From the North Shore of Little Rock Lake

MAY 2010 WEATHER & PHENOLOGY IN REVIEW

Jim Hovda Rice, MN. 56367-0265 jhovda.rice@jetup.net

Well, we finally received some spring snow on the 8^th. Only .1" but snow none the less. It was the first snow since the 27^th of February. Some parts of NE MN received more than 4" of the white stuff. This mid-month cold snap produced significant frost. Although I recorded a low of 27.6 degrees on the 9^th and 10^th, I would guess that the temp was closer to 26 or 25 degrees on the ground. There was 1/8" of ice in the bird bath. The frost came at a particularly bad time for the green things that were just starting to sprout or bud. Ash trees lost all their first leaves and some of my garden plants are still showing the affects of this frost. I lost some plants.

Back to our roller coaster weather - it was eighties the last week of May with St. Cloud reporting a 92-degree reading. If you don’t like the weather, wait an hour or a week. It will change. We were blessed with nearly three inches of rain spread out evenly during the month.

While it was dry here during the last week, all the bad weather followed Jan and I to Canada for our May fishing trip. LOT’S of lightning, thunder and rain (I would estimate 3" in one 24 hr period) followed by lots of wind painted much of our weather picture.

I’ll close this introduction with a story about the pair of Eastern Phoebes who, for the past couple of years, have nested on top of our driveway light located under a roof eve. They came back, built a nest and really seemed happy singing away and darting here and there catching bugs. Then, they just disappeared. What made them leave? Was it the garage door opening and closing? It never bothered them before. After a week it was ladder time. I discovered two white eggs and one a little larger with brown spots. My investigative skills honed, I zeroed in on my chief suspect, the Brown-headed cowbird. There is no shortage of them here. Sure enough, the odd egg was a cowbird egg. Cowbirds lay their eggs in other nests. I guess they are just too lazy to build a nest for themselves. Evidently the phoebe’s didn’t want to be adopting other birds. Case closed.

WEATHER LAST APRIL: Much dryer receiving only .4" of an inch for the entire month. We did end the snow season in May with a total of 59.7" compared to only 30.3" this year.

WEATHER: Temps - fairly normal - then cold - then AC weather with temps in the 80's with a 89.2 degree reading on the 30^th. It would have been warmer but the breeze off the lake saved us from a 90-degree day. On the 31^st it was back to the cool weather with a low of 42.2 degrees. Yes, the furnace kicked on.

The average low was 44.23 degrees while the high was 68.24 degrees. A lot of welcome precipitation. Twelve days with rain or SNOW. The most rain fell on the 11^th when 1.01" hit the ground. We ended the month with 2.94" of precipitation that included .1" of SNOW. Precip for the year so far is 7.72" compared to 7.70" last year.

WEATHER RECORDS: In 1907 the record low was a chilly 18 degrees while Pine River recorded a 4-degree reading in 1909. On the warm side of things, our Central MN temp was a 105-degree reading in 1934 while it reached 112 degrees in Maple Plain the same year. Our record rain for May was 9.68" in 1912. Oh, I almost forgot the 3.2" of snow that fell in 1971...

PHENOLOGY: I’ll do everything by date this time. On the 2^nd, I observed a pair of wood ducks in one of the houses on the N. End of Little Rock Lake. One has to be really observant to catch them going in and out of their house and on the 3^rd, the first sighting of a racoon on the deck looking for anything to eat. It has not been back since. A pair of Orioles arrived on the 7^th & on the 8^th the first Rose-breasted Grosbeak made their appearance at the feeder looking for sunflower seeds. On the 9^th the first purple martin scouts arrived. It would be another week before more arrived and on the 10^th I listened to the Saw-whet Owl make its call that sounds like a bobcat or truck backing up with its alert horn warning that the vehicle was backing up. The Scarlet Tanager made its appearance for about a week starting on the 11^th. This bird with its black wings and brilliant red body is a beautiful sight to see at the feeder. MIA here this year, at least so far, is the Indigo Bunting. Others have reported it being in the area, but not here. On the 14^th a pair of swans were swimming by the mouth of Little Rock Creek. On the 17^th the reappearance of a garden snake in our buffer strip was welcome along with the return of our first wrens. He (?) has been sighted a couple of times since and looks like he has not been short of items to eat. On the 19^th the return of the Whip-poor-will with its never-ending song started just after sundown. I was fishing in Canada for the rest of the month.

RESIDENT OBSERVATIONS: Lot’s of them. My phone rang off the wall with friends keeping me in the phenology loop.

My friend Emil Williams had the most unusual observation on the 5^th when he observed a Rufous-sided towhee . This bird stayed for over a week feeding on his deck. On the 7^th Jim Laumeyer spotted the first hummingbirds and on the 20^th an Indigo Bunting. On the 11^th Ms. Irene Perske reported the annual return of a pair of House Finches that nest in a flower pot by her back door. On the 15^th Vic & Joyce Hengel spotted the first hummingbirds on North Freedom Rd. Jerry Perske, the alert person that he is, spotted a pair of Brown Thrashers darting in and thru the bushes. They are so well camouflaged with their brown they are really hard to see.

A BIRD FACT: House Wrens migrate at night, Jim Gilbert, 09 May, WCCO Radio.