Each Spring in Minnesota is customarily a slow time for outdoor activities - the outdoor winter sports season is over but it is normally too wet and cold to plan any more summer-like activities, like backpacking, camping, and paddling. April 2011 featured the 5th consecutive month of below avergae temperatures and a wide-spread and signficant snow storm in the middle of the month, and flurries at the end of the month. Click here for nice climate summaries by the State Climatology Office.
Not surprisingly, my spring activities were muted by the weather. Here are some highlights.
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| Eagle Center in Wabasha |
In mid-March Cristin and I made a late Saturday afternoon roadtrip to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha. This is a good time of the year for eagle viewing. We saw a few eagles on the drive down, only one from the Eagle Center. Our best raptor sighting occurred when a red-tailed hawk, in pursuit of its game, swooped right in front of us on the highway, offering my best view ever of the 'red tail' of this hawk. We stopped for a beer at the Olde Triangle Pub a block from the Eagle Center, where St> patrick's day was being celebrated. We surprisingly ran into a DNR co-worker of mine and her husbnad who live in Wabasha and they invited us to their home.
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| Bald Eagles on West River Rd in Mpls |
During a hike in mid-April at Tamarack Nature Center, we were surprised to see 2 sandhill cranes feeding in a marsh. I frequent this park and had never seen cranes here!
I was at the Twins baseball game on April 27th, it snowed! The vendors were selling hats, gloves, and blankets! Worse of all, Liriano gave up 4 runs in the top of the 1st before even recording 1 out. This started a 6 game skid in which the Twins were completely and thoroughly anhilated in each game. Ironically, that bad streak snapped when Lirano, on the verge of being banished to the bullpen, no-hit the White Sox 1 week after the snowy fiasco I witnessed.
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| A Wintry Night at Target Field --- on April 27! Oh my! |
