MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Another record-setting weather day and one has to ask, “what are the animals thinking?”

As head of the Minnesota DNR’s non-game wildlife division, Carroll Henderson has monitored animal behavior for decades. He says one early spring won’t have a big impact but a trend could bring migrating birds back earlier and extend the northern range of insects, birds and mammals.

“Everything from opossums to some different kinds of butterflies that find it easier to move farther north than would otherwise have occurred in the past,” he said.

NewsRadio 830 WCCO’s Steve Murphy Reports

He says the early warmth could also extend the nesting season with some species of birds having three broods in a single year, instead of one or two.