What are naturalists seeing along the banks of the Mississippi?
Heron rookery on the Mississippi.
Alanna Elder | MPR News
The U.S. drought monitor shows drought conditions have improved across much of Minnesota. That’s good news after months of bare ground and open water where most years there is snow and ice.
Sandra Lichter and Erin Steinhibel pay a lot of attention to the changing of the seasons as they guide people through two different sections of the Mississippi River.
Sandra Lichter is a naturalist at Itasca State Park and joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about what’s happening at the headwaters.
And further downstream, Erin Steinhibel is a park ranger with the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in the Twin Cities.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: As you heard earlier in the hour, the US drought monitor today shows conditions have improved across much of Minnesota. That is good news after months of bare ground and open water, where most years there's snow and ice.
Our next two guests pay a lot of attention to the changing of the seasons as they guide people through two different sections of the Mississippi River. Sandra Lichter is a naturalist at Itasca State Park. She's here to tell us about what's happening at the headwaters.
Further downstream, Erin Steinhibel is the Park Manager-- excuse me, Park Ranger with the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in the Twin Cities. Erin, Sandra, welcome.
SANDRA LICHTER: Thanks for having me.
CATHY WURZER: It's a pleasure having you here. Sandra, I'm going to start with you. I understand you recorded some audio for us. Thank you so much. We just love that here on the radio-- some of the activity you've been hearing in Itasca lately. We're going to play that.
[SWANS HONKING]
Cool. I love that. Trumpeter swans?
SANDRA LICHTER: Yes, you got it. The swans have been here almost-- probably almost a month now, hanging out up in the headwaters area. And it's awesome every spring when we start hearing those calls, those "bad trumpet players," as we like to call them.
CATHY WURZER: I'm surprised that they're already up there. Should I be?
SANDRA LICHTER: Well, not necessarily. You know, swans like to have open water in order to live because that's where they're getting their food and resting. And we do have sometimes-- there's a spot in Park Rapids, just south of Itasca State Park, where the swans sometimes will spend the whole winter.
But we definitely, once we start getting a little more open water up in this area, we'll start to see more and more swans coming. And yesterday when I was up there, there was probably about 18 to 20 trumpeter swans hanging out up in the headwaters area.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, so pretty. Erin, I understand that the great blue herons are back?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah. I took a little road trip out by Marshall Terrace Park about a week and a half ago, and there were a few. Some folks were saying they were seeing up to 24, which is pretty exciting. Last year, they kind of had us on pins and needles waiting to see if they would arrive in time for our big Welcome Back the Herons event. So we're very excited that they're here already.
CATHY WURZER: So how does that arrival compare to last year?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah, they arrived around March 24 last year. So this year, around March 15 is when they came back.
CATHY WURZER: A little early. Now is this the rookery that was blown away by the North Minneapolis tornado? No?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: No, it's actually about a mile downstream from that original rookery that was--
CATHY WURZER: OK.
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah. So they managed to rebuild, and there's tons of nests there in the trees. Some say there's up to 175 nests, so it's really a sight to behold.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, wow. Say, Sandra, back up north there at the headwaters, I'm wondering-- because you, of course, had snow up there like we had snow down here-- who else has arrived? And do they look like they're a little bit unhappy to be in the snow?
SANDRA LICHTER: Well, I have to say the one I kind of chuckled about was on Saturday. I was out in front of our visitor center, and I saw my first sighting of a chipmunk. And I thought, oh, man, buddy. You should have waited a few more days before you came out because, of course, on Sunday we started with the snow.
But up on the lake, we have been having spots, larger spots of open water on Lake Itasca. The lake's not ice-free just yet, but we do have open spots. So we've been seeing hooded mergansers, which are one of actually my favorite duck that I love to see, these little guys with these-- the males in the spring have these beautiful white crests on their heads that they can stand up and put down. And we've had a really nice flock of them around.
We've also been seeing some Canada geese and some mallards. And of course, we've had a lot of spottings of bald eagles, which they tend to start coming back in larger numbers back in February. But just yesterday, I was up at the headwaters, and there was an eagle flying over the area where the river starts.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, that's really cool. Are you seeing any songbirds arriving right now?
