Quarry Hill

 

A few days ago a friend from college asked me where I was. I said Mankato. She suggested I drive over to Rochester an join her at her hotel. We could explore Rochester, go out for dinner and enjoy the hot tub at her hotel. So I drove to Rochester which is a little over an hour from here. We met at her hotel. She drove me over to Quarry Hill Park and Nature Center at the suggestion of the desk clerk. We got there only 15 minutes before the nature center closed for the day. Wow! What an awesome nature center. The naturalist, with blue hair and a nose ring had just finished cleaning the cages for the leopard frog and salamanders. She put them back in their habitats. My friend showed her a picture of a green frog that came in with her outdoor plants last fall. Besides the salamanders and leopard frogs they also had a green frog, three snakes, a hissing cockroach, and fish. Their aquarium was large. In the middle of the aquarium at the bottom was a tunnel that small kids could climb under and look up at the fish from the bottom. They had perch and sunfish and bass and walleye and three gar. The gar kept to themselves at one end of the aquarium. Just before 4 p.m. the naturalist suggested we come and watch as she fed the fish. She counted 1,2.3, minnow before pouring a bucket of shiner minnows into the tank. The fish knew the drill. They were ready for her. Most minnows were swallowed whole and quickly by the fish. But the gar were different. The gar pinched the fish between their jaws, held them for 30 seconds, moved them closer to the gullet, and then swallowed them. Kids, adults, and seniors were fascinated by watching the fish eat their dinner. The naturalist talked about how different aged kids view this. Most kids think it's cool to watch fish eat. 13 to 15 year old would not say it's cook but they also don't look away. That is the advantage of having a young, enthusiastic naturalist on duty. When the center closed we walked over by the lake, by the limestone quarry, and finally there cemetery where patients at the Rochester State Hospital were buried. We looked at graves from the 1860's until the last one was buried in 1965. Most of the patients lived until their 70's. Then we walked the labyrinth. By now the snow was coming down hard and we decided dinner and a hot tub soak were next on our agenda. Today she has a conference on Habitat For Humanity as she is on her local board of directors.

 

 

Wildwood Park

 Today I felt like going to an arboretum where the plants are labeled. I found a doozy one about 20 minutes from here. I went to the Wildwood Arboretum. First I drove down a rocky road to a gate and parked to finish reading my book. A man came by on a golf cart and he told me I couldn't park here. So I parked in the parking lot by the lake. I walked around half of Swan Lake and then came back to my car to eat lunch and finish my book. There were fish jumping in the lake. I read a sign that said fishing must be catch and release only. They had a wooden/rope swing hanging on a tree close to the lake so I swung for a few minutes. After lunch I visited the other gardens. They had a Japanese garden and it was really pretty in there. Arkansas is in a drought so sprinklers were watering the plants so that was nice. I saw a toad on my path. I took it's picture. Then the next plant sign I read said Toad lily. They had a group of sculptures in the garden. I met a man on a golf cart applying pine mulch to a garden. I told him he has a lovely office here. He agreed. Then he said it was hot today. He was sweating. It was over 90 degrees. This is a wonderful place to visit!

Des Moines Arboretum

Yesterday I drove south from Siren, Wisconsin to Des Moines, Iowa. Boy Howdy! This land is dry. Iowans haven't had any rain since August. Farmers are scurrying to harvest the soybeans before they get any dryer. I could see dust rising in the fields for miles away. I have never been to Des Moines before. This morning I stopped at an arboretum which was a 15 minute drive from my hotel. I spent a couple hours there. Lunch looked too expensive so when I was done here I put a handful of almonds and an apple in my pocket.

The water features inside and outside are attractive. I saw fish and frogs in the water.

A ponytail palm tree. This is the largest one I have ever seen.

 

In this shot I am sitting outside on a marble bench under a waterfall.

Potomac Falls National Park

Today we drove a couple of hours south to Potomac Falls National Park. I didn't realize the Potomac River had falls.

We got there after 11 a.m. and we had a couple of hours to walk around before out next appointment. We had lunch at a picnic table.

When I walked over to the trash can to throw orange peels away I heard frogs. I heard wood frogs. We heard hundreds of wood frogs singing "keck a heck, keck a heck." These two frogs were on the path. We picked them up and set them in the grass so they wouldn't get stepped on.

 

Full Moon

 

Last night was a full moon although we couldn't see it until about midnight. We were out on the 3rd frog and toad survey. The night was quiet if you discount the buzz of blood thirsty mosquitoes in our ears. I am sure our head nets frustrated them. My feet and pants and hands were covered in mosquito repellent so I don't think I got many bites but they tried. Fireflies flickered in the night sky. The day was hot so the frogs were quiet. We heard some tree frogs. a few toads, some green frogs and some mink frogs. At the 8th stop we stood on the road facing west and watched the fireworks going off in Hinckley. At the 10th and final stop we were skunked. No frogs sang at all and normally we do hear frogs there. Driving to Minneapolis from Mora, I saw the moon come out from behind the clouds and show itself.

