The first half of the month continued cool with frost warnings often during the first eight days. Once again, my warmer hiking clothes got a workout. It was also a dry start to the month through most of the Driftless with scattered showers but little prolonged moisture. We ended up with rain and nice warm temps the second week so that is a good sign. More rain and seasonably warmer temperatures are looking good for the second half of the month too.
What causes these early jewel leaf tones? In meteorologist Paul Douglas’ April 30th Star Tribune column, he explains the phenomenon: “It’s finally “greening up” across Minnesota, but why do leaves on the trees look more yellow-green (chartreuse) than the dark greens of July and August? In spring, “carotenoids” (the same yellow and orange pigments from the fall) are still present when leaves unfold. Because chlorophyll levels are low in early May, we are seeing the yellow of the carotenoids blending with the light green of new chlorophyll. Leaves are still living off stored sugars from the trunk and roots. Photosynthesis, the biological process that converts sunlight into glucose (food) and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water, will kick in soon, turning deciduous leaves forest green by midsummer."
Plant Observations
Flowering
Fungi/Moss/Lichen
Wildlife (seen, heard, detected)
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| Jeweled shooting stars Perrot Park's Brady's Bluff trail |
The bird migration numbers exploded exponentially during the first two weeks with warblers, hummingbirds, grosbeaks, egrets, waterthrush, vireos and yellowthroat joining the fun. Trails and yards have been awash in activity and sound. But migration is far from over. Please remember to turn off outside lights and pull down shades between 11pm and 6 am, peak migration hours.
It has been an incredible year for jeweled shooting stars. Everywhere we found these limestone-loving cliff ephemerals, there were simply hillsides and cliffsides covered with them. Once pollinated, their drooping petals, straighen and become erect, soon revealing a lone seed head. It has made woods and cliffside hikes especially fun. For those checking out the prairies, prairie smoke is blooming like crazy!
We spent the final week in Ely MN hiking and stargazing. Being six hours north of La Crescent, the timing was right to re-experience early spring. It was a pleasure to spot the earliest blooming roundleaf hepatica and a rush of warbler migration and drumming of grouse during our time there. We also were able to enjoy the delicate first pastel first leaves of spring up there. Pale yellow and pink leaves joined spring green in the leaf canopy.
It’s scientific tidbits like this that open my eyes to what I am seeing and learning in nature each month. I wonder what the rest of May has in store for us?
Plant Observations
Flowering
- anemone, false rue
Rue anemone - anemone, rue
- anemone, wood
- bellwort, large-leaved
- bishop’s cap (two-leaf miterwort)
- buttercup, bristly
- buttercup, early
- buttercup, littleleaf
- buttercup, prairie
- columbine, red
- Dutchman’s breeches
Showy orchis - fern, brittle bladderfern
- fern, bulblet bladderfern
- fern, interrupted
- fern, lady
- fern, northern maidenhair
- fern, ostrich
- fern, rockcap
- groundsel, prairie
- Jack-in-the-pulpit
- lupine, wild
- plantain, Robin’s
- prairie smoke
- puccoon, hoary
- pussytoes, field
- rockcress, lyreleaf
- rockcress, tower
Drooping trillium or wakerobin - sedge, clustered field
- sedge, needleleaf
- sand cherry
- shooting star, jeweled
- showy orchis
- Solomon’s seal, starry false
- spring beauty
- squirrel corn
- trillium, drooping (drooping wakerobin)
- trillium, white
- violet, birdfoot
- violet, common blue
- violet, downy yellow
- waterleaf, great
- waterleaf, Virginia
- wild ginger
- wild sarsaparilla
- wild strawberry
- wintercress
- aster, western silver
Wild lupine buds - Canada mayflower
- candle anemone
- cohosh, blue
- goldenrods
- meadow rue
- puccoon, hairy
- Solomon’s seal, smooth
- spurge, cypress
- toadflax, bastard
- wild bergamot
- yarrow
Past Bloom
- bloodroot
- Dutchman’s breeches
- hepatica, sharplobe
- Pasque flower
Fungi/Moss/Lichen
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| Great-scented liverwort |
