Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade
This report is brought to you by Isaac and the campers and group leaders from the Church of St. Peter Fellowship of the Keys retreat.
“The weather was a rollercoaster. We arrived with temperatures in the nineties, had one perfect day of summer weather, and then it turned cold and rainy…very rainy.
“The DNR lake level gauge rose from 1.5 feet a week ago to 1.64. That’s a big gain in a short amount of time.
“There is lots to see in the woods and waters, including yarrow in bloom, dwarf red blackberry fruit is ripe, woodchuck families are roaming campus, and Red-headed Woodpeckers were seen. At least three fawns were seen on campus, including one that looked freshly born.
“A Long Lake naturalist saw a female merganser accidentally fly into the lake’s pair of loons who were resting for the evening. The loons didn’t like it one bit, diving under the water and attacking it from below. The merganser flew away unharmed.
“We had a great retreat, made lots of new friends, and we want to remind everyone to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”
Little Falls Phenology
We also heard from our Little Falls phenology students’ Instagram page. They posted a video of two male Northern Flickers doing a territorial display and photos of newly hatched robins, hoverflies, and many more organisms.
Sarah Newstok
"We were excited to see that our loon chick has hatched. We first spotted the pair and their baby on June 28. It’s tiny and they are sticking very close together.
We visited a large cluster of showy lady slippers along the road this week and noticed the fireweed was in bloom along the esker at Scenic State Park. We also snuck up on a fox on that trail - the soft rain was like white noise on the foliage - and we spent a good couple of minutes looking at each other.
Axel and Pearl come home from camp on Tuesday and they’ll be back to their reports next week."
What have you seen out there? Let us know: email us at comments@kaxe.org or text us at 218-326-1234.
That does it for this week! For more phenology, <b>subscribe</b> to our Season Watch Newsletter or visit the Season Watch Facebook page.
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