Strawberry Moon

Last night a sibling (the photographer) and I plus two nieces did the second frog and toad survey near Kroschel, Minnesota. The temperature was in the sixties and the wind was calm when we started. Fire flies blinked at us from the ditch. We heard spring peepers, tree frogs, American toads, green frogs and mink frogs. Several barred owls were calling at 3 stops. Sedge wrens were talking and we're not sure what they are talking about at night. A fox crossed the road under a street lamp. We found a painted turtle shell. The nieces caught several toads and one leopard frog. Today we are all a little anemic from all the mosquito bites. I found 8 more live mosquitoes in my car this morning.

 

Phenology Hike

 

Today I went on a phenology hike at Hartley Nature Center. I downloaded an app called Nature's Notebook onto my phone and we had a lesson on how to use the app to record phenology. I had biked to the nature center and we spent over two hours there learning about phenology and looking around. Look at the green mustache on this green frog. This is the frog that makes a sound like a loose banjo string when the water warms up. This frog was lurking in the Hartley pool. We saw American redstart, chestnut sided warblers, broad-winged hawk, red-winged blackbirds, Trumpeter swans, a belted kingfisher, American robins, turkey vultures and goldfinches. One of our instructors made a whistle out of a willow branch.

This was a very athletic leopard frog who did not want to be picked up. See the anger in the eyes?

I walked around Hartley by myself for another hour before hiking home. Once at home I picked these violets in the backyard and added them to my salad. Delicious!

Spring Peeper Trail

Yesterday morning I went on an early morning guided hike along spring peeper trail in Chanhassen. After we walked down the grassy path toward the boardwalk over the pond the guide explained that we were hearing boreal chorus frogs. There are no spring peepers in this wetland. Someday, if they hear a spring peeper, they will know that they have established a top notch wetland. As soon as we stepped on the board walk I saw one sora rail go right and one sore rail go left. That was cool. We also found a broken egg along side the path. A common yellow throat perched in a shrub next to the wetland and sang. Two sand hill cranes hid in the distance.

Two trumpeter swans swam toward the group of master naturalists. I think they were asking to be uploaded to INaturalist.

 

Vernal PoolsT

Today I surveyed three of the four vernal pools at Hartley Nature Center. I walked into this one looking for tadpoles or salamanders. I found mosquito larvae.

Zero reptiles talking here. Ravens were talking though. Water temperature was 40 degrees. This nature center uses candy thermometers. Maybe I should use one of my candy thermometers when I monitor the stream instead of the cheap thermometer I got free with Smokey the Bear bling.

 

This one is the third one and is about the size of a bathtub. Handy that it is right off the sidewalk though. Water temperature was 48 degrees.

This last one was a mile hike up the hill. Do you see a pond? I do not.

I will have to check with the organizers to see if I am at the correct spot.

 

Screaming Wood Frogs

On display at the Crow's Nest.

 In March I was doing some spring cleaning. I came across the written records of the previous frog and toad surveys a sibling and I (plus numerous assistants) completed in the area around Kroschel, Minnesota. I recycled the papers feeling disappointed in the state of Minnesota for not bothering to care about an indicator species like a frog or a toad. Since frogs and toads spend much time in water, they will tell us when pollution gets bad. But Minnesota doesn't care about that I thought to myself. I started exploring available frog and toad surveys in Wisconsin. Three days later I get an email from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources saying they are restarting the frog and toad surveys. I am not narcissistic. The state probably had this in the works and they weren't responding to my computer search of routes in Wisconsin. Anyway, I signed right up and volunteered to test out the new phone app. I downloaded the app on my phone and tried running routes here in Duluth as a test. I got the app to work. I had a map of our route on my phone. Cold weather delayed us by 2 weeks. A  minimum temperature of 42 is necessary to run the first route. I left my house yesterday about 5:30 p.m. The temperature here was 38 and the sky was foggy. I had to drive slower than the speed limit over Thompson hill because fog reduced my visibility. As I approached the Crow's Nest in Mora the temperature was 46 and the western edge of the sky was clear so I could watch the sunset. We set off about 8:30 p.m. We heard spring peepers, Boreal chorus frogs and wood frogs at the first stop. The moon was not visible. The wind was slight. By 10 p.m. we were at our last stop. The wind had picked up and the temperature was below 40. We heard spring peepers and chorus frogs. But the wood frogs were screaming. Wood frogs only call 2 weeks of the year and they were screaming. I have never heard so many wood frogs before. Male wood frogs were screaming about love and lust. My phone app worked but I wasn't sure so it would I also wrote the details on paper. I think next time I can forgo the paper. We also heard snipe, red winged blackbirds and woodcock. At the fourth stop, on the corner by the very tall fence, we saw 12 turkeys roosting in the aspen trees. Turkeys are loud when they fly from one tree to another. We also saw at least 50 thin deer munching on the new green leaves in the fields. We had a nature filled night on our favorite frogging grounds but the best part was the screaming wood frogs.