SANDRA LICHTER: We're starting to see-- just last week we were seeing robins and red-winged blackbirds. I saw my first kestrel last weekend.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, wow.
SANDRA LICHTER: So some of those types of birds are returning. And we've also have a lot of winter residents that are still around, things like redpolls and pine siskins. And we've had red crossbills here at the visitor center since December, and they haven't left. So still some winter birds, and we're just starting to see some of those new ones come back to the area.
CATHY WURZER: Say, Erin, I'm curious. What are you seeing, other animals and birds in your neck of the woods?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah, of course, we're seeing the robins and red-winged blackbirds as well, and the herons. I guess this is kind of the time you might start to see a lot more of the waterfowl migration. So maybe some wood ducks will be showing up in this area, though I haven't seen any lately.
But also eagles all over the place. I just found out actually that we have some pretty exciting news, that we have-- our numbers of occupied eagle nests in our corridor have increased substantially, so about 27 from last year. And it's really preliminary, but just so exciting to hear about.
CATHY WURZER: Good for them. I wonder what's-- I wonder what's behind that. Obviously, they're finding the environment to be conducive to living there, right?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah, absolutely. Lots of open water throughout the winter this year, so probably a lot of food.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, that's-- yeah, good point, absolutely. Say, I'm curious about the water levels because, of course, we've been talking about this. Water levels have been down all across the state of Minnesota. Here in the Twin Cities, pretty darn low. Sandra, what about the headwaters?
SANDRA LICHTER: You know, Lake Itasca is kind of an interesting lake. It's about 50 to 60% spring-fed or fed from underground. And so the water levels maybe don't change as dramatically as some other lakes that we have in the area. But definitely we do see it in where the water is coming out of the lake and at the beginning of the Mississippi River.
And typically this time of year when we have snowmelt, you can barely see those rocks that everyone thinks of when they think of the headwaters. But the water is definitely a little lower in that area now. That's why this snow was just so fabulous to have.
We have a lot of local ponds that just have really kind of dried up, a lot of them. And we're seeing beaver lodges in some areas where they're not even in the water anymore because the water levels are low. So definitely things have been affected, and we see a lot of low lake levels up here in this area.
CATHY WURZER: Let's see. I almost hate to ask you this question here, Sandra, but down here in the cities, of course, when it was really, really warm and dry, there were reports of ticks that had come out, which is disgusting so early. I'm going to-- I'm going to hope that you've not seen a tick yet.
SANDRA LICHTER: Well, I have been looking because we always say you get to the spring, and usually when you have a great snow, by the time it melts, you're going, oh, it's spring. The snow is melting. But then the next day, you go outside and you find ticks.
So I have to say I have been surprised. I have personally-- and I'm outside a lot-- but I have not seen tons of ticks. But there have been reports of ticks in the area. And it's kind of once the snow melts and we have bare ground, unfortunately that's something that's part of it. But they haven't been too bad, and now we've got snow again. So we're good to go for a little bit longer.
CATHY WURZER: So hopefully those little bloodsuckers died because of the cold. Who knows? Who knows? Say, Erin, have you seen a tick yet?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: I haven't personally, thankfully. I have heard also some folks have been reporting them on their animals, their pets and things. But yeah, nothing personally yet.
CATHY WURZER: I'm wondering when you might think you might see the first spring wildflowers in your area, Erin.
ERIN STEINHIBEL: From what I've heard, we've already gotten some skunk cabbage reports and a little bit of bloodroot. So I think pretty much any day now, there's probably going to be a burst of a whole bunch of stuff.
CATHY WURZER: Good. And before you go, we were talking about herons earlier. So you're having a little welcome back party for the herons? Is that right? This coming weekend?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah, this Saturday. It's March 30 from 11:00 to 1:00. There's going to be lots of birds to see. And it sounds like there's maybe going to be some hot cocoa, maybe some s'mores. I'm not sure.
But definitely there's going to be a bunch of people with spotting scopes. And if you have binoculars and you're interested, come on out and check it out. And if you don't have binoculars, there's still lots of cool stuff to see.
