Astronomy
All month Venus will be very bright and high in the evening sky after sunset. Check it out! And if you have a clear view to the western horizon at sunset, on Monday the 24th look for the planet Saturn with the planet Mercury nearby.
Late winter is a great time for stargazing. The constellation Orion is visible almost all night, and if you find Orion you will have found three of the 20 brightest stars in the night sky. Betelgeuse is Orion’s left shoulder, Bellatrix is his right shoulder, and Rigel his front foot. And just below and to the left of Orion, not visible in the photograph, is Sirius, the dog star, the brightest star in the night sky at magnitude -1.4.
Meteorology
Is that hoar frost, or rime ice? These phenomena look alike, but are formed differently. When overcast days follow snowfall, rime ice becomes more likely. Rime ice happens when water droplets in fog freeze directly onto trees, grasses, shrubs, and other surfaces. Rime ice often looks like frozen droplets of water. Hoar frost forms on cold and clear nights, when moisture in the air goes directly from being a vapor or gas to being a solid, skipping the liquid state entirely! (This is called “sublimation”). Hoar frost looks more feathery than rime ice, and often blows away in even a light breeze.
Birds
Believe it or not, even with cold temperatures and snow cover, the first migrating birds are passing through Minnesota. These are Horned Larks! Horned Larks are the only true larks in the new world, and take their name from tufted feathers on top of their heads that look a little like horns. Look for them along roads and the edges of trails, foraging for gravel. I’ve seen them in past years along Neal Ave and 70th St. near Afton State Park.
You may also see American Robins in late February and early March. These are probably not the robins that went south for the winter, but instead are most likely robins that overwintered in Minnesota. Overwintering robins are quiet and furtive, often moving silently through the woods in flocks. When migrating robins return they will be loud and raucous, and the overwintering birds will become noisy then, too.
It’s not spring yet, but spring is on the way! Some of the sounds of spring are the calls of Black-capped Chickadees, Northern Cardinals, White-breasted Nuthatches, the drumming of Woodpeckers, and the gobbling of Turkeys. Male Chickadees sing “Fee-Bee” to establish territories. Females may respond with “Dee-dee-dee” to let the males know they’re around. The males and females look very much alike, with the male having a slightly larger black “bib” on his breast.
The spring song of the White-breasted Nuthatch sounds like “whi-whi-whi-whi-whi-whi”.
Both male and female Northern Cardinals whistle “What cheer cheer cheer”. The males and females look very different. The female is a yellowish-gray with hints of red, while the male is bright red with some gray on his wings.
The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest of the woodpeckers found at Afton, about 6 ½ inches long. The Hairy Woodpecker looks a lot like the Downy, but is about three inches longer. In both species the males have bright red caps, but the females do not.
At this time of year male Wild Turkeys gobble, and fan their tail feathers. Male turkeys are called “toms”, and the females are called “hens”. The toms are trying to impress hen turkeys with their gobbling, and also trying to intimidate other toms.
Mammals
Have you seen two or more squirrels running through the woods, one after the other? Squirrels chase each other throughout the year to defend a territory, and young squirrels chase around in play that serves as practice for more serious adult chasing. In late winter what you see may be a mating chase, in which several males follow a female either slowly or quickly in hopes of mating. You might also see a lot of tracks in the snow marking where a chase occurred. Gray squirrels give birth 40 to 44 days after mating, in a big nest made out of leaves. Red squirrels may also build nests of leaves, bark, and twigs, or they may nest inside hollow trees. Newborn squirrels are blind and have no fur. They remain in their leafy nest, cared for by their mother, for seven to ten weeks after birth. Look for them to be out and about while learning from Mom how to be a squirrel in late March and April.
Insects
Did you know that some species of butterflies spend the winter as adults, tucked away in the leaf litter of the forest floor or burrowed under tree bark? Mourning Cloak, Eastern Comma, and Milbert’s Tortoiseshell butterflies are three of the species that overwinter at Afton. They may come out for short flights on mild winter days, and are likely to be among the first kinds of butterflies that you see in the spring.
