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| Delicate yellow trout lily |
Temperatures continued a cooler trend of 30s and 40s through much of the first half of the month before poking up to the 50s, 60s with a hop to 70s as we closed out the final weeks of the month. A few winds still came roaring through and, with the stubbornly low temps, it felt like we remained in the tempestuous month of March.
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| Sharplobe hepatica Beaver Creek Valley State Park |
The season for these delicate wildflowers is fleeting. If you haven’t gotten out on the trails yet, I encourage you to find time to get out in the next week or two to see the first blooms. You'll be able to continue through May to catch the succession of others. And if you’re wondering where to catch the best show, stop by this post for some ephemeral hiking hot spots! And a reminder, if you need help identifying some of these lovelies, check out Ruth Nissan and Betsy Knowles guide to the wildflower varieties of Vetsch Park throughout the year.
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| Wild ginger blossom near it's base so beetles, it's pollinator, can reach it easily |
On April 18, I spotted my first warbler of the season - the yellow-rumped warbler, also referred to by some, as butter-butts. The Driftless region continues to host a variety of warblers and songbirds during the migration period. The constant arrivals of the colorful birds and their lovely songs and calls, combined with the mating calls of frogs and toads, made a lovely soundscape for so many of the hikes this month.
Despite significant rain muddying trails and cataract surgery keeping me down for a bit this month, I still had plenty of opportunities for getting out on the trails and observing. And clearly, compared to observations I noted in the March I Spy post, spring has sprung!
Plant Observations
Plant Observations
Flowering/mature plants:
- anemone, false rue
- anemone, rue
- anemone, wood
- bellwort
Blood root encased in their leaf capes - bloodroot
- buttercup, creeping
- buttercup, little-leaf
- cutleaf toothwort
- Dutchman’s breeches
- fern, bulblet bladder
- fern, lowland bladder
- fern, brittle
- heartleaf foamflower
- hepatica, roundlobe
- hepatica, sharplobe
- Jack-in-the-pulpit
minute but spectacular flowers of the
two-leaf miterwort (bishop's cap) - mayapple
- meadow-rue
- Pasque flowers (March 25-April 27)
- pussytoes
- putty root orchid
- ramp
- rockcress, lyreleaf
- sedge, needleleaf
- sedge, Pennsylvania
- spring beauty
- trillium
- trout lily, white
- trout lily, yellow
- two-leaf miterwort (bishop's cap)
- violet, birdfoot
- violet, common
- violet, downy yellow
- watercress
- waterleaf, Virginia
- wild ginger
Sprouts
- agrimony
- anemone, candle
- columbine
- fern, brittle bladder
- fern, cinnamon
- fern, interupted
- fern, maidenhair
- harvest lice
- leafy spurge
- motherwort
- prairie dock
Hoary puccoon sprouts - prairie smoke
- puccoon, hoary
- small-flowered leafcup
- snakeroot, black
- Solomon's seal
- Solomon's seal, false
- Solomon’s seal, hairy
- Solomen's seal, smooth
- sweet cecily
- verbena, hoary
- white avens
- wild geranium
- Wild strawberry
- wormwood, field
- yarrow
Fungi
- amber jelly roll
Split gill mushroom - artist’s conk
- morel mushroom
- scarlet elfin cup
- split gill mushroom
- turkey tail
Wildlife Observations (seen, heard, detected)
Birds:
- blackbird, red-winged
- blackbird, rusty
- bluebird
- blue jay
- brown thrasher
- cardinal, Northern
- cedar waxwing
- chickadee, black-capped
Eastern towhee - cowbird, brown-headed
- creeper, brown
- eagle, American
- egret, snowy
- finch, house
- flicker, northern
- goldfinch
- grackle, common
- heron, great blue
- indigo bunting
- killdeer
- kingfisher, belted
- kinglet, gold-crowned
- kinglet, ruby-crowned
- meadowlark, Eastern
- nuthatch, white-breasted
- owl, barred
- phoebe, Eastern
- robin, American
- shrike, northern
- sparrow, chipping
- sparrow, field
- sparrow, house
- sparrow, lark
- sparrow, song
- sparrow, vesper
- white-crowned sparrow
- sparrow, white-throated
Yellow-rumped warbler - swallow, tree
- thrasher, brown
- towhee, Eastern
- titmouse, tufted
- vulture, turkey
- warbler, yellow-rumped
- warbler, yellow-throated
- woodpecker, downy
- woodpecker, hairy
- woodpecker, pileated
- woodpecker, red-bellied
- wren, house
- wren, Carolina
- wren, winter
- yellow-bellied sapsucker
Waterfowl:
- blue-winged teal
- bufflehead
- Canada goose
- canvasback
- crane, sandhill
- egret, snowy
- heron, great blue
- mallard
- pelican
- scaup
- shoveler, northern
- swan, trumpeter
- wood duck
Mammals
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| Spring peeper, well camoflauged |
- muskrat
- squirrels
Amphibians/Reptiles:
- frog, boreal chorus
- frog, spring peeper
- garter snake
- turtle, painted
Insects:
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| Tri-colored butterfly queen |
- bumblebee, tri-colored
- butterfly, eastern comma
- butterfly, mourning cloak
- butterfly, summer azure
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
Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI (5); Vetsch Park, La Crescent, MN (3); Beaver Creek Valley State Park, Caledonia MN (2); Bluffside Park, Winona MN (2); La Crosse Marsh Trails, La Crosse WI (2); Sugar Creek Bluff, Ferryville WI; Lytle’s Landing (2); Reno Quarry, Reno MN; Mathy Quarry, La Crosse WI; Apple Blossom Overlook Park, La Crescent MN; Wagon Wheel Trail, La Crescent MN; Riverside Park, La Crosse WI; Yellow River Forest, Harper's Ferry IA; Dodge County Ledge Park, Horicon WI.
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| Oooh, look what we found - a tasty morel mushroom Image - Kris Lawson |
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
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| A helpful note scratched in the mud directed hikers to look towards a lovely bloodroot cluster Beaver Creek Valley State Park, MN |
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