Category: Arb Talk

As spring begins to turn to summer, a whole new world is blooming in the arb. This is especially evident throughout the prairies as wildflowers and grasses start to bloom. But there is strong competition amongst the many different species of flowers and grasses for space, and many seeds need some help in order to germinate. There is a surprising animal which provides the opportunity for many of these plants to thrive in such a crowded environment. That animal is the plains pocket gopher, Geomys bursarius.

The Arb just had a thoroughly action-packed week.  Last Friday, your arb naturalists spotted a rare wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) on the banks of the Cannon.  The first sightings of these turtles occurred in the late nineties, with just six recorded between 1996 and 1999.  We had seen none since, until this one, a young, approximately eight-year-old female. If unfamiliar with these elusive beasts, you can begin picturing them from their name, for they look like carved wood, and inhabit woods along rivers.  Wood turtles can solve mazes as well as rats, and this remarkable intelligence has made them desirable in experiments and as pets.  The combination of this use and habitat degradation has made wood turtles a threatened species in Minnesota.  Their continued presence in the Arb bodes well for the Arb’s success as an ecological restoration project.

This past Friday evening, the Arb Naturalists enjoyed the opportunity to watch the mating display of the American Woodcock, a brown mottled seagull-like bird with a long bill. The complex “sky dance” of the male woodcock takes place during sunset each evening starting in April and commencing in May.

With the warmer weather of the past weeks comes the opportunity for new types of outdoor activity. One of these activities, made possible by the slow disappearance of the ice on the Cannon River, is the sport of angling. So, to all you fishers out there, pick up your bow and arrows and head on out! Bow and arrows, you say? Yup, bow and arrows.

While Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter, this week in Minnesota seems to be defying his prediction and hints of spring abound if you look in the right places.

Last Friday afternoon, the student naturalists set off with Carleton staff member Gene Bauer in pursuit of some of the Arb’s most elusive predators: owls. Birds of prey that are typically nocturnal and solitary hunters, owls are notoriously hard to find. Although we were stymied in our quest for the real thing, we did find plenty of signs that owls are indeed frequenting the Arb.

On our Arb Walk last Friday, we had the good fortune of a lot of eager visitors, and a blanket of fresh snow. Abbondanza! Because the snow had fallen only earlier that day, most of the tracks we saw were left by a common daytime ground-frequenter: squirrels!  Don’t let their familiarity fool you, these are exciting wildlife creatures… (more squirrelly excitement after the jump)

The fresh blanket of snow covering the Arb makes it a great time to look for signs of predation! If you dare to venture off the trails, the white backdrop emphasizes scatterings of feathers, fur, and blood that in other seasons are relatively difficult to spot. The following will help you to identify the signs left by three common predators in the Arb… (continued after the jump)

This week’s Arb Notes focuses on a few nonnative plants in the Arboretum which have useful properties. Since these plants should not be here in the first place, they can be harvested guilt-free– but please, be sure of your identification, and tread lightly!

This weekend was a good taste of how cold it can get here in Minnesota, with temperatures dipping into the negative teens.  While this warrants caution in your Arb treks, the new dusting of snow from this past weekend adds a whole new level of fun to Arb adventures!