Events and Announcements:

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.

Pollinator Walk, June 27 from 9:30-10:30 a.m. meet at the Afton State Park Visitor Center. Join a naturalist in learning all about pollinators! There will be a short presentation (20 minutes) in the Visitor Center, followed by a Pollinator Discovery Walk around the Prairie Interpretive Trail, where we will search for and learn about pollinators and the wildflowers they love. This is a 0.5-mile, 20-minute, non- strenuous walk, with no sun cover or pavement. Please come prepared with bug spray, sunscreen, and a hat for sun protection.

Off the Rails!, June 27 from 1-2 p.m. Meet at the Brown’s Creek Stillwater Trailhead: Want to learn about the history of the Brown’s Creek State Trail? Join me as we take a stroll through the past. From the biking, hiking, and horse trails we know today, to the rail line of the past, and beyond, we will learn about it all! We will meet at the trailhead in Stillwater near 401 Laurel St. E. Wearing a hat, sunscreen, and bringing water is advised.

Astronomy

On Monday the 29th look up in the night sky to see the Full Strawberry Moon. And in the daytime look around in the woods for ripe wild strawberries!

Birds

Many birds have the names of colors as part of their name. Some “color” birds you might see in the woods at this time of year include the Indigo Bunting, the Scarlet Tanager, the Bluejay, and the Brown Thrasher.

Other birds have names that mimic their calls. Some of those you might see and hear at Afton are the Chickadee, Bobolink, and the Killdeer. The Chickadee’s call is “Chick-a-dee-dee-dee”. European settlers in New England who named the Bobolink thought its call sounded like “Bob O Link, Bob O Link, Spink, Spank, Spink”. The Killdeer says its name with a New England accent: “Kill-deah”. The Rufous-sided Towhee makes a two-toned call that sounds like “towhee”, or sometimes “che-wink”.

Geese and ducks lose their flight feathers at this time of year and are grounded while they grow new ones. All birds molt at least once each year, since their feathers wear out from the stress of flight. Many species do it by dropping a few feathers at a time.

Insects

National Moth Week is coming! National Moth Week is July 18th to 26th, and is celebrated worldwide. Visit nationalmothweek.org to send in your moth observations and instructions on how to hang a sheet and see beautiful moths in your own backyard. Or try setting up a black light if you have one and see what insects pay you a visit.

Why moths? The moths are an ancient and diverse group of insects, with the oldest fossils dating to about 200 million years ago. There are an estimated 160,000 species of moths, many of which have not yet been described. The butterflies diverged from the moths about 100 million years ago, and there are only about 17,500 species of butterflies. The easy way to tell them apart visually is that the butterflies have little balls at the ends of their antennae, and the moths do not. Moths also have thicker and furrier bodies. Moths are important pollinators; one study showed that moths do more pollinating at night than do day-flying bees! And moths are an important part of the food web, providing food for songbirds, mammals, and other insects.

At Afton you might see Plume Moths, Eight-Spotted Foresters, Sphinx Moths, and Underwings. Plume Moths have spindly legs and look rather like airplanes. The Eight-spotted Forester flies in the daytime and is often mistaken for a butterfly. The Hummingbird Moth is often mistaken for a . . . hummingbird! Its official name is “White-Lined Sphinx Moth” but many people call it the Hummingbird Moth. Sphinx Moths beat their wings about 40 times per second and feed at dawn and dusk. Because they are active at times of low light, they feed mostly on white or light-colored flowers, including primroses. The caterpillars of Hummingbird Moths burrow underground to form their cocoons, spending the winter below ground before undergoing metamorphosis in the springtime and emerging as moths, sometimes as early as April. The Indomitable Melipotis and the Yellow Underwing are members of the tribe of Underwing Moths. They have very detailed patterning on their forewings, which allows them to blend in with tree bark. Their hindwings, which are hidden when they are at rest, have splashes of bright colors that they can flash to frighten away predators that disturb them. Look for Plume Moths and Foresters in the daytime, for Hummingbird Moths visiting flowers at the end of day or early in the morning, and for Underwings in the woods.

Fungi

Some of the fungi you may see at this time of year include Dead Man’s Fingers, American Eastern Fly Agaric, Velvet Foot, and Cedar Apple Rust.

Dead Man’s Fingers are about the same length as human fingers, and you will see them in the leaf litter, attached to rotting deciduous wood.

American Eastern Fly Agaric mushrooms have orange-yellow caps speckled with white. Farther west these mushrooms have red caps. You will see them scattered in groups under aspens, poplars, spruce, pines, and firs – trees that are abundant at Afton. The Fly Agaric mushrooms often have a mutualistic relationship with birch, aspen, and spruce trees. The fungus has structures called mycorrhizae in its underground mycelium that intertwine with tiny ends of tree roots, forming a net. The fungus gets sugars from the tree, while the tree obtains nutrients and improved water intake thanks to the mycorrhizae. Fly Agaric mushrooms are poisonous and can cause death, so do not eat them! The fruiting bodies of Velvet Foot fungus appear in big clumps on hardwood trees, stumps, and downed logs.

Cedar Apple Rust is a fungus that spends part of its life on Cedar trees, and part on Apples or Crab Apples. The jelly-like orange blobs on Eastern Red Cedars release spores. The spores blow on the wind and some land on the leaves of apple trees. They develop into orange-colored lesions on the leaves, and later in the summer these release a different kind of spore, which blows on the wind back to Eastern Red Cedars, and the cycle begins again. As you might have guessed, Cedar Apple Rust is only found in places where apple trees and Eastern Red Cedars or other junipers grow close enough to each other for the spores to move back and forth between them.

Trees

Basswood trees are in bloom and covered with hundreds of fragrant white blossoms. The leaves of the basswood are large and somewhat heart-shaped, and the bark is furrowed. And while you’re admiring the many basswoods in the forest at Afton, keep a lookout for Underwing moths. The Basswood is the host plant for the Yellow-Banded Underwing, and its forewings look a lot like Basswood bark! Basswoods are also called Lindens.

Weather observations

Here are some weather observations from past years.

Friday, June 26	2022: cool and breezy, with a high in the 60s; 2016: drier air arrives with high in the upper 80s
Saturday, June 27	2022: warm and dry, in the 80s; 2019: half inch of rain in morning and early afternoon
Sunday, June 28	2020: 3 5/8” rain
Monday, June 29	2015: Thunderstorm and hail in late afternoon
Tuesday, June 30	2022: thunderstorm in the early morning hours; 2015: Sunny with a high in the upper 70s
Wednesday, July 1	2020: Sultry start to July, so hot that the tree frogs quieted down
Thursday, July 2	2012: record high of 99°

Photo/image credits:

All photos and images used by permission.

Copyright Nina Manzi, except:

• Mary Jane Hedstrom: Hummingbird Moth
• Dean Lokken: Bluejay, Killdeer, Scarlet Tanager
• Paul Ludden: Bobolink
• Bill Marx: Plume Moth
• Gary Sater: Black-capped Chickadee, Brown Thrasher, Full Moon, Indigo Bunting
• John Schultz: Rufous-sided Towhee