(00:00:05) We have Kathy Heidel in the studio with us and the telephone lines are open. If you have a question about some of the early signs of spring give her a chance to talk about that to during during this hour to two seven six thousand is the phone number to call if you're living in the Minneapolis st. Paul area dial that number if you're outside the Twin Cities area call collect it two two seven six thousand because our normal toll-free line is busy with membership week activities this week today, by the way, those of you who are listening to the Minnesota Public Radio FM Network should get your calls and questions in early today because you have an early date at the Opera 12:30 start time for the Metropolitan Opera Live From New York today. So we'll particularly those of you who are listening outside the Twin Cities area. You may want to get your call in quickly at area code 612 2276 thousand, of course after 12:30, we'll continue on as usual on ksjn 1330 AM. Minneapolis st. Paul area listeners What are some of the signs that have popped up Kathy and then you know back early in March? You said we had some of those warm temperatures and what did you see back then? (00:01:19) Well, the interesting thing was that when I talk to you the end of January I mentioned something about it was going to be Groundhog's Day on February 2nd and that we wouldn't see the groundhog until the middle of March. Well the groundhog fooled us this year. He came out on that third of March he did that's right. He was out about two weeks early came out the same day that the bluebirds came back. The red-winged blackbirds came back. The skunk cabbage is were blooming. Our first blooming Wildflower in the state is already in full bloom really interesting things like that. The first butterflies were out on that day flying around and since that time things have slowed a little bit, but we still when the sun comes out we see the Garter snakes come out sit in the Sun and warm up a little bit. They're not really automating it but some of them come out and warm a little bit and then justing thing. Happened to me personally is I care for a crippled seagull that somebody's shot a couple of years ago and he's starting to court me (00:02:17) now. Oh, well, I will take a listener question. Now. Our first caller is standing by go ahead. You're on the air. Hi. I'm calling from Watertown. I have two questions one about wood ducks. And what about morel mushrooms? I put a wood duck house Outlast last spring and it was invaded by a squirrel and I was wondering this year. I covered up the entrance kicked a squirrel out covered up the entrance and put a Starling house next to it. I was wondering when I should open the entrance to the Starling house so that the Starling could move in and I understand their territorial enough to then keep other starlings from moving into the wood duck house. And then when should I open the wood duck house so that the woodchucks can move in second question is would your guests Any idea if this is going to be a good year for morel mushrooms, and if so about when might we expect to look for them? Okay? (00:03:17) Okay, I'll go ahead and see what I can do with your questions you very much. If you have a Starling house next to your wood duck house. The starlings are beginning to go through courtship Behavior right now and I would suggest that you open your styling box. So that your starlings in the area can claim it and then keep the other ones away. Secondly wood ducks have already been sighted in the area. Not a lot of them. I don't expect a lot of wood ducks back until well any day now we should be getting them. So you might want to either wait till you see the were first wood duck in your area or you may want to Old open your box within the week. Second your question about morel mushrooms. I have no way of knowing that this is going to be a good or a poor year because I don't have a handle yet on how much moisture we're going to have when we have a lot of moisture in the month of April. That means that the morels will probably grow like mad especially if we have not real warm weather if it's if it's sort of cool and quite moist then you'll find a lot of morels coming out if it's a dry spring like we had last year we won't have near as many morals as far as wind to look for them. We usually associate the morels in the Twin Cities area about the time when we're starting to think about lilacs popping out my records show that morels in past years have been out as early as the last part of April, but usually I look for them somewhere around early in May and it's interesting to to try to anticipate when the morels come out. Um, since you're living in the Watertown area, you might want to join join me at Laura nature some time Nature Center some time. I'm having a program this spring on how to find morels and other kinds of wild flowers (00:05:14) Kathy Heidel is with us today naturalist from Lori Nature Center in the Hennepin County Park Reserve District, and we do have some telephone lines open. The phone number is two two seven six thousand. If you have a question about some of the signs of spring or what happens in Wildlife this time of year two to seven six thousand is the phone number to call and if you're living outside the Minneapolis st. Paul area call us collect at area code 612 2276 thousand the same thing goes for any of you in the surrounding states or in Ontario. Cathy will be happy to take a crack at your questions to this noon. Our next listener is waiting. Go ahead, please I've always understood that It was the food supply that determines which birds come back when I mark it on the calendar when I see the first Robin and stuff like that. And is this a true (00:06:09) statement? Not entirely red-winged blackbirds and Robin's respond to a 35 degree isotherm so that when you have average temperatures of 35 degrees and usually a weather system that's conducive to their coming north regardless of the food supply. They'll they'll come that's why we got so many coming in the first weekend of March and the last part of February we had this high pressure system north of us and we were sucking in all that warm air from the Gulf Coast and yet all those nice South Winds and it just blew the birds up here. What happens is when they arrive if they don't find an available food supply. They have really got two options. They can draw upon their internal fat Supply metabolize that or they can fly back south and we know that Robins can fly 250 miles south in one evening or one day the same things true of Canada geese so we have those things happening some of the birds that make a Lager commitment like Hummingbirds are the Orioles that would come back around the first part of May if we should get a cold snap then and there weren't any insects available for for some of those birds to feed on WE mind