Vernal Ponds

Vernal ponds appear to be everywhere around here. Tonight I went to a training on monitoring a vernal pool at the Hartley Nature Center which is a ten minute drive from my house. I was one of 20 people in attendance. Vernal pools are bodies of water less than an acre in size that are wet in the spring and dry in the fall. Vernal pools are full of baby insects that live here because they are safe from being eaten by fish. Some are eaten by birds. Fairy shrimp, bright orange pool creatures, live only in vernal pools. They lay their eggs that sink to the bottom of the pond. The eggs need a dry season in order to hatch the following spring. Some fairy shrimp eggs are eaten by migratory birds like warblers. Later the eggs pass through the digestive system of the migratory bird. If the eggs is dropped in a place that becomes a vernal pool in the spring, they can hatch in the new pool. Wow, such resilience!

I volunteered to monitor two pools at Hartley and to check for fairy shrimp, mosquito larvae, and other creatures. We have to note if there is any sphagnum moss in the area. Hartley has no sphagnum moss.

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We had to walk ten minutes uphill to get to this vernal pool that is loaded with wood frogs and fairy shrimp. The fairy shrimp are just now hatching. The wood frogs haven't started calling yet. This was quite the hike for me dressed in my bog boots and frog toggs rain gear. The younger people in the group were just wearing normal shoes and clothes. Whatever, it was raining and I stayed dry.

 

Fun While It Lasted

Today we went to a local nature center upstream from Offspring #1's house. A five minute drive and we were there. We walked along the river (which is to the left in this photo and out of sight) until we came to the blind that the scouts built so people could observe the eagle nest. I couldn't see the nest. Perhaps the young leaves on the trees obscured it. Spring is farther ahead here. Daffodils are drying up and  tulips are beautiful. We saw a couple eagles flying, a dozen vultures, a red tailed hawk, song sparrows, field sparrows, tree swallows, Carolina wrens, Carolina chickadees, blue jays, robins and northern cardinals. Grandgirl wants to know if the swallows would swallow a person and that is why they are called swallows. Good question and one that I have never thought of before.

We saw a large snapping turtle under the water and these smaller turtles on a log. We saw tadpoles and frogs too.

We also saw a groggy paper wasp hanging out on an informational placard. Spring break is over. Both the girls and myself are headed back to classes. I had fun while it lasted.

 

Don't Fall At Gooseberry Falls

Another winter storm warning starts at 4 p.m. I thought I would use the time ahead of the storm to get outside for exercise and fresh air.

That is a pine martin stuffed on the shelf. I stopped at this State Park store last year to buy some ice cleats which I will wear today. I don't want to fall on all this ice. Dangnabbit, falls is in the name of this place. I till try not to fall at Gooseberry Falls.

Some water is frozen and some is liquid. The temperature is about 30 degrees and it is windy up by the visitor center. Down in the valley here the wind isn't so bad.

Today I saw eagles, crows, ravens, black capped chickadees and blue jays.

This open pond is on the other side of Highway 61. I walked beneath the bridge to get here.

I'd like to come back in the summer and fall.

Lake Superior has large, choppy waves pushing at us from Wisconsin. The chunks of ice are being pushed our way too.

Funny to think of all the life living under that ice. Beaver, trout, turtles, frogs, damselfly larvae, mosquito eggs, and crayfish like it under the ice.

Yesterday I had a sauna at the YMCA. I could use another one today.

 

Ladybird Garden Revisited Times Three

This beautiful wood cut out is on the new play area for the kids. This is above the door right at the level of my neck.

This is below.

I can see why kids love it here.

Chimney swift tower.

A long board for the kids to use like a balance beam.

Yikes!

I was exercising on the equipment for adults to use while the kids play. I was on an elliptical talking to a girl and her Aunt Martha who grew up on a farm in Texas with Guernsey cows and Holsteins. They grew garden vegetables. She loves windmills too but not the kind that create electricity. I like all windmills. The girl's little brother looked like he wanted to use the elliptical so I let him have it. I tried the exercise bike but that is hard to do when I am wearing a skirt so I kept walking. The garden has a new turf that does not need much mowing. Was it part buffalo grass maybe?

This is the board walk back to the class room area.

Big Bluestems.

I am back inside by the introductory video.

This garden has their own database. Visit wildflower.org/plants-main to explore the database.

So purdy!

I should not have taken so many pictures.

Oh, they got a downstairs? Cool.

This is my view of the prairie from one of the windows downstairs. This would be a fun place to volunteer..