Posts tagged with “Arb Talk” (All posts)
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Arb Notes for April 26 – A Spring Walk
26 April 2011The gentle golden hills of McKnight Prairie emerging through the mist and driving rain were a welcome sight as we drove along the Cannon River on a cold and wet Earth Day. Along with the other Carleton student naturalists and arb director Nancy Braker, I set out into the gale to get a glimpse of what was supposed to be a spring scene at this 33 acre slice of remnant prairie just eight miles from the Carleton campus.
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Arb Notes for April 19 – When the Snow Melts…
19 April 2011Now that the snow is melted, we have the opportunity to tromp around the Arb and see what the snow left behind. All of the carcasses that were frozen and buried under the snow all winter are now appearing in various stages of decay.
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Arb Notes for April 7 – An Obscure Sign of Spring
7 April 2011As the climate has warmed over the last week you may have noticed buds on trees, the grass growing greener, the frolicking of squirrels, or birds singing profusely in the morning sunlight. But if you are sitting indoors, feeling rather grumpy, like me, about only being able to look out at the cheerful community of plants and animals thriving in Bambi-esque harmony, you may not feel positioned to appreciate such things. What follows is a list of springtime behavior for the overburdened studentry of Carleton College, who can no longer feel joy.
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Arb Notes for March 1 – Carp and Lyman Lakes
3 March 2011Lyman Lakes. Lakes? They aren’t necessarily what I look for in a lake, but the name sticks nonetheless. They look great in fog-shrouded photographs and surrounded by colorful fall leaves but there is (as always) more to the story.
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Arb Notes for February 24 – Beavers
22 February 2011A lot of people hate beavers.
Beavers have earned a bad rap for their tendency to chew down our favorite trees and flood our fields. In fact, over the past century beavers have been actively hunted and trapped out of much of the United States, countless dams have been dynamited, and communities have been divided by beaver-related conflict.
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Arb Notes for February 17 – Deer Sheds
22 February 2011As this week’s “heat wave” proves, spring is not far out of reach. Just as Carleton students shed jackets and even long pants this time of year, the Arboretum’s male deer (white-tailed deer, or Odocoileus virginianus, if you want to get technical) shed their antlers. Bucks re-grow their antlers—their prime tool for attracting a mate—every year beginning in the spring, leaving the past year’s antlers, or “sheds,” out in the cold for curious Arb visitors to find, particularly in the months of January and February.
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Arb Notes for February 9 – Happy Year of the Rabbit
10 February 2011Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Year of the Rabbit!
The start of the Chinese New Year seems like the perfect opportunity to get to know one of the Arb’s (and Northfield’s) most prevalent lagomorphs. Although their long incisors may make them look deceptively rodent-like, rabbits are part of the order that includes hares and pika. As a technical point of interest, there actually are differences between “hares” and “rabbits.”
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Arb Notes for February 2 – Whooo’s in the Arb?
3 February 2011It’s freezing out—warmer than it’s been in a couple weeks but wet, a penetrating cold. It’s almost dusk, and as I shift from leg to leg I hear again the low, sonorous call. We gaze out into the trees, hoping for a glimpse of the bird among the tangle of gray branches and trunks. Finally, as we’re about to head back to the cars, a lone Great Horned Owl swoops down through the underbrush. We hold our breath, and a second one joins the first, soaring together to the edge of the stand of trees and out of our line of sight.
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Arb Notes for January 26 – Living in the Cold
27 January 2011Ok, so it’s cold. And there’s snow on the ground. And the sun sets before class is over. As any good native Midwesterner, I approach the differing seasons with excitement. I can’t imagine a year without the gradual rise and fall of the temperature and the subsequent shedding and donning of layers. But, I also can’t imagine a year without constant availability of escape.
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Arb Notes for January 19 – Don’t Hibernate!
25 January 2011It is winter and we all know what that means at Carleton; short grey days, biting cold, and lots of snow and ice. Those of us who live in the complex are thanking our lucky stars and those of us who don’t are, like badger, telling our friends that we are really ‘busy’ and so cannot walk to the other side of campus to visit them. But what are all our neighbors in the Arb up to these days? And what kind of company do they keep?
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