- lichen, great-scented liverwort
- moss, pincushion
- moss, woodsy-thyme
- mushroom, Dryad’s saddle
- mushroom, morel
Wildlife (seen, heard, detected)
Birds
- blackbird, red-winged
- blue jay
- cardinal, northern
- chickadee, black-capped
- cowbird, brown-headed
- crow, American
- eagle, bald
- flicker, northern
- flycatcher, least
- gnat-catcher, blue-gray
- goldfinch, American
- grosbeak, red-breasted
- indigo bunting
- killdeer
- kinglet, red-crowned
- meadowlark, eastern
- nuthatch, white-breasted
- oriole,Baltimore
- osprey
- redstart, American
- robin, American
- scarlet tanager
- sparrow, clay-colored
- sparrow, field
- sparrow, house
- sparrow, song
- sparrow, swamp
- sparrow, white-throated
- swallow, barn
- swallow, rough-winged
Yellow-rumped warbler aka butter-butt - swallow, tree
- thrush, wood
- titmouse, tufted
- towhee, eastern
- turkey, wild
- vireo, red-eyed
- vireo, warbling
- vireo, yellow-throated
- vulture, turkey
- warbler, blackpoll
- warbler, cerulean
- warbler, chestnut sided
- warbler, Nashville
- warbler, orange-crowned
- warbler, palm
- warbler, Tennessee
- warbler, yellow
- warbler, yellow-rumped
- warbler, yellow-throated
- waterthrush, northern
- woodpecker, downy
- woodpecker, pileated
- woodpecker, red-bellied
- woodpecker, red-headed
- wren, house
Waterfowl
- cormorant, double-crested
- duck, gadwell
- duck, hooded merganser
- duck, mallard
- duck, wood
- egret, great
- goose, Canada
- grebe, pie-billed
- heron, great blue
- swan, trumpeter
Reptiles/Amphibians
- turtle, painted
Insects
- butterfly, blue azure
- butterfly, pearl crescent
- butterfly, tiger swallowtail
- bumblebees, many queens!
Mammals
- beaver
- squirrel
Mollusks
- snail shell, tiger flame tail
- snail shell, broad-banded forest
Ely MN Hiking Observations
Plants:
Sprouted
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| Tiny jack pine pinecone |
- alumroot
- anemone, wood
- aster, large-leaved
- avens, white
- bearberry
- blueberry, low bush
- buttercup, meadow
- Canada mayflower
- cinquefoil, rough
- columbine
- fern, rockcap
- fern Spinulose wood
- hawkweed, rattlesnake
- hepatica, roundlobed (bloomed)
- lily, bluebead
- oatgrass
- pinecone, jack pine
- pipsissewa
- primrose, evening
- pussytoe
- rockcress, tower
- wild strawberry
- wintergreen
- wintergreen, liverleaf
- wintergreen, pink
Fungi/moss/lichen
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| Witch's butter fungi |
- clubmoss, treelike
- fungi, witch's butter
- moss, broom forkmoss
- moss, Juniper haircap
- moss, red-stemmed feather
- moss, rock spike
Wildlife:
- blackbird, red-winged
- blue jay
- butterfly, mourning cloak
- butterfly, northern azure
- chickadee, black-capped
- crow, American
- eagle, bald
- finch, purple
- flicker, northern
- flycatcher, least
- frog, chorus
- frog, spring peeper
- goldfinch
- grouse (drumming)
- hawk, broad-winged
- junco, dark-eyed
- kinglet, gold-crowned
- kinglet, ruby-crowned
- loon
- nuthatch, red-breasted
- ovenbird
- raven
- robin
- sapsucker, yellow-bellied
- sparrow, chipping
- sparrow, song
- sparrow, swamp
- sparrow, white-throated
- thrush, hermit
- thrush, Swainson's
- warbler, black-and-white
- warbler, black-throated green
- warbler, blackburnian
- warbler, Magnolia
- warbler, Nashville
- warbler, palm
- warbler, pine
- warbler, yellow
- warbler, yellow-rumped
- waterthrush, northern
- whip-poor-will, eastern
- woodpecker, hairy
- wren, winter
- 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, Holman WI (2); Wyalusing State Park, Bridgeport, WI (2); Lytle’s Landing, Brice Prairie WI; Perrot State Park , Trempealeau WI; La Crosse Marsh Trail, La Crosse WI; Yellow River State Forest, Harpers Ferry IA; Laurentian Divide trails, Superior National Forest, MN; Secret/Blackstone Lakes Trail, Superior National Forest, Ely MN (2); Bass/Dry Lake Trail, Superior National Forest, Ely MN
Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters
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| Essen Lake - a great spot to relax and enjoy along the trail |
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.
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| Capturing a shot of the rare showy orchis Image - Lavon Court |
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