Nature Happenings

• American woodcocks perform their aerial sky dance early in the month as part of their mating ritual. See them at Carpenter Nature Center…or just about anywhere you find an open grassy field surrounded by woodlands.

• Spring migration enters its second full month. April is the prime month for migrating shorebirds. Find them on mudflats around just about any lake or marsh or wet field. One well-known place to see them is on the west end of Lake Byllesby near Cannon Falls in the delta where the Cannon River empties into the lake.

• Minnesota’s State Bird, the Common Loon moves north into its nesting grounds in the lake country of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ontario. They can often be seen on our area lakes during migration. Some years, loons will stay and nest in our area. Check them out at Lake Elmo Park Reserve.

• By the end of the month, expect to see the first big wave of neotropical migrants, including thrushes, Baltimore and orchard orioles, ruby-throated hummingbirds, rose-breasted grosbeaks, ruby-crowned kinglets, yellow-rumped and palm warblers. Make sure you put out your hummingbird and oriole feeders at least two weeks before the end of the month. Keep suet feeders up to help birds replenish their fat reserves after long migration journeys. Yellow-rumped warblers and grey catbirds are known to come to suet feeders soon after they arrive.

• As temperatures warm and it gets closer to the peak of nesting season, birds turn to live insects to add protein to their diets and feed their young. Consider adding live or dried mealworms to your feeders or your regular seed blend or try our Nesting Super Blend to help birds through the nesting season.

• Purple Martin “scouts” arrive to check out nesting sites in late April.

• Black Bears become more active and may visit feeders. If bears become a problem, take down feeders or use an aerial feeding station or bear-proof feeders to prevent damage to feeders.

• Spring ephemeral wildflowers emerge and begin blooming in mid-to-late April in our area woodlands before trees are fully leafed out. These include Spring Beauty, Hepatica, Trout Lily, Violets, Trillium, Wood Anemone, Bloodroot, and Dutchman’s Breeches. The April full moon on April 12 is known as the “Pink Moon,” celebrating our spring ephemeral flowers.