A strange moth-like insect I spotted on side of house. Entomology is so complex I'm not even going to take a guess as to what it was.

First Baltimore Oriole of the season spotted in the garden as temps pitch into the high 70s. Hooked Violet in bloom. Toads heard trilling once again.

Eastern Bluebird Eggs

A pair of Eastern Bluebird eggs in one bluebird house, and a pair of Tree Swallows scouting out the other. Put the first non-natives out today; a pair of dwarf cypress in pond pots, along with some fuschia and herbs in small pots placed among the granite cobbles, and put the Oriole and Hummingbird feeders in the garden. Began work on mesh for the fake rocks I intend to cover the pond liner and use as planters. Sunny today, temps in the upper 60s.

Cherry Blossoms

Rue Anemone in bloom.

Some photos from the garden. Everything seems to be emergig now; everything except the various families of milkweed that spring up like lightning over the summer and produce such abundant blooms. Leadplant, Bergamot, and all manner of Goldenrod are emerging in the garden, and the lance-like leaves of the Blue-flag Iris are begining to emerge from the pond.

Roller coaster weather this weekend. Emerged from the 40's with rain (flurries in the Brainerd Lakes region) to the 60's in the last few days. I've only heard the hardy Spring Peepers keeping up the chorus the last few nights.

Wildlife Spotted Recently:

Black-capped Chickadee

Blue Jay

Chorus Frog

Crow, Common

Eastern Bluebird

Goldfinch

Grackle, Common

Grey Squirrel

Loon

Mallard Duck

Mourning Dove

Northern Cardinal

Nuthatch

Pileated Woodpecker

Purple Finch

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-winged Blackbird

Robin, American

Sandhill Crane

Spring Peeper

Tree Swallow

Turkey Vulture

Virginia Opossum

Wild Turkey

Wood Duck

Wood Frog

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Wildflowers in Bloom:

Rue Anemone

Purple Pasque Flower

Emerging Native Plants:

Blue-flag Iris

Columbine

Elm-leafed Goldenrod

Fiddlehead Ferns

Leadplant

Prairie Smoke

Showy Goldenrod

Wild Bergamot

The trill of the American Toad joined the chorus of Wood Frogs, Spring Peepers, and Chorus Frogs in this evening.

Rue Anemone

Bloodroot

Our Rue Anemone and Bloodroot are just about ready to pop. Rue Anemone are beautiful, native woodland sunflowers always remind me of my childhood home in Stillwater, where they grew in thick stands along the oak-shrouded hills of Long Lake. I rescued those in my garden from my parent's yard, just prior to my father mowing them down.

Rue Anemone so easy to seed that I assumed that these hardy annuals were actually perrenials until Wayne from Kinninatives set me straight on the subject. Native Americans were said to use the mildly poisonous roots in tea to settle the stomach.

Bloodroot, meanwhile, always remind me of my early spring trips to William O'Brien State park, with its seasonal wetlands, noisy Peepers, and clumps of Bloodroot, Rue Anemone, and Marsh Marigold.

Same Pasque Flower from May 1.

Beautiful weekend; put the fish back in the pond, and took the canoe out for her maiden voyage; a short jaunt around Pet Lake. It worked quite well though it's less stable than the rowboats I'm used to, and the dog will have to learn to stay seated (or at least towards the center of the boat) if we aren't going to get swamped. Chickadees and Red-winged blackbirds could be heard from the reeds and oak trees as we glided along the lake.

Saw a pair of Turkey Vultures wheeling over Linwood Township Saturday, and Tree Swallows performing their insectovorous acrobatics over the farmer's fields that border the Sunrise trail north of Stacy.

Photo along the Sunrise Trail north of Stacy, MN

Did quite a bit of work on adding a feeder pond to one of the waterfalls. In theory, it collects the slow but persistent leak I seem to have gotten around the mouth of the watefall no matter how much hydraullic cement I applied, and passes it down a short streamlet back into the pond. The feeder pond has a small solar-powered pump to keep the water moving and the mosquitos out. Added a few planters with transplanted Swamp Buttercups to the feeder pond. As the water is slow-moving, protected, and easy to access, it should be perfect habitat for frogs.

Heavy rains towards the end of the week, and even a bit of hail. I'd have measurements, but the freak snowstorm put a small hairline crack in my gauge. Will have to break out the caulk.

Spring Peepers are strident all day long. Sunny pretty much all weekend with winds, often strong, moving in towards evening; temps holding in the 60's with lows in the humble 40's.

Wildlife Spotted Recently:

• Black-capped Chickadee


• Blue Jay


• Chorus Frog


• Crow, Common


• Eastern Bluebird


• Goldfinch


• Grackle, Common


• Grey Squirrel


• Loon


• Mallard Duck


• Mourning Dove


• Northern Cardinal


• Nuthatch


• Pileated Woodpecker


• Purple Finch


• Red-bellied Woodpecker


• Red-shouldered Hawk


• Red-winged Blackbird


• Robin, American


• Sandhill Crane


• Spring Peeper


• Tree Swallow


• Turkey Vulture


• Virginia Opossum


• Wild Turkey


• Wood Duck


• Wood Frog


• Yellow-rumped Warbler

Wildflowers in Bloom:

• Purple Pasque Flower

Emerging Native Plants:

• Columbine


• Elm-leafed Goldenrod


• Leadplant


• Prairie Smoke


• Showy Goldenrod


• Wild Bergamot

First wildflowers of the season blooming!

The Purple Pasque Flower, a Minnesota prairie native, are extremely cold-tolerant, often emerging from the ground before the last of the snows reside (as was the case this year). Most Pasque Flowers grow and go to seed before other flowers or grasses move in for competition. If their large, early white-to-purple blooms and prominent yellow pistils don't give them away, their look for the fine white hairs covering their stems and leaves.

Spotted the blooms (shortly to be shown above) yesterday afternoon.

Sunny this morning, highs in the 60's, then cooling off in the afternoon as a fine drizzle moved in.