Harriet Alexander Nature Center

10/16/2026

Fun Fact Friday! 🍁

Have you noticed the bright red vines climbing up trees or stretching across the forest floor this fall? You might be looking at Virginia creeper!

Virginia creeper is a native climbing vine known for its brilliant red autumn leaves. While many plants turn shades of yellow and orange in the fall, Virginia creeper often puts on a vibrant red display!
Its striking color comes from pigments called anthocyanins, which are produced in the leaves as daylight decreases and temperatures cool. These pigments give the leaves their red and purple colors and may also help protect leaf tissues from excess sunlight as the plant prepares for winter.
Virginia creeper isn't just pretty, either! Its small, dark blue berries provide food for many bird species, making this native vine an important part of our local ecosystem.

Keep an eye out for those brilliant red leaves on your next autumn walk around HANC!

10/09/2026

Fun Fact Friday! 🍄🌧️🍂

Have you ever noticed how mushrooms seem to pop up overnight after a good rainfall? How can they grow so quickly?

The secret is water! Many mushrooms can grow remarkably fast by expanding cells that have already formed, rather than relying only on producing new cells.
After rainfall, mushrooms absorb moisture, increasing the internal pressure within their cells, known as turgor pressure. This pressure helps the cells expand, allowing some mushrooms to grow from tiny, barely noticeable structures into fully developed mushrooms in just a matter of hours!

Rain also creates the moist conditions that many fungi need to develop their reproductive structures and eventually release spores into the environment.
Keep an eye on the forest floor after the next rainfall. You never know what might pop up!

10/07/2026

Looking for a fun night out? 🎉🌳❓

Join us for Nature Trivia Night, hosted by Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa! Gather your friends, test your knowledge, and enjoy an evening of friendly competition right here at HANC.

Check out the flyer below for all the details, and don’t forget to RSVP here: https://forms.gle/mi5yRmDveKysfBiq5

We hope to see you there!

10/02/2026

Fun Fact Friday!🐿

Have you ever noticed that some years it seems like you can’t take a step without crunching an acorn under your feet?

Oak trees don’t produce the same number of acorns every year. In some years, many oaks of the same species in an area produce an unusually large crop of acorns at the same time. This phenomenon is known as mast seeding, and a year with an especially abundant crop is often called a mast year.

But why produce so many acorns at once?

One possible advantage is something called predator satiation. Squirrels, deer, mice, turkeys, and other wildlife feast on acorns, but during a heavy mast year, there can be more acorns than hungry animals can eat! By overwhelming seed-eaters with such an abundant food supply, a greater proportion of acorns may escape being eaten and have a chance to germinate into new oak trees. 🌳

09/26/2026

We’re all set up and ready for you!

Come on out today from 10:00 AM–4:00 PM, rain or shine, and celebrate Wild Rice Festival with us! 🌾

There’s plenty to see, do, learn, and explore throughout the day. Check out our event page below for all the details on what today’s festival has to offer!

We hope to see you here! 🍂🌾

Wild Rice Festival 2026: https://www.facebook.com/events/1363048055980366/

09/18/2026

Fun Fact Friday!
Have you ever noticed a strange, round bump growing along the stem of a goldenrod plant? It may look like part of the plant, but there could actually be a tiny insect living inside!

Earlier in the summer, a goldenrod gall fly laid an egg in the growing stem. After the larva hatched, its feeding triggered the goldenrod to grow extra plant tissue around it, forming the round structure we call a gall. The gall provides both food and protection while the larva develops safely inside.
By fall, the larva is preparing to spend the entire Minnesota winter tucked inside its gall! As temperatures drop, it produces natural cryoprotectants, compounds that help protect its cells from freezing damage. It will remain inside the goldenrod stem throughout the winter before emerging as an adult fly in the spring.

Now that you know what to look for, take a closer look next time you’re near a patch of goldenrod, or see how many galls you can spot hiding in our second photo!

09/17/2026

We’d love to hang out with your kiddo on their day off from school! 🍂🐿️🔎

We have two fun-filled fall break camps coming up at the Nature Center with lots of time to explore, play, investigate, and enjoy the fall season outside!

Join us for Fall Fun Day or put your nature skills to the test during Nature Detectives!

Spots are still available! Check out the original post below for details and registration. 👇

🍂 Fall Break Fun is Right Around the Corner! 🍂

Now that the temperatures have turned, it’s time to start thinking about fall break! It’s the perfect opportunity for kids to get outside, play, explore, discover, and make the most of the season.

🍁 Fall Fun Day: tinyurl.com/RVFallFunDay

🔎 Nature Detectives: tinyurl.com/RVNatureDetectives

Check out the details and register today for some fall break fun!

09/11/2026

Fun Fact Friday! 🐛

This week during our adult Nature at Nine series, we explored the fascinating world of caterpillars and even found one hiding in plain sight along our trail!

Meet Synchlora aerata, the wavy-lined emerald moth. We spotted its caterpillar on one of our brown-eyed Susans, but you had to look closely to see it! These caterpillars use an incredible form of camouflage by attaching pieces of plant material, such as flower petals and other plant fragments, directly onto their bodies. By decorating themselves with pieces of the plant they’re feeding on, they blend into their surroundings and become much harder for predators to spot.
This clever strategy is called crypsis, an adaptation that helps an animal avoid detection by blending into its environment. Because the caterpillar can change the materials it wears depending on the plant it is living on, its disguise can change right along with its surroundings!

After all that time spent disguised as bits of flowers and plants, this caterpillar eventually transforms into the small, bright green wavy-lined emerald moth pictured here.

09/10/2026

And just like that, another summer of camps here at the Nature Center has come to an end! ☀️🌿

What a summer it was! From pond dipping and endless stick-fort building to campfire cooking, nature mysteries, muddy adventures, wildlife discoveries, creative projects, and plenty of exploring along the trails, our campers spent the summer learning, creating, getting a little messy, and making memories outside.

A huge THANK YOU to all of the campers and families who chose to spend part of their summer with us! We loved watching curiosity take over, new friendships form, and campers discover just how much there is to explore in the natural world.

Take a look at some of our campers in action! 🌲🐸🦋🔍

09/04/2026

Fun Fact Friday!🦆🪶

If you’ve been around the marsh recently, you may be wondering, “What are all these female mallards doing here?” And what’s with all the feathers?

Some of those brown ducks may actually be this year’s young males! Mallard ducklings hatch covered in down, and as they grow, both males and females develop mostly mottled-brown juvenile plumage. This camouflage helps young ducks blend into their surroundings while they’re still growing.

By late summer and early fall, young mallards begin molting, replacing their juvenile feathers with new adult plumage. This is when the males, or drakes, start becoming easier to pick out as their green heads, chestnut-colored chests, gray bodies, and curled black tail feathers begin to appear. Females, or hens, keep their mottled-brown coloring into adulthood.
But there’s another reason you might be seeing so many brown mallards! After breeding season, adult males molt into eclipse plumage, temporarily replacing their bright breeding colors with duller brown feathers that make them look much more like females. The marsh is booming with mallards right now, come check them out!