Events and announcements:

• June 13 is a fee free day! Visit any state park or recreation area in Minnesota for free, no vehicle permits needed! Come visit a park to kick off the start of summer!
• From now until July 9 at Afton State Park, come view the 2026 Minnesota winners of the fish art contest, hosted by Minnesota Conservation Volunteer and Wildlife Forever. See the first, second, and third place illustration winners and the first-place creative writing winners for each age bracket on display inside the visitor center during operating hours.
• Storybook Stroll: We All Play, June 13 from 9:30-10:00 a.m. at the Afton State Park Visitor Center: Join Naturalist Carolyn as we take a stroll while reading the book “We All Play” by Julie Flett. This will be a short walk starting and ending at the Visitor Center, where we will read the book and do related activities as we travel through the story. Most suitable for kids 7 and under. With support from Washington Country Library by providing storybook stroll signs.
• Track Tales, June 13 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. near the Afton State Park Beach: Ever wonder what animal made those tracks? Stop by the Naturalist Table near the swim beach between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to learn how to identify animals and what they were doing based on their tracks.
• Fantastic Fossils, June 13 from 2-3 p.m. in the Afton State Park Visitor Center: From brachiopods to mammoths, Minnesota has a fantastic, yet relatively unknown, cast of fossil characters. Take a trip through ancient Minnesota and learn about this amazing cast of critters that make up Minnesota’s fossil record.

Astronomy

Look for the planet Jupiter between the waxing crescent Moon and the planet Venus on Tuesday, June 16th. The next night the Moon will be to the upper left of Venus.

June is a good time of year to look for the constellation Lyra the lyre. Its principal star is Vega, which is bluish in color and the fifth brightest star in our night sky. To find Vega first use the Big Dipper to find the Little Dipper, and then use the stars at the end of the Little Dipper’s bowl to point to Vega. Vega was the very first star to have its photo taken, in 1850.

Birds

Robins are having a second brood of babies. Watch for young robins following the parents around and begging for food. They have spotted breasts for camouflage to hide them from predators. And you may see eggshells beneath a nest. They’re a beautiful color called . . . robin’s egg blue! Did you ever wonder how the American Robin got its name? Its red breast reminded Europeans of the European Robin. The European Robin is smaller than the American Robin, but like our Robin it has a red breast. You won’t see a European Robin at Afton, but you might if you travel to the British Isles or the European continent.

Near the water, look for Great Blue Herons, Black-crowned Night Herons, Great Egrets, and Green Herons. Great Blue Herons and Black-crowned Night Herons spend the winter on the coasts and waterways of the southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean. Great Egrets may go as far south as southern Central America. Some Green Herons go to the southeastern U.S., some to the Caribbean, and some as far as northern South America. Black-crowned Night Herons are the widest ranging heron in the world. They breed and nest on every continent except Antarctica and Australia!

Insects

The Red-Spotted Purple butterfly is on the wing at this time of year. Believe it or not, the Red- Spotted Purple and the White Admiral are the same species of butterfly. When one species takes on two different appearances the two forms are called “conspecific”. At Afton we often see either the Red-Spotted Purple or an intergrade between the two forms. The intergrade lacks both the blue coloring of the Red-Spotted Purple and the white band of the White Admiral. Fifty miles or so north of us you will see almost all White Admirals and no Red-spotted Purples.

The Skimmers are an extensive family of dragonflies. They like to hunt around ponds and still water. Widow Skimmers, Belted Whitefaces, and Dot-tailed Whiteface are all members of the Skimmer family.

The three main body parts of the dragonfly are the head, the thorax, which is where the wings attach, and the abdomen, which we might think of as the tail. Male Widow Skimmers have grayish-white abdomens, and white spots on their wings; the females have yellow abdomens, and lack the white spots on their wings. Male Belted Whitefaces have whitish abdomens; while the females have yellow and black abdomens. The Dot-tailed Whiteface has a white face, and a light-colored dot on its tail (really its abdomen). Widow Skimmers got their name from their behavior. In most species of dragonflies the male stays around in the same area as the female after she lays her eggs, but Widow Skimmer males take off and leave the females alone.

Mammals

White-tailed deer fawns are born with reddish coats. The adults grow in a reddish coat for the summer and a gray coat for winter. The red color gives better camouflage in summer and the gray is better in winter. By this time of year the adults have grown in their red coats.

Some of the many things that are similar in color to the Whitetail Deer’s summer red coat are downed wood, old needles from pines and other conifers, Fairy Helmet fungi, and blooming prairie grasses.

Plants

Some flowers to look for this week include Foxglove Beardtongue, Butterflyweed, Yellow Sundrops, Leadplant, Giant Blue Hyssop, Wild Columbine, Wild Geranium, Canada Anemone, Long-leaf Bluets, St. John’s Wort, Great St. John’s Wort, and Tall Meadow Rue.

Weather observations

Here are some weather observations from past years.

Friday, June 12	2015: sunny and 50s in the morning, rising into the 70s
Saturday, June 13	2009: sunny and warm, with a high near 80°; 2001: record 2.37 inches rain
Sunday, June 14	2022: hot and muggy, in the mid-90s; 2011: sunny early, with a thunderstorm from late afternoon into early evening
Monday, June 15	2018: record high of 95°
Tuesday, June 16	2020: hot and muggy, with a high about 90°
Wednesday, June 17	2020: muggy and near 90°
Thursday, June 18	2020: record 1.37 inches rain

Photo/image credits:

All photos and images used by permission.

• Copyright Nina Manzi, except:
• Sherri Holliday-Sklar: Great Blue Heron
• Dean Lokken: Great Egret, second Red-spotted Purple, Robin fledgling, White-tailed doe, White-tailed Fawns
• Gary Sater: Green Heron
• Ola Skari: European Robin
• John Watson, trail camera: White-tailed doe and fawn