Category: Arb Talk

While running, jogging, or walking through the pine plantation in the northern tip of the Arb, one might not realize the obstacle it poses to restoration.

Swimming in the Cannon, barbequing, disc golf, and half-heartedly doing homework on the bald spot are worthy fair weather pursuits, but if you want to have some real fun, go for a walk in the Arb and enjoy looking at some spring ephemerals.

Nearly every morning and evening during April and May, the Arb plays host to an elaborate spectacle as the American Woodcock performs its annual rendition of the “sky dance.”  With stubby legs, a plump body and a long, unwieldy bill that is used to probe the soil for worms, this clumsy-looking bird hardly looks the part of a celebrated dancer.  Nevertheless, when trying to attract a mate, male woodcocks put on quite a show.

Winter often brings with it to the arboretum a sense of calm, stillness, and tranquility. The snow has fallen, the trees lay bare, and often the only noticeable sound is the wind whipping over the frosted prairies.  The frequent chirping of birds is absent as the prairie longs for their song. But even in its silence the Arboretum is deceiving.  After all, not all birds fly south.

Have you ever stood in the prairie in the Lower Arb and imagined that you were seeing the land before European settlement, that it stretched in all directions, and that if you walked over the next hill, you might see a herd of bison?

Two weeks ago, when the Arb naturalists were joined by retired Arb Manager Myles Bakke for a winter turkey-tracking outing, I also, for the first time, bore witness to some remodeling undertaken by a family of beavers.

Not everyone thinks of it while walking or jogging through the Arb, but managing 800 acres of restored land takes a lot of dedicated work. Each fall and spring, 40 students are employed by the Arb, and the work they do covers just about everything.

The closest encounter I’d had with a turkey in recent memory was at lunch, sandwiched between two pieces of wheat bread and a slice of cheddar cheese. I was startled, then, to see one (covered in brown feathers as opposed to cheese) observing me from afar as I slid past on my skies one cold evening in the Arb.

Last Friday evening, Campus Security noticed a somewhat unusual visitor outside of the library sitting in one of the trees between the Bald Spot and the Library.

Last Friday, Diane Angell, Assistant Professor of biology at St. Olaf, stopped by the Arb office to give a talk about some little things that have been on her mind lately—furry little things.