What’s in this Season?

The signs of spring are always welcome after a long Minnesota winter. From early spring flowers soaking up precious sunlight to critters frantically seeking a mate, spring is a time for beauty and renewal. Enjoy the trickling waters of a slowly thawing river or lace up your boots for a tromp along a muddy trail. Take time to observe what’s around you—hints of spring will appear before the snow has even melted. 

First Blooms

Woodland wildflowers must be early risers. They peep out of the decaying leaf litter before the trees above them have a chance to shoot out their sun-blocking leaves. 

Few flowers that take root in the forest bloom earlier than the aptly named snow trillium. Spring’s large and showy trilliums are familiar wildflowers, but snow trillium is often overlooked both because it blooms so early and because it is rare. It is a species of special concern in Minnesota. It’s also the state’s smallest trillium—the flowers may be only an inch across.  

On the prairie, the pasque flower is one of the first to bloom. You may even see it blooming out of the melting snow. Pasque flowers thrive on prairies with sandy soils, like River Terrance Prairie SNA and Agassiz Dunes SNA. Nature writer Aldo Leopold wrote in A Sand County Almanac, “The chance to find a pasque flower is a right as inalienable as free speech.” Find a pasque flower and know unquestionably that spring has arrived on the prairie. 

Flying in Love

Spring is the season to witness incredible courtship displays as birds across Minnesota pursue mates.

Bald eagles perform spectacular aerial displays: circling high in the sky, then locking talons and tumbling downward, separating only moments before they would crash. Courtship flights occasionally happen as late as March, but many Minnesota eagles nest early and are incubating eggs by mid-February. Eggs hatch after 35 days and the young typically stay in the nest for another 8 to 14 weeks. 

In April Minnesota’s tallgrass prairies host an impressive display of courting birds at the booming grounds of greater prairie chickens. Male prairie chickens compete for the attention of hens by performing a “dance” that includes stamping their feet, fanning their tails, hooting, gurgling and inflating throat pouches to create an odd booming call.  

The American woodcock, a squat shorebird with long bills and stubby legs, can be heard courting in the forest. Listen at dusk for the male woodcock’s nasal peent call repeated every few seconds until the bird launches into an aerial display, easily recognized by its twittering wing sounds as it spirals upward. While the bird is airborne, move quickly to where you heard its peent calls, then sit quietly. You may be rewarded by the displaying woodcock swooping down to within a few feet of you to begin again its peenting calls. Stay very still and enjoy the show.

Winter in Minnesota is cold and snowy, but that should not keep you from exploring the outdoors! The trails are quiet and chances are, you may be the only one braving the elements. Embrace the solitude and soak in the mental health benefits the snowy forests and icy lakes have to offer. Bundle up and grab your snowshoes. There is so much going on in nature even on the chilliest days.

Birds

Winter is the best time for birding because there are no leaves on the trees. It makes spotting birds much easier! Although many birds flee Minnesota during the cold winter months, we have some year-round resident birds that you can surely spot around the state. In some winters, birds that are uncommon in the state arrive unpredictably in large numbers – a surprising movement called an irruption. Feeders that normally attract only the usual chickadees, juncos and blue jays suddenly are visited by colorful yellow and black evening grosbeaks, purple finches, redpolls, pine siskins or pine grosbeaks. These winter finches are hard to overlook, although their visits may be brief and sporadic—they are wanderers seeking seeds to sustain them through the winter.  A good place to look for winter birds is Sax-Zim Bog, 300 square-miles of ideal habitat crisscrossed by county roads approximately 35 miles north of Duluth near the town of Cotton.

Wildlife

A snow-covered landscape makes Minnesota optimal for spotting wildlife in the winter months too. And soft snow holds evidence of wildlife movements for observers who are willing to look for it! Keep an eye out for the tracks of deer, fox and even coyotes. 

If you have especially keen eyes, you may spot some critters that would rather not be seen. The fur coats of snowshoe hare, white jackrabbits and weasels all turn white to blend in with the snow in the winter months!