Category: Arb Talk

Unfortunately there is no Arb Studies 395 for the true Arb enthusiasts among us, but spring term means an approximation of that for some classes. If you’ve been wondering what those students are doing out in the prairie or back in the woods, the answer is: lots of things.

You might have noticed smoke coming from the Lower Arb, or the huge black expanse of hillside where just a week ago there was grass. A few days ago, a friend came back from a run and asked me, “Why did you guys kill the prairie?”

Spring is here! On campus the soft “woosh” of Frisbees through the air attests to its arrival. A little bit further a field in the Carleton arboretum a much louder sound announces the arrival of spring. This sound is the chorus of frogs, which can be heard near any still body of water, particularly Kettlehole Marsh.

The Arb still looks pretty brown, but given time to romp around there are fascinating tid-bits cached all over.  On one of our recent expeditions, led by former Arb Manager Myles Bakke, the naturalists took to the woods and prairie to look for animal sign of all sorts.

If you step on something purple this spring, you will destroy a remarkable plant and your shoes will get stinky.  Symplocarpus foetidus, also known as Polecat Weed, Clumpfoot Cabbage, or the Eastern Skunk Cabbage signals spring has arrived in forested wetlands.

If you were sitting near a window around 12:45 during Thursday’s snowstorm, you may have borne witness to a flash of lightning and prolonged rumble of thunder muffled by the blinding snowfall. Thundersnow is an extremely rare event …

If you’ve spent any time in the Arb this winter, you’ve likely seen a dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis). If not, you’ve undoubtedly heard one.

Winter colors of the ArI have been hearing some gripes and grumblings lately, alleging that this midwinter is “bleak.” Really? Cold it might be, but especially in the Arb, there is nothing charmless or dreary about the midwinter landscape.

North by Night

Ever gotten completely lost in the Arb?  Well, don’t worry, because
with a few simple techniques, you need never find yourself adrift in
the wilderness again.  In honor of Black History Month and those
slaves who used natural directional cues to help them find their way
north to freedom, here are a few ways to use nature to get your
bearings.

It is Sunday night, around eleven or eleven thirty, and the short walk from Davis Hall to the library seems to take forever, weighted down as I am with a bag full of books. Preoccupied with dread of those books I do not at first realize what I am hearing. Crows. Wait…crows?