By Jessica Johnsrud, assistant director and education coordinator
Spring sure feels like it’s here or on the horizon. The snow isn’t sticking around much (did it really at all this winter?) and the days are getting longer. Each morning, I hear more birds singing like cardinals, nuthatches and I recently heard a couple of robins singing their cheery song. I find this time of year exciting because it seems each day an old friend returns for the warmer months of Wisconsin.
The maple trees didn’t leave before winter, but they certainly have started to wake up. The days with temperatures above freezing and nights below freezing trigger their sap to flow in preparation for the tree to grow new leaves. Many people have tapped their maple trees to collect the sap and boil it to syrup. A sweet treat of spring!
Soon we’ll hear the peenting calls of the American woodcock. This football-shaped bird returns in the spring and the male puts on an elaborate dance to attract females. He performs at dawn and dusk, preferring the dim light and an open area as his stage.
The skunk cabbage will also be blooming soon. I find this plant to be quite fascinating because it creates its own heat so it can emerge from the frozen ground. It’s the first plant to flower in our area. Its flower has a skunky smell and attracts flies, beetles, and gnats for pollination. Look for these interesting plants in wet areas like marshes, swales, and stream banks.
Once it’s just a bit warmer, we will see one of the first butterflies of spring – the mourning cloak. This butterfly overwinters as an adult, taking cover in leaf litter or in log piles. Once the temperature is warm enough, it will emerge and feed on tree sap or rotting fruit.
Perhaps my favorite sign that spring is here is the loud, clucking song of hundreds of wood frogs. These otherwise solitary frogs gather in the swales and wet areas of the forest for mating. This is truly something you have to hear to appreciate and one that I look forward to each year.
I hope you take a few moments each day to notice and welcome the signs of spring. Take a short stroll in your neighborhood or take a walk at Woodland Dunes or a park to soak it all in.
Photo of wood frog by Nancy Nabak