Charlie Mitchell near Marine on St. Croix
"Good morning, John and Jennifer, this is Charlie reporting from the St. Croix River near Stillwater.
“We had some good soaking rains last week, and the river is running high and fast. All the precipitation took down a birch tree along the riverbank on a neighbor’s property, and yesterday, the tree had washed downstream to settle on the river bottom near our place. It was a beautiful tree while it lived, arching over the river in a graceful manner and always filled with songbirds. We’ll happily keep an eye on it in its new home, where we hope it will host plenty of muskrats and basking turtles.
“Other sightings along the Croix have included a juvenile Great Blue Heron, plenty of swallows, and a roving raccoon. There are some daisies blooming, blue vervain, and the first of the Joe Pye weed in flower.
“At our place, we’re seeing plenty of fledgling Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and our local House Wren is busy feeding a growing brood. Meanwhile, another wren family sits in our newspaper mailbox atop a carefully constructed pile of twigs and eggs.
“Red baneberries are ripening, our crabapples are growing, and our solomon’s seals are leaning over with the weight of their seeds. The basswood trees are blooming, and perfuming the air with a delicate scent.
“It’s a gorgeous time to be out, the mosquitoes are scarce, and I’m a happy camper! This has been Charlie Mitchell, going hither and thither on the St. Croix River.
Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade
This report is brought to you by Finlee, Breken and the campers from the Forkhorn Summer Camp.
“Hello, this is Finlee and Breken from Forkhorn Summer Camp at Long Lake Conservation Center the week of June 29-July 3. July in Ojibwe is known as “Mid-Summer” or “Half-Summer” moon, marking the halfway point of summer. The high temperature was a very summerlike 86 degrees, with a comfortable low temperature of 56.
“The woods and waters are at their peak with all things blooming, and bursting with life. Our group heard, but didn’t see, a Barred Owl. We encountered a painted turtle who found its way into the chef’s garden where it was trapped. It was likely a mama looking to lay her eggs, so we let her out to complete her mission.
“The big news was that we found the first monarch caterpillar of the season. It was a big one. That’s about two weeks later than last year. Our observation is that there haven’t been as many monarchs this year as previous years.
“We noticed that there are very few mosquitos, which is nice, but we wonder why. The wood ticks and deer and horse flies, on the other hand, are plentiful.
“Our group saw and heard common loons on the lake, an unidentified LARGE gray moth, bluebirds, a Cooper’s Hawk flying overhead, a large leopard frog, garter snakes, and a bunch of red and grey squirrels at the bird feeders. We named the largest grey squirrel ‘Big Chungus.’
“There are cocoons everywhere, and hornet nests are springing up quickly and in lots of places.
“One of the highlights of the camp was encountering a fawn during a nature hike. It stopped and stared at us for a few moments before running away. Pretty cool.
“We had a great week at summer camp and want to remind everyone to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”
Axel and Pearl Newstok near Marcell
Little Falls Middle School
Students from Chad Kaddatz's class sent in their photo phenology observations from the past week. You can see their pictures on Instagram at little_falls_phenology.
Their report this week included:
- Purple Prairie Clover
- Barn Swallow - David D
- House Wren - Kaden Z
- Stinkhorn fungus
- Snapping Turtle - David D
- Yarrow
- Mayfly
- Cinquefoil
- Wild Rose
- Red Elderberry
Season Watch Newsletter
Our final report this morning comes from last week’s Season Watch Newsletter. The weekly watchlist highlighted four of the best-named fungi found in Minnesota in July.
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).
