Jim Gilbert spoke Tuesday night, here at Wolf Ridge. Mr. Gilbert is a teacher at Gustavus, writes for the Star Tribune, and comments on WCCO radio. He studies Phenology, which is the natural events in nature through the seasons. For example, the freeze up and ice out dates on lakes, the first lilacs to bloom and so on. Mr. Gilbert has kept records on these events for 40 years.
Here are some things I learned:
- Feb 11th- Due to the seasonal tilt of the Earth's axis, the sun is high enough in the sky for plants to begin growing in greenhouses. Your car should be warm inside this day.
- Orioles return to the Twin Cities always on May 1st, except for leap year (April 30).
- Early ice outs, later freeze ups
- Flowering crabs blooming 1 to 2 weeks earlier now.
- Spring Creep is term for things happening earlier in the spring
- Opossums have moved all the way to NW MN in the last 20 years
- Wild Turkeys have never been native in MN as far as he knows. Now expanding North and west from the central part of the state.
- Northern cardinal in the 1930s were only visitors in SE MN, became established in Metro due to planting of evergreens and birdfeeding. Now they are present along the North Shore.
