After a week in southern Minnesota, Larry Weber is back in the Northland. While in the southern reaches of the state, Weber counted close to 20 different kinds of wildflowers. Upon returning home, he spotted his first hepatica of the year at Jay Cooke State Park on May 1st. "Number one every year is hepatica," says Weber. The flower that crops up second is usually bloodroot. With a little help from the sun, Spring beauties could also be showing up soon.
Along with the flowers, showers are also on the way - and have been since November. With April in the books, each of the past six months have been well above average for precipitation. The good to come from this is that the Spring melt is making for some very high vernal ponds. With these robust ponds comes a cacophony of frog noise.
Migration is slowing a bit, but in a lot of ways Spring is just beginning to amp up.