Astronomy

On Sunday, March 29th, look for the bright star Regulus near the waxing Moon. Regulus is about the 15th brightest star in the night sky here in the Northern Hemisphere. Wednesday, April 1st is the Full Pink Moon. The name “Pink Moon” is an Algonquin name from the northeastern part of North America, and refers to a plant called Moss Pink, or Creeping Phlox, which blooms early in the spring. Creeping Phlox has been reported in nearby Anoka County, but not at Afton State Park.

Birds

Great Blue Herons returned to this area as soon as there was open water. Have you seen any? Other members of the Heron family, including Great Egrets, Green Herons, and Black-crowned Night Herons, also return as waters open up and they are able to hunt for frogs and fish. Look for them along the river and along Trout Brook. The Black-crowned Night Heron isn’t particularly common in Minnesota, but it has the greatest range of all the herons: they live in Africa, Europe, Asia, and North and South America. Female Red-winged Blackbirds return about now, and start to build nests in the territories claimed by the males who returned a couple of weeks ago. Canada Geese begin to nest now, too; the females often build nests near where they hatched.

Eagles are one of the first birds to nest, often laying eggs in mid-February. They build big nests of sticks, and use them year after year, each year adding on to make the nest even bigger. You’ll often see the nests in cottonwood trees. Cottonwoods are strong enough to hold the nests, which can weigh up to a ton! Eagle eggs hatch after about a month of incubation. Both parents participate in feeding the hatchlings and protecting the nest. If you are lucky enough to see an eagle’s nest, be respectful and observe it from a distance using binoculars.

Amphibians and Reptiles

Spring Peepers and Boreal Chorus Frogs continue calling in the evenings. Wood Frogs join the frog chorus in early April. If you are walking through a wooded area with ponds and hear low chuckling that suddenly stops when you get close to it, you’re hearing Wood Frogs! Wood Frogs can sense the vibrations of your footsteps and think you might be a frog-eating animal, which is why they go silent. If you stand still for a few moments they will resume their chuckling. Peepers and Chorus Frogs are both about one inch long, while Wood Frogs can be much bigger, ranging from one to three inches long.

Plants and a Fungus

Hepatica leaves are poking up from under the leaf litter and they will bloom soon. Hepaticas are usually the first of the spring ephemeral wildflowers to bloom. They are called “hepatica” because their three-lobed leaves are shaped like a liver – “hepar” means “liver” in Greek. Bloodroots also bloom very early. Bloodroot takes its name from its reddish-orange stems that extend underground, and its blood-red colored sap. These two spring ephemerals and others live in the hardwood forests and bloom before the trees have leafed out, when sunlight reaches the forest floor. Look for them in the woods at Afton.

Once you see spring ephemerals you may also see Scarlet Cup Fungi in the leaf litter, most likely beneath oaks and basswoods. They are one of the first fungi to send up fruiting bodies in the spring. The scarlet cup we see aboveground is the fruiting body; the rest of the fungus is called the mycelium and lives underground.

Trees

The Mountain Ash is a small tree, from 15 to 30 feet in height and sometimes with multiple trunks. The bark is light gray and scaly on older trees, with lots of light-colored horizontal lines called “lenticels”. The berries sometimes remain on the tree through the winter, though often they are eaten by overwintering robins, grouse, or waxwings. The Mountain Ash as a really large bud, called a “terminal bud” because it is at the end of the twig. When it leafs out in the next few weeks it will have a compound leaf with 11 to 17 leaflets.

Weather observations

Here are some weather observations from the Afton State Park area from past years.

Friday, March 27	2025: sunny and in the 60s; 2024: about four inches of snow overnight, much of it melting during the day; 2023: partly clouds, 30s; 2021: Drizzle all day, ½” in total
Saturday, March 28	2025: 40s in the morning, rising into the 60s, with thunder and lightning in the evening; 2020: Thunder and lightning in the evening
Sunday, March 29	2025: rain in late afternoon into evening; 2024: wind from the east with clouds giving way to sun; 2023: teens in the morning, with high temperature below freezing; 2021: 70° and very windy
Monday, March 30	2025: rain continues through morning and off and on through day; 2024: 40s and sunshine, lots of snow melting; 2022: rain, ice and snow overnight
Tuesday, March 31	2025: ½” of snow overnight, melting through day; 2023: Gray day, with spitty rain off and on adding up to record 1.41 inches; 2018: One inch of wet snow overnight; An old saying for March weather is “In like a lion, out like a lamb; in like a lamb, out like a lion”. Will March of 2025 go out like a lamb or a lion? In 2024 the high was in the upper 40s, which is typical for the end of March.
Wednesday, April 1	2025: calm and 30s in the morning, flurries in afternoon change over to wet snow; 2024: gray day in the low 40s; 2023: Blizzard overnight, 20s, 8 inches of heavy, wet, snow by morning; 2015: record high of 84°; 2002: record snowfall of 4.6 inches
Thursday, April 2	2025: coating of wet snow overnight, changing to rain through mid-afternoon, with temperature in the 40s; 2024: snow and rain early, temperature in the 30s; 2023: the end of a record streak of 132 days with the temperature below 50 degrees; 2020: pleasant morning, temperature near 40°; 2006: record rainfall of 1.06 inches

Photo/image credits:

All photos and images used by permission.

Copyright Nina Manzi, except:

Dean Lokken: Great Egret
Gary Sater: Bald Eagles, Full Moon, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron