Arb Sightings 4/15/10

April isn’t supposed to be this nice. Temperatures constantly in the high 60’s to mid 70’s are more characteristic of late May than mid-April, yet “above normal” seems to be the norm so far this spring. A couple April showers this week produced 0.59 inches of rainfall; one look outside and you’ll see how much greener the grass has become in response over the past few days. According to the next ten days’ forecast, we won’t see any more rain until possibly the end of next week, so this week’s precipitation is very welcomed by all our plants.

Speaking of plants, it’s difficult to go anywhere in southern Minnesota right now and not notice how far along many of our deciduous trees are in terms of budding and leafing out. Several weeks of above-average temperatures have caused the trees to progress more quickly than usual; in fact, most observers are agreeing that the trees are two weeks ahead of schedule, although in any given year that schedule varies depending on several factors. One tree that is more or less on time, however, is the magnolia, which began blooming in front of the Interpretive Center yesterday (remember the buds from 3/18?)

Magnolia blooming in front of Interpretive Center, 4/14/10.

Here are some other highlights from this week in the Arb:

– First Tree Swallow of year flying north over Interpretive Center 4/15

– First Yellow-rumped Warblers of year foraging in treetops north of Borgeson Cabin 4/14

– Green Darner dragonflies flying throughout Arb 4/14

– Wild Ginger blooming in Thompson Herb Garden west of Interpretive Center 4/14

– Kettle (flock) of American White Pelicans heading north high above Interpretive Center 4/12

– Residual Daffodils blooming near Jim Gilbert Teaching Pond 4/12