indeed find that there would be mortality (00:07:26) everything that has always intrigued me is that next to the foundation on the east side of the house the early tulips come up and they're always bathed and snow at some point in Minnesota. Then they harvest come up on the other side. And then I saw the peonies start poking through and I can't understand why. Perhaps that they have water in their veins can survive and Bloom every year when they're often draped in (00:07:56) snow. I think that they're they're temperature-dependent you have near Foundation. You have a house foundation, which is acting just like a like a stove or a furnace in your house. It's radiating heat. The other thing that a lot of people don't realize is a lot of these early blooming plants have got internal mechanisms for creating some of their own heat. For instance the skunk cabbage the flower that's blooming already actually gives off enough heat to melt the snow and the ice right around it and this could be partially a factor in the garden plants that you have growing next to the house. Once they make that commitment they don't seem to freeze unless you really have very very cold night temperatures. The snow is an insulator and I think we don't realize that a lot of times that it can actually keep the heat that's around the plants and being given off by the house. It can kind of hold it there. Just like a nice warm blanket on your bed. (00:08:56) Thank you for calling we do have a telephone lines open at 2 to 7 6,000. If you have a question for Cathy Heidel, she'll be happy to try to answer it this noon 2276 thousand and if you're listening outside the Twin Cities area, you can call us collect at the area code 612 2276 thousand because our toll-free line which we usually have in operation is tied up with membership week activities today. What about the maple sap Kathy? Is that begun flowing at I suspect maybe it began flowing and and quit, is that right or not? (00:09:32) Well, right this week and is not running very well, but this year because we had such warm temperatures in February and we still had cold ground. The maple trees responded very well by the sap beginning to rise in the tissue of the tree. We tapped our maple trees at Lowry Nature Center in February. I have some notes on it. We tapped them this year. On the 25th of February last year, we tap them on the 21st of February and in 1981, which are we consider a very early spring we tap them on the 17th of February whenever you have temperatures at night that are below freezing and Then daytime temperatures that rise above freezing and if you have a sunny day or if you have a fresh snow like we had this week we had our best run this week. The snow came on the night of the 15th 16th, and they time in the 16th, the temperatures rose up to almost 40 degrees and we collected over 20 gallons from six trees at in cover park reserve on that day and the sugar content seems to be pretty good. You have to collect about 40 gallons of sap and evaporate it do it outside. It'll ruin your wallpaper in your walls if you do it in the house because when you get all finished, you've got one gallon of syrup. So you're going to evaporate 39 gallons of water and you don't want it. Get in your house. (00:10:58) All right, we have another listener on the line with the question for you Cathy. Go ahead. You're on the air. Yes, Miss Idol. Yes, I'm listening. Yes. My name is Jim Harlow. I'm calling with very short question. Is there any place in the state where I can be absolutely assured of seeing a black Bernie and warbler. That's one that's on my list, but I can't seem to find them. (00:11:19) Oh, you ask hard question. I assume that if you want to be assured of seeing a black burning and warbler you want probably see it when it's nesting. I've usually seen them in migration often times in the vicinity of oak trees. I've seen black burning warblers on along the Wisconsin along the st. Croix River in Wisconsin over near Interstate Park and north of there in the oak trees where there's a nice Oak Woodland. I've also seen them here in the metropolitan area. They come through in the spring as far as where they nest I would have to check that information out in a book and I'm not sure that I'd have time to go to that right now a good book that can give you that information is green and jansen's Minnesota Birds, where when and how many and that'll tell you exactly when you can expect them in certain parts of the state and if they nest here where you can go (00:12:18) very good. Thank you. Thanks for calling we'll take our next listener with a question for Cathy. I don't go ahead you're on the air. Thank you. I brought some hollyhocks seeds from England last year and planted them last spring they came up for less half-heartedly, but I covered them with leaves before the frost killed him and plastic and I'm wondering is there any chance they'll survive and when should I uncover (00:12:47) them? I'm not real well versed in that type of gardening. I'm not even sure of hollyhocks are perennials or if they're annuals. I guess the perennial they're perennials Okay, then if they're perennials if if they survived through Minnesota's winterize Winters are generally more severe than England's but that covered. Yeah, but this Winter's been pretty mild. So if they were going to make it through I would think that your chances this spring of seeing them again are very good. I would think that the girl would have to be pretty warm before hollyhocks come up because they're generally summer Bloomers. So I think I would look for them before sometime in probably me. (00:13:29) Thank you very much. Very good. We'll move on to another listener with a question for Cathy. Go ahead. You're on the air that me you betcha. I have some they were sort of in a basket begonias last year and I left him in the pots and I'm wondering what I To do about them now. Should I bring them up in the Light and (00:13:52) Water them? That would be my guess again not being not being the best of gardeners with house plants and so forth. I would think that you'd want to start getting them giving them more day length. So that would be what I would tend to do but your best bet on that would be to call perhaps call somebody at the University or at the University of Wisconsin Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. They have experts there who can give you specific information about those plants. Okay. Thank you. (00:14:21) All right, two to seven six thousand is the telephone number if you have a question about Wildlife, that's what we're focusing on today wildlife in early spring Kathy. Heidel is our guest use a naturalist at the Hennepin County Park Reserve System works out at Lowry Nature Center. What about the Canadian? Geese Kathy? What is their situation (00:14:41) now? Well, this is we had some open water in February. The Canada geese started coming back. We only had about 12 geese overwintering in Carver Park this year and as soon as the weather was conducive when we had those. Warm southerly Winds we had geese by the dozens coming into the park. And now I've noticed that they've paired off and there to be standing on a hump here surrounded by water and then there to G standing another Island surrounded by water. They're going through courtship behavior. And my guess is that we probably have some Canada geese that are already beginning to build nests and and I would expect within within the week. They'll begin egg laying and start incubating usually around six eggs. So by the end of March, I'm sure we're going to have Canada geese incubating eggs and I would expect then by the end of April or even before the end of April we're going to have Gosling's running (00:15:33) around. Hmm. Yeah, that'll be fun. We have another listener with a question for you. Go ahead, please. Hello. Hello. Go ahead. I'm interested in knowing what the exact stimuli are for the waterfowl migration in Spring and where we're at in this point. Are we early this year or or has now if it's photo period that actually governs them are we as the warm weather not Changed it that much (00:15:56) in waterfowl. It's a variety of things. We're not absolutely sure photo period has a lot to do with that is the day length of the daylight has a lot to do with sending the or triggering The Verge to move north. We also think that weather has something to do with it too. We know that with Canada geese as I mentioned earlier, they can take a chance when photo period gets the right length and conditions in Missouri for instance are right, they'll take a chance and move north and they can get from Missouri to Minnesota at one night. If the conditions aren't good here. They may go back and then wait until a little bit better whether the threat same thing is true with the whistling swans or the tundra swans. We know that the that's another type of waterfowl. They winter primarily on Chesapeake Bay down to the into North Carolina on the Atlantic coast, and then they get up and they move northwestward often times not settling down until they come to some place. In Minnesota or Lake Michigan and Wisconsin. We already this year have sightings of whistling swans and the Weaver Bottoms in the area around Wabasha on the Mississippi River. We had approximately 10 whistling swans seen by the 6th of March and there now numbering over a thousand. So what triggered them is probably photo period but probably other things that were not absolutely sure about you know, they had all the snow storms out there on the east coast and not at all like we had here so I don't think that they would have a knowledge of a food supply and it can't be entirely the photo period because they come at different times in different years. I think there's a lot of research still to be done in this area. Okay. Thank you very (00:17:41) much. Another listener is on the line with the question. Go ahead. Please not with a question, but with a comment you had a listener calling a few minutes ago asking about English hollyhocks. I can't speak for English hollyhocks. But we live in the northwest corner of Hennepin County where we get the full brunt of the north winds sweeping down out of st. Cloud. We have hollyhocks. We can't kill so they do grow quite well and in the Minnesota area of at least at this latitude and I can guarantee him. They'll survive the Minnesota winters if they're at all Hardy (00:18:25) now, that's that's the the key thing right there is if they're hearty you have different genetic material that's adapted for a different photo period and a different day length differing temperatures and they may have to save you have to save your seeds year after year and plant those and those will be the ones that will eventually give you very winter hardy (00:18:47) hollyhocks, right? These are also planned along about to Get out from our house foundation, you know kind of a niche corner. And so they do get somewhat protected from the from the winter. They're also on the east side of the (00:19:05) house you've created (00:19:06) and they do have some (00:19:07) protection. I think you've created an English atmosphere right there. (00:19:13) Thank you for your observation. And I didn't know before that Twin Cities weather came from st. Cloud. We have another listener with a question. Go ahead, please. (00:19:45) Okay hummingbirds as far as I know go all the way up to the northern limits of Minnesota. They generally nest in areas that are adjacent to water. You can try to get them in your yard by putting out something that hummingbirds like to live on kind of a syrup solution. My suggestion would be that you take about four parts of water and one part of what sugar and put it in a cattle and boil it bring it to a boil and then cool what you're going to use put the rest in the refrigerator put it out in a jar. That's at a 45 degree angle or you can go ahead and buy a fancy hummingbird feeder if you want and hang this out in the yard somewhere near where you might have some colorful flowers like salvia or some of the other brightly colored flowers. You can also plant plants like trumpet vine and honeysuckle allowed columbines and hopefully you Be able to get the hummingbirds in your area. They're kind of fickle. You just never sure whether they're going to really respond to human beings or not. As far as when we expect the hummingbirds in the metropolitan area somewhere around the beginning of the second week of May and I would expect that depending upon the weather. If you get a nice South breezes, they can go pretty far in in a short time spring generally kind of it progresses northward about 15 miles a day that might give you some idea of how soon it'll arrive in your area and then give the hummingbirds a little time. (00:21:21) It's about 23 minutes past 12:00 noon Kathy. Heidel is with us choose a naturalist at the Lowry Nature Center in the Twin Cities area. We invite those of you who are listening to the Minnesota Public Radio FM Network to get your calls in rather quickly now because you'll be going off to the Metropolitan Opera Live at 12:30 this afternoon two two seven six thousand is the telephone number and we are accepting. Collect calls at area code 612 2276 thousand from those of you who live outside the Minneapolis st. Paul area or in the surrounding states since our toll-free line is tied up with other things this week. We're talking about the maple syrup Kathy and you mentioned something about evaporating the syrup but not doing it in the indoors because it ruin the paint. What is the actual recipe that you follow to make maple (00:22:13) syrup? There isn't much of a recipe. What we do is we drill a hole in the tree which is about two-and-a-half to three inches deep and just a diameter large enough to accept a hollow tube. It can be a tube that you carve out of a dowel or it can be a metal tube that you can buy at a hardware store called the saps pile or a sap spout and then we just collect the sap whenever it runs we put it in the evaporator and we evaporate it until the temperature of the solution that you're evaporating reaches about 217 degrees that is about 5 degrees above the temperature of boiling water that can vary from day to day depending on barometric pressure. So it's a good Idea to get what is your temperature of boiling water on the same day that you're going to finish off your your syrup? Okay, when it's reached that temperature then remove it from the fire and bottle it but you have to put it through some kind of a strainer you want to get all the bugs and stuff out, you know, so we usually do is we put it through some undyed wool felt or several thicknesses of undyed flannel and then you can put it in the refrigerator or you can put a seal on it and put it on the shelf and it's edible. (00:23:31) I'll bet it's just delicious and I'll ask you your pancake recipe after we get off the air. Okay. We have more listeners with questions. Go ahead. You're next. I've got a question for about the white pelican and I wondered if it's cited in the metropolitan area or if you have to go further north or west or whatever. I'll hang up (00:23:51) and listen Okay, the white pelicans one of my favorite Birds if I were a bird, I'd be a pelican the Pelican at least one or two of them have been sighted in the state already in the southern part of the state. So we think that they will soon be coming in probably in numbers. They are basically found in the western half of Minnesota in the metropolitan area. We rarely get them as far in as the Minneapolis and st. Paul Lakes. What we do find is that they will occur in some of the shallower lakes that are out in Carver County and Cloud County Nicollet County and and then they move on up that's as close as they come east. There are a lot more places. They're farther west in the state and we find that they are nesting somewhere up in the western areas of the Northwestern corners, but a lot of them go up into North Dakota and into Canada to nest (00:24:47) We'll take another listener with a question for Cathy Heidel. Go ahead. You're on the air. Thank you. I live in the Edina area in an area of Condominiums and while my first floor kind of any He has a Courtyard area and I have to bird feeders. I don't find anyone but the The Sparrows coming. How can I attract Trends and other birds of a wide variety to the bird feeders any hope at (00:25:15) all? It depends upon how many trees and shrubs you have in your area. If you have a nice variety of Shrubbery a number of them with some kind of fruits hanging on then you might be able to put out some kind of Nest box for the house rent. If you want to attract it a nest box with a inch to an inch and 1/4 diameter hole in it. I can't expect that you'd get bluebirds and probably not with the condominium area. You wouldn't get many tree swallows. I think it depends upon habitat. And if you don't have much in the way of trees and shrubs, then you're not going to get much except house sparrows because the house sparrows like to live on the facades of the buildings lot of Our designs for buildings are adapted very well for house baroness (00:26:03) think we have time to fit in another call here. Go ahead, please you're next. Yes. I have a pussy willow tree in the backyard and in early spring when it gets its pollen. I get lots of honey bees I'd like to know where these if these honeybees are special species and where they nest if there are no commercial hives (00:26:25) around The honeybees that come to collect pollen at your pussy willow plant could very well be living in a hollow tree or some some sort of a structure like that. The often times will go into a tree. That's Hollow on the inside. I know that when I worked at the Richardson ledge Nature Center in Bloomington in the metro area, we had an old oak tree sitting out in the middle of the Prairie which was filled with honey bees the type of honey bees is the regular honey. Bee they may have escaped from somebody's commercial venture or somebody's hives. It's an Italian be there generally quite docile and unless you're gonna stick a stick in there and poke them all up and really agitate them. You can go very very close and watch them. I don't think that unless you're right in the middle of their flight path. You really have to worry about them. (00:27:16) We are going to at this point had the Minnesota Public Radio FM Network listener is often the direction of New York City live broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera coming up in just a few moments here on Minnesota Public Radio. Kathy. Heidel is going to be in our studios though and will continue for those of you in the Minneapolis st. Paul area on ksjn 13:30 am. So if you're listening to ksjn FM and want to continue talking about Wildlife by all means switch over to the am band ksjn 1330 weekend is made possible by economics laboratory products and services for household institutional and Industrial Cleaning worldwide. All right. We are still talking with Kathy Heidel and we have more listeners with questions. Let's take our next caller. You're on the air. I have a questions about that. I'd like to know I'm late you call from Rainier and I'd like to know if we have bats in this area. I'm not sure I've seen them if they can be attracted and when and where how why and can we attract. (00:28:25) Oh boy. I'm not the best bet expert in the world. I think that the bats probably would be those that would live in cavities. It might live in cavities and trees in the summertime. Sometimes they were living in caves natural caves or occasionally in Brick lines or systems. I have bats in my house. They live in my attic and I'm quite happy to have them there. I enjoy watching them in the spring and through the summer as they get the mosquitoes around my house. I have never heard about trying to attract bats specifically, that's something I'm going to have to really check into I know about attracting Birds but attracting bats I suppose if you didn't mind having them in your house. If you left a little bit of a space between the eaves and and the inside of your house you could get bats real. Well, you could probably get flying squirrels to you. Don't try to feed bats. They will take care of the insects. Your area I guess if you wanted to know more about bats, you might want to call the University at St. Cloud. There's a person there who works on bats as a bad expert or you might want to call someone at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities area. I'm sure there's somebody who's studying bats and has a lot more and better answers for you than I have. (00:30:03) But you don't know of hand of any particular way. We can (00:30:06) attract not accept to file to have some sort of a neat place where they can can habitat, (00:30:15) right? Okay. Thank you very much. All right, thank you for calling most people would just assume get rid of bats rather than track them. I (00:30:22) think that's because that's because they have erroneous information about bats. I think all rats are bat of all bats are rabid and that they get in your hair and all sorts of horrible things like that and I'll bet would be dumb enough to get in people's hair simply because they work on Sonar and they would know where you were no bet would get that close to get messed up with the I can't even catch more than insect net there that maneuverable and I think bats are very very wonderful animals. They can catch Oh Toodles and qoodles of insects that we don't like to have around. I really welcome them because it gets so many mosquitoes and and deer flies and stuff like that. I just don't think that's our bad. (00:31:04) We have another listener with a question. Also, the telephone lines are open to to 76 thousand. If you have a question for Cathy Heidel, she'll be happy to answer this noon 2276 thousand by all means give us a call High you are on the air. Well, I have a question about wildflowers. Is it possible to find trailing arbutus in (00:31:26) Minnesota? Yes, I think it is trailing arbutus likes a rather acid situation. I have always found it growing pretty much on Sand my guess would be that in the areas closest to the metropolitan area. You might find them north of the cities on the Sands that we call an anarchist and plane. I would guess up in Pine County. You might look for it. I know that I found trailing arbutus in the Crux Meadows Conservation Area just north of Grants Berg, Wisconsin, and that's just across the river from those Pine County area and was in the Minnesota. So I really think yes, you could find trailing arbutus. You'd have to look early. I've gone looking for it as early as mid April. It depends upon the spring if you got an early spring then you're going to sometimes even find it in late March. Well, thank you so much. You're welcome. (00:32:22) Our next listener is waiting at has a question. Go ahead, please Kathy Idol. I wonder if you might discuss for a few. The bluebird situation in the Twin City metropolitan area. I know there's a group of well-intentioned people trying to bring the bluebird back but beyond that, I wonder if you could talk a little bit about how far apart the boxes should be there seem to be so many different stories as to 60 feet or 3 of them per acre and I'll hang up and listen. I appreciate your interest. (00:32:53) I will speak from my personal experiences with bluebirds. I know that there's a lot of controversial information about it. The Bluebirds have this year have already arrived. One of the earliest years on record on the 3rd of March. We had about ten Bluebird cited and Carver Park Reserve. I've been trying to attract Bluebirds for years in the park and I've put up all different kinds of boxes so far a box design that's published in bulletin 77 by the Department of Natural Resources. Minnesota's department is a good box design and the box design that dick Peterson has he lives up in Brooklyn Park a Brooklyn Center. I believe he has an excellent box design. Also I've used both of these box designs and find that the bluebirds like them Bluebird seem to like to have a box that's placed near a perching site now in Khyber Park Reserve we've put the boxes along fence rows on metal fence post rather than wooden fence post that kind of deters the raccoons. Little bit and either near overhead utility wires or next to fencerow where there's wires for them to sit on or near small trees. The one thing I've discovered that seems to be most like by the bluebirds is if you put the boxes near where the grass is cropped by horses cows sheep goats, whatever the animals might be that keep it short or where the where the grass is mowed in Carver Park Reserve where we mow the grass around some of our small newly planted tree plantations. We have the most bluebirds the bluebird sit in the small trees drop down to the Short Grass to feed on the insects and then go back up in the trees to eat. And if I put a box in that area, it's generally accepted by bluebirds. I've found that that I need to have the boxes more than 60 feet apart in our case. I've expanded that distance to anywhere from 150 feet to 200 feet apart and then I often get competition from tree swallows, which has the biggest For bluebirds and most of the areas where there's water. And so what I do is if I see a tree swallow trying to compete with a bluebird for a box. I put a second box close to that box that they're both squabbling over and then I can accommodate both of them. I found that that's the best way to solve the problem at least within the last couple of years that's been my (00:35:13) solution. We have more listeners with questions on signs of spring and activities in Wildlife around this time of the year. Go ahead. You're next. Yes. I'd like to ask a question about woodpeckers. We have a friendly woodpecker that attacks our house every year and my husband has filmed those holes several times, but it always seems to come back. Is there anything that we can spray on the exterior of the house or is there anything that we can put in these holes which would keep that woodpecker away. (00:35:47) Yes, a man gave a report at the December meeting of the Minnesota of ornithologist Union and dealt with that very problem. The problem is that woodpeckers have learned especially Downy woodpeckers in the last 10-15 years have learned how to deal with holes in especially cedar siding the solution to the problem is to go out there and act like a woodpecker see where all the holes are because they're hunting by sight. The holes are being used by insects. That lay their eggs in there and then put food in there and the woodpeckers are hunting for that. So take a caulking compound which is approximately the same color as your siding and caulk Every Blessed whole shut that you can find go up and down that that cut in your siding and look at it from the side. You might want to cock the entire length of those those cuts in the siding and then every time a woodpecker opens a hole in your starting fill it up with caulking compound when you've got all the holes cock shut then you're going to keep the insects out and then you're going to keep the woodpecker's away. It's a lot of work. I've done it at my house and I'm still doing it but it's about the only way to beat the problem. All right. Thank you so (00:36:57) much. You said that over the past 15 years woodpeckers have learned how to deal with cedar siding and how can a woodpecker learn how to do something? They don't they're not intelligent are they? (00:37:08) Oh, I think we probably underestimate the intelligence of a lot of a lot of animals. Perhaps it's those woodpeckers that have found extra food in houses like that have been healthier and perhaps they've survived in the long run so that you have a leave illusionary thing going where the ones that are better fed would be the ones that would survive to give birth or you know have a healthy Offspring. The other thing I think is that yes they do they can learn they ordinarily do hunt by spotting holes and things how holes and in tree limbs and holes in the various kinds of plants were there plant goals and I expect that it's those woodpeckers that that are the greatest opportunist that just have learned that these are good hunting places. They recognize them hmm (00:37:56) more listeners with questions. Let's take our next caller. Go ahead, please. I got a question about hummingbirds. What kind of habitat do they nest (00:38:03) in? My experience with hummingbirds in Carver Park Reserve is that they have a very large territory for nesting sometimes as much as a Mile Square the nests are frequently found within a hundred feet of water saddled often times on the branch of a Nabi tree like a an oak tree that may not be the case for the North and the state but that's the experience. I've had hummingbirds really do associate with with those kinds of trees and nearby water. They feed primarily on insect life when you have a interface of water and Woodland you're going to have more insects. And so there's going to be greater amount of (00:38:41) food. Let's take another caller. Go ahead do your next. Hello. I have a large area about four acres and it's nice wooded with wildflowers but has an awful lot of poison ivy. Is there some good way to get rid of the poison ivy without getting rid of the (00:38:58) wildflowers. We've had that problem in Carver Park Reserve for years. We got a lot of poison ivy coming up along our Pathways and we've tried Mowing and that doesn't do any good and one of our naturalist who wasn't didn't think he was allergic to poison ivy started pulling it up found out he was allergic after bit. I found out the same way what we've resorted to I really hate to say this, but what we've resorted to in our Park Reserve in those danger areas is spot spraying with a very very carefully with an herbicide and I'm not sure what we're using for an herbicide right now. My guess would be that you could get a specific information on what herbicide to use by calling the university. They probably would give you more information on that. I don't know of anything else that really works very well to get rid of yeah, if you have poison ivy, that's just absolutely covering the whole area. It might A succession over time might be able to shade it out. But I know that it also adapts. We've got it growing quite well in a very very shady Woods to outside of the herbicide. I honestly don't know what else you could do. (00:40:12) Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for calling will take another listener who has a question. You're on the air. Hello. I'm a Texan from Texas and I have a packet of bluebonnet seeds. I wonder is there any possibility they'll grow up here? (00:40:27) Oh, my guess would be that it might grow the first season, but my guess is we might have Frost before you would get them blooming. You've got a different kind of day length situation there and also temperature situation. I just don't know. I know that we get lupins growing in Minnesota, but I don't know. I don't know if it's the Texas Bluebonnet variety, I guess. All you have to do is give it a try. The other thing you could do is you could call the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and ask them specifically they might be able to give You a more specific question answer. Okay. Thanks very (00:41:03) much. 17 minutes before one o'clock Kathy. Heidel is with us naturalist at the Lowry nature center part of the Hennepin County Park Reserve System, and she's taking your calls. We do have some open lines now in the Twin Cities area 2276 thousand is the number to call if you have a question about Wildlife this time of the year. One question I have Kathy is about loons. I know when I have been up at Itasca State Park, I've always enjoyed listening to and watching the loons are they back yet, or when will they come back and how far south will they come? Will they get as far south as the Minneapolis st. Paul area? (00:41:40) I have not had any reports of loons returning yet. That doesn't mean that they have been sighted in the state. It's just that be the gem Gilbert nor I have had any Colin reports on them. I looked back and some of the past records on Luna Rivals and I think we can be expecting them now anytime they really do when you when you start seeing the Lakes opening up then you'll start seeing the loons. My guess is that if the loons do come up before the Lakes open that they'll stay on the river systems the st. Croix the Mississippi and the Minnesota if it's open here and there wherever there's a flowing open water, then you'll find the loons just waiting to Branch out as soon as the Lakes open. We have had nesting loons and cover park reserve for all the years that I've been there. So we know that they do Nest this far south were more or less at the edge of the Southern range of nesting you'll find a lot more nesting and farther north lakes in Minnesota. (00:42:36) How far south do they go in Winter? (00:42:38) We know that they go To the Atlantic coast to the Chesapeake Bay Area. We know that they go to the Gulf Coast farther south and that I don't know (00:42:46) about some of them they pick their I wonder if the same pair do they stay together pretty much throughout their lives. Don't they? (00:42:55) I'm not sure about that either. I (00:42:56) wonder if the same I wonder if the same moon goes to the same coasts each year or if maybe balloon decides. Well, I've been to the Atlantic coast now, I'll head on down to the Gulf Coast. (00:43:08) Well banding records that we have of waterfowl seem to indicate that once they learn a certain wintering area or a certain summering area that they keep going back and forth to the same places. This probably has less hazardous in the long run takes less energy to go to new areas. So my guess would be that if the Loon were go to it Atlanta Coast one year probably would repeatedly go there long as it lives in the same thing when it comes North we know from Bandung records that frequently Birds go back to the same general area where They were hatched (00:43:41) lots of listeners on the line with questions now. So let's take our next caller. Hi, you're on the air. Hi only from your mirror. I have a friend who has a lot of wild ginger growing in a ravine that's going to