CATHY WURZER: Great. Erin and Sandra, it's been a pleasure. Thanks so much.
SANDRA LICHTER: Thank you.
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: Erin Steinhibel is the Park Manager with the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in the Twin Cities, one of them anyway. Sandra Lichter is a naturalist at Itasca State Park.
Our next two guests pay a lot of attention to the changing of the seasons as they guide people through two different sections of the Mississippi River. Sandra Lichter is a naturalist at Itasca State Park. She's here to tell us about what's happening at the headwaters.
Further downstream, Erin Steinhibel is the Park Manager-- excuse me, Park Ranger with the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in the Twin Cities. Erin, Sandra, welcome.
SANDRA LICHTER: Thanks for having me.
CATHY WURZER: It's a pleasure having you here. Sandra, I'm going to start with you. I understand you recorded some audio for us. Thank you so much. We just love that here on the radio-- some of the activity you've been hearing in Itasca lately. We're going to play that.
[SWANS HONKING]
Cool. I love that. Trumpeter swans?
SANDRA LICHTER: Yes, you got it. The swans have been here almost-- probably almost a month now, hanging out up in the headwaters area. And it's awesome every spring when we start hearing those calls, those "bad trumpet players," as we like to call them.
CATHY WURZER: I'm surprised that they're already up there. Should I be?
SANDRA LICHTER: Well, not necessarily. You know, swans like to have open water in order to live because that's where they're getting their food and resting. And we do have sometimes-- there's a spot in Park Rapids, just south of Itasca State Park, where the swans sometimes will spend the whole winter.
But we definitely, once we start getting a little more open water up in this area, we'll start to see more and more swans coming. And yesterday when I was up there, there was probably about 18 to 20 trumpeter swans hanging out up in the headwaters area.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, so pretty. Erin, I understand that the great blue herons are back?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah. I took a little road trip out by Marshall Terrace Park about a week and a half ago, and there were a few. Some folks were saying they were seeing up to 24, which is pretty exciting. Last year, they kind of had us on pins and needles waiting to see if they would arrive in time for our big Welcome Back the Herons event. So we're very excited that they're here already.
CATHY WURZER: So how does that arrival compare to last year?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah, they arrived around March 24 last year. So this year, around March 15 is when they came back.
CATHY WURZER: A little early. Now is this the rookery that was blown away by the North Minneapolis tornado? No?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: No, it's actually about a mile downstream from that original rookery that was--
CATHY WURZER: OK.
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah. So they managed to rebuild, and there's tons of nests there in the trees. Some say there's up to 175 nests, so it's really a sight to behold.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, wow. Say, Sandra, back up north there at the headwaters, I'm wondering-- because you, of course, had snow up there like we had snow down here-- who else has arrived? And do they look like they're a little bit unhappy to be in the snow?
SANDRA LICHTER: Well, I have to say the one I kind of chuckled about was on Saturday. I was out in front of our visitor center, and I saw my first sighting of a chipmunk. And I thought, oh, man, buddy. You should have waited a few more days before you came out because, of course, on Sunday we started with the snow.
But up on the lake, we have been having spots, larger spots of open water on Lake Itasca. The lake's not ice-free just yet, but we do have open spots. So we've been seeing hooded mergansers, which are one of actually my favorite duck that I love to see, these little guys with these-- the males in the spring have these beautiful white crests on their heads that they can stand up and put down. And we've had a really nice flock of them around.
We've also been seeing some Canada geese and some mallards. And of course, we've had a lot of spottings of bald eagles, which they tend to start coming back in larger numbers back in February. But just yesterday, I was up at the headwaters, and there was an eagle flying over the area where the river starts.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, that's really cool. Are you seeing any songbirds arriving right now?
SANDRA LICHTER: We're starting to see-- just last week we were seeing robins and red-winged blackbirds. I saw my first kestrel last weekend.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, wow.
SANDRA LICHTER: So some of those types of birds are returning. And we've also have a lot of winter residents that are still around, things like redpolls and pine siskins. And we've had red crossbills here at the visitor center since December, and they haven't left. So still some winter birds, and we're just starting to see some of those new ones come back to the area.
