Category: Arb Talk

Ever taken a walk (or a nap) in the Lower Arb when the sun is down and the moon glares bright? The woods, steeped in milky mist spiked with moonlight, slumber in the absence of the scorching sun that has been bothering us for the past week. Nevertheless, plenty of activities are going on in the liquor-esque night.

A few weeks ago, I was in the arb after sunset, and heard a strange dog yowl… and then I heard many others join in, high-pitched and even a bit spooky, and I realized that I was hearing a pack of coyotes!

I can unequivocally say the Arboretum provided the defining experiences of my time at Carleton.

Rising out of the landscape like tiny islands in a vast sea of corn and soybeans, the hills of McKnight Prairie provide a refuge for rare native prairie plants.

As the weather in southern Minnesota warms and insects begin to emerge, the Arb will soon become host to a stunning group of migratory visitors. These are the wood-warblers, a diverse family of exceptionally colorful, tiny songbirds.

It’s spring, and that means that some parts of the Arboretum will be burned! Arb staff conduct prescribed fires every spring when the weather is dry but plants are not yet green, and the pieces of prairie that can be burned see fire about every 4 years.

Mating season is just around the corner for many animals that call the Arb home. For our native garter snake population, mating is quite the sight… and smell.

As the implausibly gorgeous weather jumpstarts Spring Term, many of us find ourselves savoring the warm breeze on lawns or under trees. Taking a stroll across campus, you likely would notice some elegant indigo flowers fluttering in the wind on their slender stalks.

Carleton’s Kettle Hole Marsh sits alongside a trail through the prairie in the Lower Arboretum. The marsh, now covered in ice and cattails, is about 10,000 years in the making. Its story begins at the time of Minnesota’s last glaciation.

As the weather here in Northfield starts to take a more amicable turn, hopefully you all get a chance to spend some time outdoors and outside the hustle and bustle of Week 8. All around campus, colorful chirps are enriching our auditory landscape and giving us a break from the harsh caws of crows as our smaller avian neighbors prepare for the upcoming breeding season.