seed appendages called elaisomes. The seeds that germinate may take up to seven years to reach reproductive maturity.
As soon as the leaves emerge, evidence of faunal associations abound. Look for galls, leaf mines, window-paning and leaf cutouts, all examples of insect use.
Tree frogs and toads have left their mating pools and returned to the woods (or perhaps to your lawn or garden!) and masses of tadpoles can be found in ponds and ephemeral pools.