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Phenology Talkbacks, July 12 2022

Ruby-throated hummingbird male (left) and female (on feeder)
Photo by iNaturalist user kjimf
/
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/104742837
Ruby-throated hummingbird male (left) and female (on feeder)

It's time for another week of phenology talkbacks! This week, we hear our last report of the year from the Newstoks (we're sorry to see them go!), a report from Long Lake Conservation Center's manager Dave and Education coordinator Beth, and my report from Marine on St. Croix. Let's get the phenology party started!

Newstok family, July 12th 2022

I know it's gonna be good when I get an email with "can you say that on the radio?" in the body text! There's no way for me to improve on this fantastic report from Axel and Pearl, so here is their last report of the summer in their own words.

"This is Axel and Pearl Newstok. A couple of days ago, we watched a damselfly that had just hatched. It was drying out its wings. Over the days, we have seen bright green dragonflies. In our yard, we have several monarchs, and the caterpillars on our milkweed are getting big and fat. We have several towering white pines along our lakeshore. Yesterday, between the storms, we went boating and noticed that one of them had been broken off at the top. It no longer stood out above the tree line. Thankfully, it barely missed our fort. That tree had been one of our eagles' favorite. Today, the eagle landed on a dead birch next to our lawn. It was huge to see up close, and it pooped a gallon when it flew off! [You can hear John and Heidi quietly laughing in the background at this point.]

Several times today, we watched hummingbirds mating at our feeder. The male was chirping loudly and swinging like a pendulum. The female was flicking her tail. It seriously looked like he was poking her with his beak up the rear. Then they sort of danced in a woozy spiral to the ground. We wondered if it was late for them to mate, or maybe they were having a second brood. We have never noticed them mating before.

We're writing a book called 50 Ways to Kill a Mosquito. Got any suggestions? This is our last report for the summer. See you next year! Bye!"

Heidi chimes in, saying, "Oh, John, can you believe it?"

John responds with, "Those kids, man. <laughter> That is so cool."

[I'll add that this report had my wife and me in stitches- thank you, Newstoks! We'll miss you!]

John goes on to say that he has never seen a damselfly emerge from their nymph stage, which is surprising- after all, I think he was just in his early twenties when dragonflies evolved 300 million years ago. Despite his head start, these kids beat him to it! John recommends that if you are near a stream, keep an eye out for large damselflies, particularly two species. The ebony jewelwing has jet-black wings, while the river jewelwings have wings that are half-black, half-transparent amber color. Both species are found along the edges of moving streams. John adds, "So if you're out and you see the kind of lazy, fluttery flight, that indicates a damselfly. Look for those big black-winged ones and the ones with the half-black wings, and enjoy them!" He also recommends that if you can catch one (a butterfly net helps with this- they're cheap and effective!), take a look at the body- they're fantastic! John has captured a number of them and been able to get a close look at them and gave others a chance to do the same. They have an iridescent metallic body, which changes color depending on the angle, and a green metallic edge to the front of their wings. A person holding the damselfly may see it as green, while someone looking from the other side sees it as blue!

Ebony jewelwing damselfly.
Contributed
/
iNaturalist user andywilson
Ebony jewelwing damselfly.

John's son, who is vacationing with him this week, took a photo of a pair of mating damselflies. When mating, the male dragonfly or damselfly clasps the female behind the head with the end of its abdomen. These two damselflies were quite different in color but were definitely members of the same species in the process of reproducing.

John affirms that the Newstok kids perfectly described the ruby-throated hummingbirds' courtship! John says, "The male has this unusual sort of up and down- I love the term woozy- this up and down flight pattern, which is something that they do when they're in courtship." He adds that this would be very late for hummingbirds to mate, and John isn't sure if they have two broods. Maybe Laura Erickson, Sean Conrad, or a listener (or reader) knows and can inform us!

The Newstok's upcoming bestseller, 50 Ways to Kill a Mosquito, generated this hilarious (to me, at least) exchange:

John: "They're up to 23! Delightful!"

Heidi: "You need to write the foreword on that book, I think."

John, laughing: "I think any way you kill them is pleasing. I like to kill them in my ear because I can hear them crunch when I put my finger in there!"

Heidi: "Oh, gosh."

Heidi: We got a lot of texts from people who loved that report from Axel and Pearl. We want you to know that this kind of reporting is made possible because people like you help out. Everybody pitching in makes this program possible, and we need you to do that. 

John: You know, Heidi, I think this really exemplifies what our community is. Pearl, Axel, Ruth, Scott, and Sarah live in Memphis nine months of the year and come to Northern Minnesota in the summertime. They are fascinated by the nature that surrounds them, and they are absolutely engaged and involved. They are such vibrant members of our community. They do it even though, for nine months out of the year, they can't turn their radio on and hear KAXE; they have to go online.

