I Spy on the Trails - March 2025

Lunar eclipse 3/14/25 taken
with iPhone 16 Pro Max
through a TeleVue 76 telescope

It's hard to settle on one highlight or observation this month as nature begins her spring wake-up in earnest (we hope!). Subtle and not so subtle signs abound.

• The first blooming Pasque flowers of the season

• The lovely surprise of a butterfly spreading its wings in the sun

• The abundance of eagles on the ice edges and in flight, especially on a blufftop where they sweep past you at eye level

• The return of some of the earliest fungi - scarlet elfin cups

• The raucous calls of geese and trumpeter swans stopping briefly on the newly ice-free waters of the Mississippi River sloughs and La Crescent's Blue Lake to rest before racing on to their summer nesting grounds in the Arctic

• 

  Fuzzy buds

  
  The return of the robins and grackles in great flocks

• Budding trees making the blufftops look fuzzy, a big change from the stark prickly look of winter treetops

• The smoke plumes of prescribed burns on prairies promising lush growth of flowers and grasses in coming months

One of the warm days at Lytle's Landing
Image - Kris Lawson

The temperatures continued their fluctuations in March, flickering day by day between the 30s and 40's and then reaching into the 50s and 60s and even into the 70s before plunging back down. The winds were particularly notable - long-lasting and strong. March came in like a lion and pretty much stayed that way all month.

Weather stayed fairly dry throughout the month with three interesting exceptions. First, unexpected "mud rain" fell overnight on March 15. The phenomenon occurred when strong winds created massive dust storms in Texas and Oklahoma that sucked dust into the troposphere. Anything outdoors here was covered in dirt drops and car washes did land office business. That was followed a few days later by six inches of wet snow accompanied by thundersnow, sleet and hail. Luckily that melted in a few days to return us to sweet warm weather before a final long soaking rain came at the end of the month to green up the joint.

Plant Observations

• Pasque flower

  

  My first Pasque flower of the season
  Holland Sand Prairie, March 25

  
  
• Sprouts
• Littleleaf buttercup
• Meadow buttercup 
• Motherwort 
• Mullein clusters
• Prairie violet 
• White avens
• Yarrow sprouts

• Hexagonal-pored polyphore
• Scarlet elfin cup

Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Bernard IA

Ephemerals just emerging  (5/29)

• Bloodroot

  

  Spring beauties 100 miles south!

  
  
• Columbine
• Dutchman’s breeches
• False rue anemone
• Fern moss
• Purple-margined liverwort
• Roundlobe hepatica
• Sharplobe hepatica
• Spring beauty
• Walking fern

Wildlife Observations (seen, heard, detected)

• Eastern Comma butterfly

  

  Eastern Comma

  
  

• American eagle
• Barred owl
• Bluebird
• Dark-eyed junco
• House sparrow
• Canada geese
• Canvasback duck
• Cedar waxwing
• Downy woodpecker
• Great blue heron

  

  Great blue heron

  
  
• Killdeer
• Mallard
• Meadowlark
• Northern cardinal
• Northern flicker
• Northern shrike
• Pelican
• Pileated woodpecker
• Redwinged blackbird

  

  Nesting bluebirds
  Holland Sand Prairie

  
  
• Rusty blackbird
• Sandhill crane
• Song sparrow
• Tree swallow
• Trumpeter swans
• Wild turkey

What are YOU seeing on your hikes?

A month of hikes

Hikes below in colored, bold type or underlined have links to previous posts OR descriptions/location of the trails found online

ORA Community Farm trails, La Crosse WI; Eagles Bluff Park, La Crescent MN; Wagon Wheel Trail, La Crescent MN (2); City streets of Chicago , IL; Sugar Creek Bluff, Ferryville WI; Lytle’s Landing, Brice Prairie WI (2); Reno Quarry, Reno MN; Reno Spillway, Reno MN; Houska Park trail, La Crosse WI; Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Bernard, IA, Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI (3); Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge, Trempealeau WI

When you hike with your yoga teacher,
you get a whole new view!
Reno Quarry rock formations
Image - Jean Hammons

The "I Spy on the Trails" column is a phenology (the study of seasonal changes in plants and animals) journal to chronicle year-round the weather, plant life and wildlife I observe while hiking. It is very useful in helping me compare observations from year-to-year. The column is published monthly from September through April and then twice-a-month from May through August when warm weather brings the natural world back to vibrant life.  

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters