Leonard Weber

April 15, 2024

It was a warm, sunny mid-April morning today, one of those days when it is evident that spring is progressing rapidly. 

Mating time for American Toads lasts just a few days. During this time, males call loudly in the meadow pond at any time during the day.

This was the first day I heard them this year. They can typically be expected to gather in the pond after a warm nighttime rain (about 50 degrees or more). The last rain, about 3 days ago, might have  initiated this year’s gathering.

These photos are from a previous April.

Eastern Cottonwood trees flower in April, and the flowers led me to stop – rather, to stop twice – on this morning’s walk. It required two stops because cottonwood trees are either male or female, with different flowers.

Only the female tree develops the seeds (the “cotton”), of course.

Another tree flowering on this April day is Eastern Redbud. The flowers appear along the branches well before there is any sign of leaves.

Bloodroot is a well-liked spring wildflower that grows only in limited locations in Eliza Howell Park. Last fall, the reconstruction of the park road resulted in digging up much of the ground in the location where the flower could be found  most reliably.

This morning was my first search for an indication that some had survived here. I found just a couple leaves – so far. The flowers might not be plentiful this year, but not all were lost.

This was also the first day that I noted Tree Swallows in the park this year, birds that have recently arrived back in Michigan from their wintering grounds (near the Gulf coast). A few nest the park, in a cavity in a tree.

April is also the month for seeking the hard-to-find Killdeer nest. They lay eggs a “minimalist nest” on the ground, very difficult to locate even though right out in the open.

The best time to look is before the clutch of (usually 4) eggs is complete; the adult is not yet on the nest incubating and will not be as disturbed by the search.

The nest photographed this morning has two eggs (so far).

There is much more that could be said about each of these stops, and there were a number of other observations this morning as well.  Perhaps this provides a sense of an April “walk in the park.” I look forward to returning very soon!