April Nature Notes
April Serendipity:
Try not to blink during the month of April. There will be so much happening in our natural world that it may be exhausting to watch. Take a deep breath and listen with your eyes as you get going on a treasure hunt!
The April Full Moon, the Pink Moon will be April 23, 2024.
Earth Day is celebrated every April 22 around the world. The first Earth Day was in 1970 to advocate for environmental conservation. The Marion County Conservation Dept. and Earth Sweep will be hosting an Earth Day celebration, Sunday, April 21, 2024 at the Marion County ISU Extension and Outreach building (210 N. Iowa St., Knoxville) from 1:00-4:00 p.m. We hope that you can come celebrate Earth Day with us as the ISU INSECT ZOO will be showcasing over 100 living arthropods – from beetles to roaches, tarantulas, and scorpions! Come get up close and personal! Come and meet BELLA, an amazing Red-tailed Hawk (SOAR-Saving Our Avian Resources), Blue Gate Farm, Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, Frankie’s Storytime, Regional Recycling Center, Plant Swap, Norwex and more! It will be awesome!
It's time for a walk in the woods! The spring ephemerals are beginning to show themselves. Pollination has already begun with the first blooming flowers, the Snow Trillium. Each day the woodland floor will be boasting something new to see and something new for the early insects; Eastern bumblebee queens, carpenter bees, honeybees, flower flies, bee flies, butterflies and some moths will be feeding upon the newfound nectar of the snow trillium and will be feasting soon on more and more woodland blooms. Pollination begins while the nectar food supports the pollinators. The coloration, flight, and determination of these insects are very interesting to watch. Butterflies that have already been spotted in the area include red admirals, painted ladies, commas, and a few cabbage whites. Watch for mourning cloaks, question marks, black swallowtails, and the rarer finds of Henry’s elfin butterflies. Henry’s elfin butterflies are about the size of a thumbnail and can be found close to or on their host tree, wild red bud. The flight time is very early and short, normally beginning in mid-April. Here are a few of the woodland flowers to look for: hepatica, bloodroot, spring beauties, Dutchman’s breeches, toothwort, trout lily, violets, rue anemone, false rue anemone, and possibly many other early wildflowers not noted.
Waterfowl are still coming in and resting prior to moving northward. Don’t forget that they are in their most grand attire for mating season. Many of the species we are seeing now are Lesser and Greater scaup, Northern shovelers, mallards, blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, common mergansers, and wood ducks. Many of the wood ducks have just arrived and will be locating their nesting trees. Always surprises during migration – could be some cool birds appear!
Large groups of adult American white pelicans are coming in daily to the Red Rock area to feed and rest a bit before moving on to their northern breeding grounds. Such a wonderful sight to see one of the largest North American birds right here in our neck of the woods. Here is a little tidbit about the American White Pelicans…lineage suggests they are one of the oldest birds on earth. Fossil records show at least 30 million years. WOW!
Great blue herons began returning to their rookeries the last week of March. Bird migration continues…here are a few highlights. Yellow-rumped warblers will be followed by golden and ruby-crowned kinglets; fox, field, song, Harris’, swamp, white-crowned, and chipping sparrows (just a partial list), Common grackles, cowbirds, rusty blackbirds, yellow-headed blackbirds, red-headed woodpeckers, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, and brown thrashers will be migrating to their summer breeding territory. Purple martins, cliff swallows, tree swallows, and barn swallows will also be returning. Some counties have already noted the return of some purple martins.
The end of April and beginning of May will be time for our most colorful “jungle birds,” to return – the scarlet tanager, summer tanager, orchard and Baltimore orioles, grosbeaks, and indigo buntings just to name a few.
Common pond turtles, painted and snapping, will be out sunning on logs in our local ponds and wetlands. Turtles will be moving a lot this time of year from pond to pond and newly hatched painted turtles may be seen.
The chorus frogs will continue their musical calls, as well as, spring peepers, leopard frogs, cricket frogs, bullfrogs, and the American toad. It will be time for lots of egg laying.
Snakes and other reptiles will continue to be out warming with the sun and looking for a meal.
Migration of the common green darner occurs in April. I, personally, can’t wait for our real-life damsels and dragons. With the drought, it has been challenging to see and experience.
If you are assisting the monarch populations, April is the time to plant milkweeds.
The Serviceberry trees have just begun blooming around the edges of Lake Red Rock.
Happy earth walking…
Marla Mertz
