Week of April 20th - 26th

We welcomed Holmen Middles School, Grand Meadow Elementary, Chatfield Elementary, Eagle Bluff Elementary, Root River Valley Earth Day Celebration, Earth Day Dinner on the Bluff, UMSORG, and GPS Nature Seminar.

On Monday, The 6th graders of Holmen Middle School arrived for a stay until Wednesday. While they were here, they were able to experience Archery, Minimum Impact Camping, Group Challenges, Insects, Fungus AmongUs, Root River Hike, GPS Pathfinders, Stream Lab, Treetops, and Animal Signs.

The 4th graders of Grand Meadow Elementary arrived on Wednesday. They were able to participate in Oneota, Stream Lab, Beginning Orienteering, Animal Signs, and West Treetops before leaving on Friday.

Chatfield Elementary brought their 5th graders on Wednesday for a stay until Friday. While they were here, they took Pioneer Life, Karst Geology, GPS Pathfinders, and West Treetops.

Eagle Bluff Eleementary from Onalaska, WI also arrived on Wednesday with their 5th graders. They were able to experience Archery, Oneota, Fungus AmongUs, Pond Life, Treetops, and Stream Lab, before leaving on Friday.

On Saturday, Eagle Bluff celebrated Earth Day in Lanesboro with the Root River Valley Earth Day Celebration. People arrived to make Rain Barrels, Flip-Flop Tomato Plants, Butterfly Feeders, and participate in other fun activities.

UMSORG arrived on Saturday to meet in the afternoon.

There were about 22 People at the GPS Nature Seminar on Saturday afternoon.

The Earth Day speaker and Dinner on the Bluff was a success! David Cavagnaro spoke about how to reap the benefits of gardening in your own backyard. David is the creator of The Pepperfield Project, which is dedicated to helping individuals of all backgrounds improve their quality of life through education programs that teaches them how to develop and enhance their relationship with food, cooking and gardening. Leading by example, the Project helps people experience the joy and satisfaction that comes with hands-on food preparation, gardening and other agrarian based skills. The speaker will begin at 5:30 p.m. and dinner will follow at 6:45 p.m.
Menu:
Rhu-tini - rhubarb infused martini with or without alcohol
Appetizer Skewers
Smoked Trout salad on a bed of spinach with maple balsamic vinaigrette
Herbed Pork tenderloin with a drunken wild mushroom gratin
Hearty vegetarian three bean salad
Wild rice
Fresh asparagus
Homemade bread
Lemon custard cake with rhubarb sauce

Phenology:

• White-throated Sparrows have begun singing. Their song sounds like their saying "Old Sam Peabody-Peabody-Peabody." See photo above by Jim Williams.
• Plantain leaves are up.
• Wild Strawberry is in bloom.
• Wild Ginger leaves are up.
• A Garter Snake was seen.
• Two Broad-winged Hawks were seen flying together and calling.
• Chimney Swifts are back in the area.
• We've gotten some much needed Rain.
• There are some Baby Canada Geese on the Root River.
• A large Dragonfly was seen flying around.
• Ruby-crowned Kinglets were heard singing by the river.
• Virginia Waterleaf is fully leafed out.
• A female Wood Duck was seen flying into one of Eagle Bluff's Wood Duck boxes.
• Northern Leopard Frogs are calling now.
• The Green Frog Tadpoles have legs.
• A Green Heron was seen near the Root River.
• Wild Geranium leaves are up.
• Jacob's Ladder leaves are up.

Thought for the Week:
"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its own dimensions."
Oliver Holmes

NATURE TRIVIA QUESTION

Answer to Last Week's Question:
Brown Thrashers will strike and dive bomb anything they perceive to be a threat. They have struck humans and dogs hard enough to draw blood.

This Week's Question:
What bird from the above Phenology list will bathe in flight by flying low over a body of water, touching the water with their chest and then shaking the water from their feathers?