March 1998

     Happenings in and around Linnaeus Arboretum

Listed below are a few observations from a year ago in the Linnaeus Arboretum area, and out of the area when indicated. These events can be used to anticipate March 1999 happenings and will help to compare this year with last.

1 - With melting snow, more fresh pocket gopher mounds, and sounds of American robins and Canada geese, it seems like early spring. Pair of hooded mergansers return to Bass Creek (open) in Brooklyn Park. Eastern bluebird claims nestbox at River Bend Nature Center, Fairbault. Pussy willow catkins out and fuzzy at Fairmont.

2 - A dozen northern cardinals visit one feeder in Edina. Maple syrup producers are tapping trees; great sap flow today. Maple sap flow is triggered by thawing days, reaching into the 40s, following freezing night temperatures.

3 - First batch of maple syrup finished off; very good quality. Pussy willow catkins out; perfect time to bring branches indoors for a touch of spring. Some male quaking aspen catkins out about one-half inch; they are fuzzy and gray.

4 - Pairs of Canada geese stand on pond ice, declaring territories. Only about one-third of Twin Cities landscape has snow and that's mostly less than one inch.

5 - Sap icicles available on both boxelder and silver maple trees for a spring treat. They taste great! It's the mating season for red foxes. 1983: First great blue herons return to the rookery near Cold Spring.

6 - About 100 bald eagles at Grass Lake in Eden Prairie. Some male American goldfinches have big splotches of bright yellow feathers. First grading of gravel roads in Grygla area.

7 - Good maple sap flow. Ring-necked pheasants crowing, red-wings trilling, and house finches and northern cardinals singing. Red-breasted nuthatch, pine siskins, and American goldfinches visit a feeder in Bloomington.

8 - Landscape is about 90 percent free of snow. Canada geese honking. Redpolls numerous at Grygla area feeding station. 1993: Woodchuck out and active.

9 - As skunks are moving about the landscape searching for companionship and trying to fill a stomach clamoring for food, they sometimes relax their caution and pay little heed to traffic. Dark-eyed juncos migrating through Brooklyn Park.

10 - First 13-lined ground squirrel out and about. 1997: First flock of red-winged blackbirds observed in Waconia. 1996: First Canada goose migrants returned to Carver Park, near Victoria.

11 - Red-tailed hawk on nest in Maple Grove. First tug and barges of season came through Mississippi River Lock and Dam No. 2 at Hastings, headed for St. Paul. 1993: With cold weather now the raccoons are back sleeping in their dens. White-breasted nuthatches continue calling "whi, whi, whi...," their spring song. Coho salmon are being caught in Lake Superior out of Two Harbors.

12 - Northern cardinal began whistling "what-cheer, cheer..." 25 minutes before sunrise. Lake ice "booming" on this cold morning. In Moose Lake area, the fuzzy, gray pussy willow catkins are out and showy in wetlands.

13 - Streams along the North Shore like the Baptism Rive