CATHY WURZER: Say, Erin, I'm curious. What are you seeing, other animals and birds in your neck of the woods?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah, of course, we're seeing the robins and red-winged blackbirds as well, and the herons. I guess this is kind of the time you might start to see a lot more of the waterfowl migration. So maybe some wood ducks will be showing up in this area, though I haven't seen any lately.
But also eagles all over the place. I just found out actually that we have some pretty exciting news, that we have-- our numbers of occupied eagle nests in our corridor have increased substantially, so about 27 from last year. And it's really preliminary, but just so exciting to hear about.
CATHY WURZER: Good for them. I wonder what's-- I wonder what's behind that. Obviously, they're finding the environment to be conducive to living there, right?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah, absolutely. Lots of open water throughout the winter this year, so probably a lot of food.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, that's-- yeah, good point, absolutely. Say, I'm curious about the water levels because, of course, we've been talking about this. Water levels have been down all across the state of Minnesota. Here in the Twin Cities, pretty darn low. Sandra, what about the headwaters?
SANDRA LICHTER: You know, Lake Itasca is kind of an interesting lake. It's about 50 to 60% spring-fed or fed from underground. And so the water levels maybe don't change as dramatically as some other lakes that we have in the area. But definitely we do see it in where the water is coming out of the lake and at the beginning of the Mississippi River.
And typically this time of year when we have snowmelt, you can barely see those rocks that everyone thinks of when they think of the headwaters. But the water is definitely a little lower in that area now. That's why this snow was just so fabulous to have.
We have a lot of local ponds that just have really kind of dried up, a lot of them. And we're seeing beaver lodges in some areas where they're not even in the water anymore because the water levels are low. So definitely things have been affected, and we see a lot of low lake levels up here in this area.
CATHY WURZER: Let's see. I almost hate to ask you this question here, Sandra, but down here in the cities, of course, when it was really, really warm and dry, there were reports of ticks that had come out, which is disgusting so early. I'm going to-- I'm going to hope that you've not seen a tick yet.
SANDRA LICHTER: Well, I have been looking because we always say you get to the spring, and usually when you have a great snow, by the time it melts, you're going, oh, it's spring. The snow is melting. But then the next day, you go outside and you find ticks.
So I have to say I have been surprised. I have personally-- and I'm outside a lot-- but I have not seen tons of ticks. But there have been reports of ticks in the area. And it's kind of once the snow melts and we have bare ground, unfortunately that's something that's part of it. But they haven't been too bad, and now we've got snow again. So we're good to go for a little bit longer.
CATHY WURZER: So hopefully those little bloodsuckers died because of the cold. Who knows? Who knows? Say, Erin, have you seen a tick yet?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: I haven't personally, thankfully. I have heard also some folks have been reporting them on their animals, their pets and things. But yeah, nothing personally yet.
CATHY WURZER: I'm wondering when you might think you might see the first spring wildflowers in your area, Erin.
ERIN STEINHIBEL: From what I've heard, we've already gotten some skunk cabbage reports and a little bit of bloodroot. So I think pretty much any day now, there's probably going to be a burst of a whole bunch of stuff.
CATHY WURZER: Good. And before you go, we were talking about herons earlier. So you're having a little welcome back party for the herons? Is that right? This coming weekend?
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Yeah, this Saturday. It's March 30 from 11:00 to 1:00. There's going to be lots of birds to see. And it sounds like there's maybe going to be some hot cocoa, maybe some s'mores. I'm not sure.
But definitely there's going to be a bunch of people with spotting scopes. And if you have binoculars and you're interested, come on out and check it out. And if you don't have binoculars, there's still lots of cool stuff to see.
CATHY WURZER: Great. Erin and Sandra, it's been a pleasure. Thanks so much.
SANDRA LICHTER: Thank you.
ERIN STEINHIBEL: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: Erin Steinhibel is the Park Manager with the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in the Twin Cities, one of them anyway. Sandra Lichter is a naturalist at Itasca State Park.
Download transcript (PDF)
Transcription services provided by 3Play Media.