Land bird migration is in full swing this month in San Diego County, with warblers and flycatchers among those most commonly seen. Warblers crawl along tree limbs and branches to dine on their favorite insects, while flycatchers, as the name suggests, catch their meals on the wing. Riparian areas such as the San Diego River through Mission Gorge and Marian Bear Park in San Clemente Canyon are favored by both birds and birdwatchers.
Bracken ferns are rising on the higher mountains of San Diego County, their bright green, unfolding fronds (called “fiddleheads”) pushing up through the russet remains of last year’s growth. By late April or May, fully opened ferns will line the creeks and hollows of the Palomar, Cuyamaca, and Laguna mountains. While many plants reproduce through seeds, ferns reproduce through rhizomes: underground branched stems that run sideways and send out roots and shoots. Propagation through rhizomes is one of the most effective reproduction methods in plants, and many invasive plants spread this way. The rhizomes survive even when cut from their mother plant and continue to give birth to new plants. Bamboo and Bermuda grass are other types of rhizomes we see locally.
The Paschal Full Moon is on April 12. The Paschal Full Moon is the first full moon immediately following the Spring Equinox. It usually occurs in March, but sometimes in April. Easter is celebrated on April 20 this year, the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon. (The word "Paschal" means “Passover” in Greek.) While Christmas is fixed to a solar calendar, Easter is based on the lunar cycles of the Jewish calendar. In the Christian religion, the Last Supper was a Passover feast. Because Easter is based on a lunar month (29.5 days), the date of Easter varies.
April’s full Moon is also commonly called the “Pink Moon.” It corresponds with the early springtime blooms of a pink wildflower native to eastern North America: Phlox subulata or creeping phlox or moss phlox.
Land bird migration is in full swing this month in San Diego County, with warblers and flycatchers among those most commonly seen. Warblers crawl along tree limbs and branches to dine on their favorite insects, while flycatchers, as the name suggests, catch their meals on the wing. Riparian areas such as the San Diego River through Mission Gorge and Marian Bear Park in San Clemente Canyon are favored by both birds and birdwatchers.
Bracken ferns are rising on the higher mountains of San Diego County, their bright green, unfolding fronds (called “fiddleheads”) pushing up through the russet remains of last year’s growth. By late April or May, fully opened ferns will line the creeks and hollows of the Palomar, Cuyamaca, and Laguna mountains. While many plants reproduce through seeds, ferns reproduce through rhizomes: underground branched stems that run sideways and send out roots and shoots. Propagation through rhizomes is one of the most effective reproduction methods in plants, and many invasive plants spread this way. The rhizomes survive even when cut from their mother plant and continue to give birth to new plants. Bamboo and Bermuda grass are other types of rhizomes we see locally.
The Paschal Full Moon is on April 12. The Paschal Full Moon is the first full moon immediately following the Spring Equinox. It usually occurs in March, but sometimes in April. Easter is celebrated on April 20 this year, the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon. (The word "Paschal" means “Passover” in Greek.) While Christmas is fixed to a solar calendar, Easter is based on the lunar cycles of the Jewish calendar. In the Christian religion, the Last Supper was a Passover feast. Because Easter is based on a lunar month (29.5 days), the date of Easter varies.
April’s full Moon is also commonly called the “Pink Moon.” It corresponds with the early springtime blooms of a pink wildflower native to eastern North America: Phlox subulata or creeping phlox or moss phlox.
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