Trees
In most years mid-February into March is maple syrup season in our part of Minnesota! When daytime temperatures are above freezing, and nighttime temperatures below freezing, pressure builds up inside maple trees and causes sap to flow. This is the time to tap trees! A person hoping to make syrup drills a small hole into the tree, and taps into it a small metal tube called a “spile”, angled slightly downward. In the daytime sap will drip through the spile and fall into a collecting bucket. Overnight when the temperature drops the tree pulls up moisture from the soil and replenishes its supply of sap. If the temperature rises too quickly and remains above freezing day and night, the trees will be OK but there won’t be much of a sap run.
To make maple syrup, you first need to identify maple trees. This is easy when they have leaves in the summer, but not so easy in the winter. One clue is to look at the buds on the branches overhead, which will be swollen and almost ready to open during syruping time. Another is the bark. On mature trees the bark is in flaky sheets, but in younger trees the bark is furrowed. Try to study maple trees in the summertime to get a good idea of what the bark looks like. But even the best maple syrupers end up drilling a dry hole into a non-maple now and then! Visit the Minnesota DNR website for more information on making maple syrup: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/maple_syruping.html
Weather observations
Here are some weather observations from the Afton State Park area from past years.
| Friday, February 14 | 2024: rain in the afternoon, changing to snow, leading to a record 6.9”; 2023: rain through the day, high in the 30s; 2019: 20s in the morning, with a dusting of snow in the afternoon |
| Saturday, February 15 | 2024: sunny and 20s, snow melting off roads and cars; 2019: sunny and in the teens for a high |
| Sunday, February 16 | 2021: this day marks the end of 116 consecutive hours with temperatures below zero; 2017: mild day in the 40s |
| Monday, February 17 | 2022: sunny and cold, temperature rising from single digits into the teens; 2017: record high of 63°; 2014: record snow 4.9” |
| Tuesday, February 18 | 2019: cold and calm and near 10° in the morning; 2017: record high of 58°, tying 1981; 2015: minus 10° to start the day |
| Wednesday, February 19 | 2022: clear and cold in the morning, in the single digits; 2017: record high of 59° |
| Thursday, February 20 | 2024: mild with a high in the 40s; 2017: 50s with rain and mist through day; 2011: record snowfall of 11.8” |
| Friday, February 21 | 2024: high in upper 40s; 2017: record high of 62°, but day started with temperatures below freezing |
| Saturday, February 22 | 2024: sunny and in the 40s; 2022: snow through the day, about six inches; 2017: record high of 59°; 2015: minus 8° to start the day, the 22nd day with temperatures below zero in the winter of 2014-2015 |
| Sunday, February 23 | 2023: record snowfall of 6.5 inches; 2015: 10° below zero to start the day, rising into teens |
| Monday, February 24 | 2016: high of 38°; 2007: record snowfall of 4.8” |
| Tuesday, February 25 | 2024: sun in the morning, then clouds, temperature in the 40s; 2017: partly sunny, in 30s; 2012: flurries in the morning with temperatures in the teens |
| Wednesday, February 26 | 2024: sunny and breezy, record high 65°; 2015: high near 10°; 2017: high in 40s; sunny but windy, in the 30s. |
| Thursday, February 27 | 2024: rain and a dusting of snow with falling temperatures; 2021: sunny early in the day, temperature in the 40s; 2016: record high of 58° |
Photo/Image credits
All photos and images copyright Nina Manzi, except:
- Michael Furtman, MN Conservation Volunteer: Black-capped Chickadee
- Keith Henjum: Hairy Woodpecker
- Jamie Olson Kinne: Eastern Comma
- Dean Lokken: American Robin, Horned lark, Northern Cardinal Female, Northern Cardinal Male;
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Bill Marchel, MN Conservation Volunteer: Gray Squirrel
- Stan Tekiela, MN Conservation Volunteer: Downy Woodpecker
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