Astronomy

On Friday April 1 look for the crescent Moon after sunset and you’ll see the Pleiades star cluster nearby. The Pleiades mark the end of one of the horns of the constellation Taurus the Bull. And on Saturday the 2nd the planet Jupiter will be very close to the Moon.

Birds

Great Blue Herons returned to this area as soon as there was open water. Have you seen any? Other members of the Heron family, including Great Egrets, Green Herons, and Black-crowned Night Herons, also return as waters open up and they are able to hunt for frogs and fish. Look for them along the river and along Trout Brook. Female Red-winged Blackbirds return about now, and start to build nests in the territories claimed by the males who returned a couple of weeks ago. Canada Geese begin to nest now, too; the females often build nests near where they hatched.

Eagles are one of the first birds to nest, often laying eggs in mid-February. They build big nests of sticks, and use them year after year, each year adding on to make the nest even bigger. You’ll often see the nests in cottonwood trees. Cottonwoods are strong enough to hold the nests, which can weigh up to a ton! Eagle eggs hatch after about a month of incubation. Both parents participate in feeding the hatchlings and protecting the nest. If you are lucky enough to see an eagle’s nest, be respectful and observe it from a distance using binoculars.

Amphibians and Reptiles

Spring Peepers and Boreal Chorus Frogs continue calling in the evenings. Wood Frogs join the frog chorus in early April. If you are walking through a wooded area with ponds and hear low chuckling that suddenly stops when you get close to it, you’re hearing Wood Frogs! Wood Frogs can sense the vibrations of your footsteps and think you might be a frog-eating animal, which is why they go silent. If you stand still for a few moments they will resume their chuckling. Peepers and Chorus Frogs are both about one inch long, while Wood Frogs can be much bigger, ranging from one to three inches long.

Plants and a Fungus

Hepatica leaves are poking up from under the leaf litter. Hepaticas are usually the first of the spring ephemeral wildflowers to bloom. They are called “hepatica” because their three-lobed leaves are shaped like a liver – “hepar” means “liver” in Greek. Bloodroots also bloom very early. Bloodroot takes its name from its reddish-orange stems that extend underground, and its blood-red colored sap. These two spring ephemerals and others live in the hardwood forests and bloom before the trees have leafed out, when sunlight reaches the forest floor. Look for them in the woods at Afton.

Once you see spring ephemerals you may also see Scarlet Cup Fungi in the leaf litter, most likely beneath oaks and basswoods. They are one of the first fungi to send up fruiting bodies in the spring. The scarlet cup we see aboveground is the fruiting body; the rest of the fungus is called the mycelium and lives underground.

Weather observations

Here are some weather observations from the Afton State Park area from past years

Friday, March 28	2020: Thunder and lightning in the evening
Saturday, March 29	2024: wind from the east with clouds giving way to sun; 2023: teens in the morning, with high temperature below freezing; 2021: 70° and very windy
Sunday, March 30	2024: 40s and sunshine, lots of snow melting; 2022: rain, ice and snow overnight
Monday, March 31	2023: Gray day, with spitty rain off and on adding up to record 1.41 inches; 2018: One inch of wet snow overnight; An old saying for March weather is “In like a lion, out like a lamb; in like a lamb, out like a lion”. Will March of 2025 go out like a lamb or a lion? In 2024 the high was in the upper 40s, which is typical for the end of March.
Tuesday, April 1	2024: gray day in the low 40s; 2023: Blizzard overnight, 20s, 8 inches of heavy, wet, snow by morning; 2015: record high of 84°; 2002: record snowfall of 4.6 inches
Wednesday, April 2	2024: snow and rain early, temperature in the 30s; 2023: the end of a record streak of 132 days with the temperature below 50 degrees; 2020: pleasant morning, temperature near 40°; 2006: record rainfall of 1.06 inches
Thursday, April 3	2024: gusty winds up to 42024: gusty winds up to 40 miles per hour, high in the 40s; 2021: lovely day in 70s; 2020: rain and snow off and on throughout day; 2018: record snowfall of 7.5 inches

Photo/Image credits

All photos/images copyright Nina Manzi, except:

• Dean Lokken: Great Egret
• Gary Sater: Bald Eagles, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron
• Allen Blake Sheldon, MN Conservation Volunteer: Boreal Chorus Frog, Spring Peeper