Leonard Weber

April 13, 2025

Repeated visits to the same natural area over the years, season after season, allows one to know what to expect when. Based on past experience, here is a list of several spring events that nature walkers in Eliza Howell Park will have an opportunity to observe in the remainder of April.

1. Flowering Redbud

The Eastern Redbud is a small tree that blooms pink in the spring before its leaves appear.

The Eliza Howell redbuds are scattered and easily visible from the road and walking path when in full bloom before the end of April.

2. Nesting Killdeer

Killdeer nest on the ground, but the nests, out in the open, are very difficult to find.

While the nests are difficult to see, even when searching for them, the birds themselves are often both visible and loud as they try to distract the walker who gets close to a nesting site.

3. Woodland spring flowers

Every spring, before the forest floor is shaded, a variety of small flowers bloom for a short period of time before fading. They are often referred to as ephemerals.

These four are just some of  the species that regularly bloom in April.

4. Sunning Garter Snake

On sunny days in the spring, especially if one gets off the path, it is possible to come across a Garter Snake that is soaking up the sunshine, trying to get warm after a winter spent hibernating.

At this time of the year, the snakes are sometimes reluctant to move from a sunny spot and will allow someone to approach quite close (if one moves slowly), close enough to get a good view of the black-tipped red tongue.

5. Spring Azure butterfly

The second half of April is also an excellent time to see the first butterflies of the year, also on a sunny day. One that I look for is very small and not too colorful when the wings are closed. The blue-ish open wings are not often seen.

They are most likely to be seen in April in the woods, often on the ground. They will, however, sometimes come to the low-growing ephemeral wildflowers.

6. Breeding American Toads

Every year in April, usually following a warm nighttime rain, male Toads will return to the pond and begin their loud mating calls. The calls can be heard at various times during the day. In Eliza Howell Park, they often gather at the meadow pond.

After a couple or a few days, the calling and egg laying are  done, and the adults will again leave the water, letting the eggs hatch and the tadpoles develop over the next weeks. 

7. Dryad’s Saddle mushrooms

One of the mushrooms that appears at almost exactly the same time every year is a shelf mushroom called Dryad’s Saddle. It grows on dead or dying trees (or on fallen logs). In Eliza Howell, the time for its initial appearance is near the end of April.

This mushroom can occasionally be found later in the summer, but the only time it is easy to find here is in the spring, starting in late April and going into May. It often grows in overlapping shelves.

There are a number of other April highlights as well, but these 7 quickly  came to mind as I was reviewing what to expect in the nest 2 and 1/2 weeks. It’s a wonderful time of the year.