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Phenology Talkbacks, July 5 2022

A bald-faced hornet nest in early summer
Photo by iNaturalist user chadaeschliman
/
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/12799228
A bald-faced hornet nest in early summer

It's time for another week of talkbacks, so buckle in! This week, we hear about polywogs, tree swallows, sundial lupines, and more!

Newstok family, July 5th 2022

Axel and Pearl bring us this week's report from the Newstok family. Their sister, Ruth, is visiting her grandparents in Colorado and will be at camp for the rest of the summer; we'll miss her! Last week, the family visited Scenic State Park and hiked out on the esker (a narrow, winding ridge of sand and gravel deposited by sub-glacial streams or rivers). On their hike, they saw a hummingbird moth on a dandelion, turtle shells that had been eaten by something, a polywog (a frog that still has a tail), lots of fully-metamorphosed frogs, and a blue jay feather. What a successful venture! They report that bumblebees were swarming the bush honeysuckle, and the round-leafed dogwood was in full bloom. While the Newstok parents hiked off to see the showy lady slippers flowering, the kids went swimming (good choices all around)! On their hike, they also found pink lady slippers and the red flowers of pitcher plants. They even got a picture of a moth inside the pitcher!

Back at their lake, the Newstoks discovered a crab spider hiding in a lady slipper. (Fun fact: crab spiders can change color to match their flower!). There is an eaglet in the eagle nest, but the loons did not have any babies this year. Their yard has seen a lot of activity! They saw hummingbirds swarming their feeder, a goldfinch, "many screaming crows," and a red-breasted nuthatch that was upside down on a balsam fir. They have been monitoring their basswood tree but haven't found any flowers yet. They did discover a paper wasp nest in the yard but didn't specify if they found it the painful way! On the milkweeds, they found a monarch butterfly laying eggs and a 3rd or 4th instar monarch caterpillar. Finally, a black garter snake with three vibrant yellow stripes was slithering through the yard. (I'm jealous! I've had a depressingly snake-less summer so far.) As exciting as their daytime discoveries were, the evenings were also impressive; with fewer mosquitos, they enjoyed the night skies, finding the Milky Way, the Big Dipper, and Cassiopeia. They conclude, "We love you, Ruth, and we hope you are listening in from Colorado. See you in a couple of weeks!"

A Red-breasted Nuthatch walks down a trunk face-down.
Contributed
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Photo by iNaturalist user Kathlinsimpkins
A Red-breasted Nuthatch walks down a trunk face-down.

John congratulates Axel and Pearl on the great report, even without Ruth's help! He agrees that they had a wonderful week and reiterates the sightings of hummingbird moths, bush honeysuckles, showy lady slippers, pitcher plants, wasp nest, eaglets, and monarch butterflies. John notes that we are between generations of monarchs, with the migratory group already having died and the new generation not yet in their chrysalises. So, only a few monarchs are left flying among the flowers, but there are ranks of caterpillars growing up to take their place. He agrees that the basswoods aren't flowering yet, but he suspects they will in the next few days.

LLCC, July 5th 2022

Tika and Sarah report from the firearm safety camp at Long Lake Conservation Center. They've had a perfect mix of weather, with warm days for swimming and cool nights that make sleeping enjoyable. By the lake, the campers saw painted turtles basking in the sun, snapping turtles, leeches, and frogs. They observed loons on the lake but not any loonlets. Meanwhile, the skies had mosquitos, dragonflies, deer flies, horse flies, bluebirds, red-winged blackbirds, and robins! Their night hike included a shooting star and some glowing eyeballs looking back at them from the forest. In the mornings and evenings, they saw many deer, including a doe, a spotted fawn, and a young deer that didn't have spots anymore. Showing excellent observation skills and curiosity, the students spotted a lot of poop on a sidewalk and decided to investigate. Looking up, they found a tree swallow nest almost bursting at the seams with three or four babies! They weren't the only babies around; a baby chipmunk (about the size of a red pine cone, plus a tail) ran back and forth across the trail. Hummingbirds, garter snakes, a yellow warbler, and a "weird wasp's nest with tubes hanging down" rounded out their observations! They remind us to get out for an explore: unplug, unwind, and live connected!