be filled up and I wanted to transplant some of that second question is about Baltimore Orioles. When is a good time to start to attract them? And we used to set out oranges cut oranges on a pole. Is that a good (00:44:06) idea? Okay, I'll try to get your question about the Orioles first. We expect the Orioles back in the metropolitan area about the first week of May and it would be somewhat delayed as you were to go north in the state. You can attract them with oranges. They seem to be quite attractive to the attracted to the color of orange. And I think that's probably got something to do with the fact that they recognize orange mates. But anyway oranges are fine. Once you've got them in your area with oranges. You don't have to continue feeding oranges. What you can do is you can make the transfer to feeding them and it's an expensive brand of grape jelly, or you can get you know, pancake syrup something like that and put in a small dish you might want to put the orange in the dish of pancakes syrup just to get them attracted to that liquid, but you can start putting your bait out about that about that time around the beginning of May as soon as you spot one in the area. I'd go ahead and put the bait As to the question on while Ginger I've had some experience with transplanting Wild Ginger found that I planted it in a semi shady area. I planted it under a rugosa rose and it's been coming up year after year after year and we've had to actually dig some of it out because it's been spreading farther than we wanted but it has to be planted into some moist soil soil that can stay fairly moist right through the season and it has to be underneath some kind of shade (00:45:36) would be done while it's flowering or is there a special time for (00:45:41) that? I think that a lot of the spring wildflowers can be dug up while their flowering, of course that puts an extra stress on the plant. My guess would be your best bet would be to Mark the plants if you that have bloomed or to go and get them after they finished flowering they're easy to see right through the summer because of those big lovely heart-shaped velvety leaves. (00:46:03) Okay. Thank you. Let's move on to another listener who has a question. Go ahead, please you're on the I have a comment on white and that if you go to the library and get the book called the white lady that is written by a man that studied that in Chicago many many years ago and he was a white pad and healthy know and he could study that and he made quite a few studies about the different bats in Caverns. (00:46:36) Thank you for that (00:46:36) information. Another common a bad will fly through revolving fan blades and also, Sooner you talked about after you read that book The White bad by you won't have the same feelings about that that you had before that you love them. Thank you, right. Thank you for calling me have more listeners with questions. Go ahead. You're next. Thank you. I'm from Roseville and last year. We put up a purple martin house. And I don't know if this questions been answered already, but I just joined in the program question I have is when should I put the house up? How should I attract the purple martins? And how do I keep the sparrows (00:47:23) out? Good questions, and I haven't completely covered that we expect the purple martins back on the average around the 15th of by the 15th of April, but we sometimes have had them back in the metropolitan area as early as the first part of April to attract purple martins. They are Colonial nesters. So you'd want some kind of a housing situation a condominium or an apartment building the compartments for each Bridge. Each pair of bird should be 6 inches by 6 inches by 6 inches a two and a half inch diameter hole raised approximately two and a quarter inches above. The floor of the compartment is a necessity the best luck I've had or I've heard about in attracting purple martins is if you can put the house up on a pole high enough that it clears nearby trees and shrubs so that the birds when they come in can sail right into the hole without having to maneuver around a tree and if you put it near water some of the people who live out on Lake, Minnetonka Only have their Martin houses on poles out of the ends of their docks and they're usually always used the other thing you have to provide the Martins with is some perching place nearby so that they can watch the entrance to the whole a television aerial utility wires or some nearby tree will do as long as it's not going to obstruct the Flyway into the nest box itself. I would get the box the house up as soon as possible. I think I would not open up the holes. If you can keep the holes covered until you see the first Martin's in your area then at least you're not going to let that house sparrows get in. My feeling would be that once the Martins arrive if they choose your house and you've also got competition with house sparrows that you let one of the let that one pair of house sparrows have one box or one compartment in the colony and then keep tearing out the other house sparrow nest. If you can get a ladder up to your house that way that one male Sparrow will keep other males away and it will keep a lot of house sparrows out of your of your Martin colony. (00:49:31) Nine minutes before one o'clock. We do have some telephone lines open now to 276 thousand is the phone number if you have a question for Cathy Heidel about what is happening in nature this time of year. One thing we have not talked about Kathy yet is the dear. What was this winter? Like for the deer was it a good survival winter for them or not? (00:49:53) Well, I'll talk about the ones. I've been watching in the park and I think it basically was a pretty good winter. We didn't have a lot of snow this winter and we didn't have cold temperatures so they didn't really have to use a lot of extra food to keep warm. I would say it was basically a good winter at least in this area for the deer. I would expect that. They would probably have twins or triplets this spring if they're older than one year. I'm sure that we have some young deer that are not quite yet a year old that are going to be having fawns for the first time this spring and I think that people Always want to know when to start looking for the first fawns. I looked up the records from the last two years in 1981, which had a spring very similar to the spring of 1983 except that now we slow down a little bit but a 1981 the first fall and reported to us was on April 20th, which was exciting exceptionally early. I thought most dear here in the this part of Minnesota don't usually have their phones until later on in May even into early June in that last year. We didn't have the first van spotted until the 23rd of May. So you see there's a whole month difference from 81 to 82 and so in 83, it depends upon how soon we warm up right