Heidi: They've been long-time members, as well as submitting reports. They were at our concert in June, so I got a chance to hang out with them for a little bit and hang out with Pearl. We colored together!

If you would like to support the phenology program, Season Watch, and other fantastic programming at KAXE, please donate here; it makes a massive difference for us!

Long Lake Conservation Center, July 12th 2022

Dave and Beth bring us this week's report from Long Lake Conservation Center, which has to feel pretty lonely without any campers or students! The Aitkin County Fair was going on last weekend, so they had a week away. However, they couldn't let a week go by without a phenology report! Summer has settled on Long Lake, bringing the end of baby season. However, they're still waiting for the loons to hatch; the parents are still on the nest! The deerflies and horseflies are out and vicious, but the mosquitos and ticks are much less abundant than they were a few weeks ago. Trumpeter swans and Canada geese have returned after a notable absence (must have been quiet without them!). The basswoods, sumacs, and milkweed began to bloom, and they saw more bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. However, they're still less abundant than in other years, which is concerning. However, they did find a big ol' moth they named MOTHRA: it turned out to be a luna moth! Luna moths are big, green, and beautiful. As always, they encourage us to "unplug, get outside, and live connected!".

Luna moth
Photo by iNaturalist user dbugs
/
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/43510864
Luna moth

Long Lake Conservation Center has a "Concert for Conservation" on Friday, featuring the Gear Daddies! If you live near Aitkin, show up and show your support. You can also sponsor a kid to go to Long Lake Conservation Center- A gift that lasts a lifetime!

John notes that the loons are still sitting on their nests, though it's very late in the season. He estimates that the loonlets will still be on the lake in November, though the lake will probably still be open. Loonlets take a while to learn how to fly well enough to migrate! John also mentions the deer and horseflies (equally bad in Grand Rapids, he says), the flowering trees and shrubs, and the pollinators. He says the luna moth is "absolutely the most beautiful moth. Of all the moths in Northern Minnesota, the luna is probably most beautiful." Them's fighting words, John! You're going to have hordes of Polyphemus moths after you! He hopes we can stay up late enough to see the luna moths; they're well worth the lost sleep.

Sarah, July 12th 2022

I said, "Good morning, John and Heidi! This is Sarah reporting from West Saint Paul, although technically, I'm reporting from Marine on St. Croix, where I spent my weekend. This last weekend was really fun. I got to watch a lot of birds, including a chickadee family that was frequenting our bird feeder. The young chickadees would perch on a branch, flutter their wings fast, and make a racket until the adults came to feed them. That was pretty cute! They rotated in and out from around our feeder about once every ten minutes. It was very fun to watch them. We also heard a variety of birds in the morning. I was up around 5 AM because my cat decided to hop out of the hammock where she was sleeping with me and go on a jaunt to find a good bathroom spot. Since I was up, I turned on my Merlin Bird ID app, and I heard: an American crow, a yellow-throated vireo, a pine warbler, a red-eyed vireo, a house finch, an American goldfinch, a Baltimore oriole, an Eastern wood-pewee, and an Eastern phoebe. I should mention that all those species were recorded in just one minute. I'm slowly but surely learning more bird calls, but I'm not very good at them yet. So, in the meantime, it's nice to have the app to back me up. I hope you're having a great morning, and I'll talk to you soon!"

My new friend the pine warbler
Photo by iNaturalist user reuvenm
/
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/8031138
My new friend the pine warbler

John says thanks and that "having Merlin on your phone is akin to having Laura Erickson standing at your elbow, or in my case Sean Conrad (who's an excellent local birder)." John mentions that he's astonished by the birders who can identify so many birds just by sound! They might like looking at birds, but they don't need to see them to know what's hanging out nearby. John mentions that fewer songs get through as he ages, but he still heard sandhill cranes, green frogs, loons, and many other birds!

John hopes you are outside having a cup of coffee or orange juice, whatever you prefer, and thinking about becoming a member of our community.

Heidi agrees! It is our "Community Matters" membership drive for the summer of 2022. We need your support! In this segment, we got great advice, learned what's happening in our local habitats, got advice for beginners (use the Merlin app!), and John also recommends the Northwoods Guide Series' book on Moths and Caterpillars of the Northwoods

Thank you all for listening (and reading): your support, financially or with your kind emails and comments, means the world to us!

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 KAXE's Director of Content and Public Affairs where she manages producers and is the local host of Morning Edition from NPR. Heidi is a regional correspondent for WDSE/WRPT's Duluth Public Television’s Almanac North.
Charlie Mitchell (she/they) joined the KAXE team in February of 2022. Charlie creates the Season Watch Newsletter, writes segment summaries for the website, and coordinates our Engaging Minnesotans with Phenology project. With a background in wildlife biology, she enjoys learning a little bit about everything, whether it's plants, mushrooms, aquatic invertebrates, or the short-tailed shrew (did you know they can echolocate?).