Eastern chipmunk
Photo by iNaturalist user glennberry
/
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/50711057
Eastern chipmunk

John says, "great job!" to Tika and Sarah and is impressed by the quality and quantity of observations! He agrees that there are hordes of deer flies, horse flies, mosquitos, and other biting insects out there. "Don't let them stop you! Just get out there and kill your fair share." John has seen a wasp nest with a tube hanging down before and has read that it's a way of either capturing heat inside the nest or cooling it. When the queen emerges from hibernation, she creates a small, round nest smaller than your fist. Beneath the round section is a 2-3 inch long tube; the whole thing looks like a tiny water tower, upside-down flask, or funnel!

Sarah

My report from this week said, "Hi, John and Scott! This is Sarah reporting from West St. Paul. This week at Dodge Nature Center, we found ripe mulberries and black raspberries. The sundial lupine has set seed, and we gathered some of the pods and helped distribute them through the prairie. We also found lead plant and butterfly milkweed in bloom, accompanied by a veritable host of pollinators. We saw a number of birds, including song sparrows, cedar waxwings, crows, and barn swallows. The baby toads are still toading about on the lake shore, eating the abundant flies and mud fleas. A particular treat was watching the dragonflies. We saw at least five different species but could only identify the 12-spotted skimmer on sight. We got a few pictures of the others, so we're hoping to be able to identify them the slow way when my new field guide arrives!

Twelve-spotted skimmer
Photo by iNaturalist user krisskinou
/
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/57736168
Twelve-spotted skimmer

On the St. Croix River this weekend, my wife and I went canoeing to gather a salad for dinner. We found lots of young arrowhead leaves, as well as an abundance of cattail hearts. They were delicious sauteéd in butter! The swallows were very busy catching insects over the water, though they had to compete with an abundance of dragonflies for the prey. Ember, the canoeing cat, surprised us by voluntarily following me into the river for a brief swim. She constantly surprises us with her adventurous spirit and willingness to try new things! Meanwhile, our dog Drogo has been cowering in his crate, thanks to all the fireworks. John, do you think the sound of fireworks has much of an effect on wildlife? Thanks, and have a great morning!"

John says thanks and that fireworks likely don't affect wildlife much unless they're close to the source. "It's probably just like thunder: they just accept it as a loud noise."

Remember that you can add your voice to this list! We would love to hear from you. Get in touch with me (smitchell@kaxe.org) or John (jlatimer@kaxe.org), or text 'phenology' to 218-326-1234.

For more phenology content, subscribe to our Season Watch newsletter!

As a mail carrier in rural Grand Rapids, Minn., for 35 years, John Latimer put his own stamp on a career that delivered more than letters. Indeed, while driving the hundred-mile round-trip daily route, he passed the time by observing and recording seasonal changes in nature, learning everything he could about the area’s weather, plants and animals, and becoming the go-to guy who could answer customers’ questions about what they were seeing in the environment.
Heidi Holtan is Director of Content and Public Affairs. She manages producers/hosts and is the host of the KAXE Morning Show, including a variety of local content like Phenology, What We're Reading, Area Voices, Sports Page and much more, alongside Morning Edition from NPR.
Charlie Mitchell (she/they) joined KAXE in February of 2022. Charlie creates the Season Watch Newsletter, produces the Phenology Talkbacks show, coordinates the Phenology in the Classroom program, and writes nature-related stories for KAXE's website. Essentailly, Charlie is John Latimer's faithful sidekick and makes sure all of KAXE's nature/phenology programs find a second life online and in podcast form.


With a background in ecology and evolutionary biology, Charlie enjoys learning a little bit about everything, whether it's plants, mushrooms, or the star-nosed mole. (Fun fact: Moles store fat in their tails, so they don't outgrow their tunnels every time conditions are good.)