now. We've got below average temperatures at least at this time right now, but if we start getting some sunshine and some warm days the fact that we had a mild winter means that they were getting plenty of food. And so they they probably will Drop healthy fawns. I expect the phones that are dropped early in bad years don't survive. (00:51:38) Hmm the early spring that we heck. I was almost kind of a false spring. Yes. It does in an early Martin early February rather was any harm done by the subsequent freeze up that we have had the past week or so one could almost imagine back in February that you'd begin to see buds appearing on the trees. Now that didn't happen. Of course, at least I didn't see him around my house. (00:52:01) But some people did have Bud swelling on some of the fruit trees. I noticed that the buds were really swelling on the Elder berry bushes in the park and I looked at them just the other day and they the flower buds you can see every minut little but the flower buds are actually out about an inch, but we brought some into the building to see whether or not they would continue growing and they are so they again must have some kind of an antifreeze get the put it in the vernacular. That may keep them from actually being cut back now as far as like apple trees and apricots and plums and so forth. Usually if they're in the bud, they're protected its when the flowers open and then you get a killing Frost that it kills the center of the flower and I think until that would happen right now. I don't think that this Frost is really had much effect. (00:52:56) We have more listeners with questions as we come down near the end of the are go ahead please you're next. Hi Kathy, you're terrific. It's nice to hear you on the radio. My question is what Cox have they come back to Minnesota yet? I've heard that my folks told me in Milwaukee. They've been back for two weeks. (00:53:13) So glad you asked that question. I was so excited this year. I went out on the 3rd of March in the evening to listen for owls. I was expecting to have the owls tell me where they were and there I was standing out about 20. (00:53:31) Hold on go (00:53:32) ahead about 20 minutes after Sundown. I started hearing these strange sounds and for those of you who have never identified the a sound with Woodcock. Let me imitate a little bit of the sound of the would cut the Woodcock is a very long beaked birdie sits on the ground and what he does is he walks wrong a little circle at the edge of a swamp and he goes babe, babe, (00:53:57) babe. (00:53:58) That's supposed to be very attractive to a female and then when he's done that for a little bit then he gets up in the air and he flies in huge circles ever-tightening Circle Spirals and then just before the woodcock's were to drop down again. It goes Jib Jab jab jab jab jab jab jab jab and then back down on the ground and sometimes the land right at your feet. If you happen to be in the territory where the woodcock's doing his thing and then you'll start this whole beeping business over again doing it for about a half hour in the evening and then repeating it in the at Sunrise. I talked with Bob Jensen who Editor for the Journal of the Minnesota ornithologist Union and he said this is one of the earliest years on record of Return of woodcock's the 3rd of March this year. I usually expect them to find expect to have them returned around the 27th of March. (00:54:44) Let's take another listener with a question for Cathy. Hi - hi you're on the air. I'm wondering what the robins he get this time of the year. There was Robin's here on March 9th and then a few days later wonder showed up and went to my bird feeder but it didn't eat anything. It's just that they're (00:55:02) Robins generally don't eat seeds. They are fruit eaters primarily. So if you have fruits hanging on or your Buckthorn trees, or they have been going to apple trees crabapple trees. They will feed on that. Some people put raisins out for them and their bird feeders. The other thing that robins have been eating is earthworms. And if you don't believe the earthworms are out, they've been out we've seen them on the on the sidewalks. They've been out in whenever the ground thaws enough. The earthworms are very close to the surface because the frost is primarily up and when we get this water that's trying to soak into the ground up or earthworms tunnels are getting flooded. So up come the earthworms and those Robins are right (00:55:42) there. (00:55:45) Well, it depends upon where you are. If the ground is Frozen then the earthworm's won't be active but there are other sorts of insects and there may even be dead worms and things in the robins are very good at picking out anything that looks like meaty stuff. (00:56:01) We have a couple more minutes left time to fit in perhaps our last two calls. Go ahead, please you're next. Yes. I want to ask Kathy. I can get plans or something in there to make a brick house. (00:56:14) Call the Department of Natural Resources in st. Paul and ask them to send you a copy of bulletin 77 bulletin 77 about birdhouses and how you can make them (00:56:28) different department natural (00:56:29) resources. That's right. The DNR, that's (00:56:33) right. Thank you very much guys. We have about a minute left Kathy. I want to ask you before you leave. If you could briefly outline some of the spring events that are coming up in the Park Reserve District out at Lori Nature Center. (00:56:47) We have some really exciting things coming up that will help people understand a little bit more about spring. There's a beekeeping seminar at Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington on the 9th of April ducks and donuts there on the 23rd. They've got a signs of Spring Walk on the 24th of April at Eastman Nature Center up near asean Elk Creek Park Reserve. They're doing Maple sugaring on April 2nd and 3rd. Now the 8th of May we Have a mom's Mother's Day Wildflower walks in both Elm Creek Park Reserve and in Carver Park Reserve, if you're interested in fishing, we have a number of fishing programs at Coon Rapids Dam Visitor Center and fact on the 5th of June. We have the carp Centennial. Did you know that this is the hundredth anniversary of the introduction of the carp in Minnesota? No, I did and we are celebrating (00:57:37) that. Well, that's an event worthy of (00:57:39) Celebration Liz if you're interested in what to do about baby orphans, or you things you think are orphans like rabbits and baby birds on April 10th at Coon Rapids Dam. If you're interested in geese woodcock's frogs, we've got a variety of programs at Lauren HSN or just give us a call and we'll tell you all the other information (00:58:00) Kathy Heidel. Thank you so much for being with us today. It's been a real pleasure Kathy. Heidel is a naturalist in the Hennepin County Park Reserve System.