North Star Elementary School in Virginia
“This is Mia, Zoe, Brooke, Aleks, Codie, and Nick with a report from North Star Elementary on September 25, 2025.
“We still have beautiful colors in the forests right now. Leaves are starting to fall, but many are still on the trees and showing their fall colors.
“We took a walk to Silver Lake in Virginia on September 25. Here are some of our observations!
“We could see: perch minnows and small bluegills close to the surface of the water near the boardwalk; and green swirls of algae on the water. We could hear black capped chickadees singing ‘chicka-dee-dee-dee'; honks and quacks from geese and ducks; and crickets chirping. We could smell decomposing leaves and some fresh cut grass. We could feel the cool water on our fingertips and some fuzzy dark green moss on the rough bark of a willow tree on the shore.
“In our own neighborhoods, Olivia noticed some bees on the garlic chive flowers in her yard. There were several laying very still in the cool morning, but most were gone when she got home. We wonder if they fell off or warmed up and flew away?
“Zoe noticed frost thawing in her yard when she went to school this morning and has been watching chickadees visit her sunflowers for a snack. She is also still seeing grasshoppers in her yard. Zoe’s dad found a giant puffball mushroom in the woods outside of Grand Marais.
“Both Taimi and Avery noticed that something went through their garbage cans and dragged a bunch of trash around their yards in the past week. We wondered if a bear has been visiting their neighborhood. Harper’s aunt’s security camera caught a big black bear going through the garbage cans in her alley last week. Another bear was at Ella’s friend’s house in the midway neighborhood of Virginia. Keep those garbage cans in the garage if you can!
“The last hummingbird that Mrs. Engel saw in Britt was on September 10. Xander’s grandma saw one on September 17.
“Teegan noticed a huge flock of juncos in his yard and his neighbor’s yard. He estimated there to be 200 birds all together!
“This has been a report from North Star Elementary in Virginia. Keep exploring the great outdoors!”
St. Joe’s in Grand Rapids
“Hello this is Elsie and Mabel reporting from St. Joseph’s school in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
“This week in our school yard our birch trees, red maple, and big toothed aspen all had less than 10% change in color.
“The tamarack tree hasn’t started to change. We expect it will soon.
“The last monarch we have spotted was on Sept.18.
“We found an inky cap mushroom. We brought it into our classroom and put it in a plastic bag. Over the weekend it turned into a bag of black liquid…. ink.
“The white pine needles have been dropping.
“At Landan’s house and Ellliot’s house (different Lakes) they have noticed a lot of dead fish washing up on shore.
“Avery has found a lot of acorns falling.
“Four bears, a mom and three cubs were running through Rielly’s yard. His mom also spotted a bob cat eating a robbin!!
“Mabel spotted at least four black squirrels running around together by her oak tree.
“The bunnies in Ella’s yard are SUPER fat!!
“Until next time, be observant, responsible, and adventurous outside!!
North Shore Community School near Duluth
“Hello from North Shore Community School on the north shore of Lake Superior. This is the Phenology Report for the week of September 20, 2025. My name is Azalea, and I am your phenologist for this week!
“On Saturday, September 20, we had 12 hours and 15 minutes of daylight. This was a loss of 22 minutes of light since the previous Saturday. On September 21, Azalea noticed that there was a lot of fog. When the warm, moist air cools, it has an ability to loosen water. This is one indication that the weather is getting colder. Monday, September 22 marked the official start of astronomical autumn.
“On Sunday, September 21, Ms. Jackson spotted two, tall shaggy mane mushrooms in her yard. The moist conditions continue to support a variety of mushroom and fungi growth! On Wednesday, September 24 Elouise noticed her trees in her back yard are starting to change color and the apples on her tree are turning red. On Thursday, September 25, Ms. Jackson’s class noticed the Hawthorn trees by Schmidt Creek on our school nature trail had bright, red berries. They also saw several Gilled Mushrooms.
“On Friday, September 19, Ms. Jackson had the last humming bird at her bird feeder. On September 23, Ms. Jackson’s class saw a flock of geese flying in a V formation on their migratory path for the winter.
“On September 21, Zander saw a skunk digging holes in his yard searching for an easy meal of insects and grubs. On Thursday, September 25 Elouise saw a lot of acorns on the ground. She thinks it was probably from the squirrels and chipmunks collecting food.
“On September 21, Caleb saw a Monarch butterfly’s cocoon, and saw it hatch. Mrs. Rolfe also saw a Monarch butterfly on Sunday and a very plump monarch caterpillar in her milkweed patch.
“There are typically three to four generations of monarch butterflies each summer, with the first three generations having short lifespans of a few weeks. The final generation born in late summer or early fall is a "super generation" that lives for several months to complete the long migration south for the winter. On Tuesday, September 23rd, Lars had a mosquito land on him while his class was outside on the nature trail. On Wednesday, September 24, Ms. Jackson’s windows were infested with several Asian beetles. Elouise noticed a lot of asian beetles on her windows as well. The warm temperature had them out in full force! On Thursday, September 25, Ms. Jackson’s class found an Isabella Tiger Moth caterpillar on the side of the school building and observed several waterstriders in Schmidt creek.
“The minnows in Schmidt creek are still abundant as of Thursday, September 25.
“This concludes the phenology report. Have a great week, and be observant!”
Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade
This report is brought to you by Connor, Adelynn, Madds and the students from Braham Elementary School!
“During our trip on September 25th and 26th. The low temp was 40 degrees Fahrenheit and the high was a sunny 80! White-breasted nuthatches, red-breasted nuthatches and chickadees were busy taking turns at one of the sunflower seed birdfeeders. The other feeder was full of squirrels. There seemed to be an agreement worked out between the birds and the squirrels.
“Small flocks of juncos and goldfinches were spotted in the treetops. Chipmunks and Red squirrels are running everywhere, their cheeks full of food. We also noticed many leopard and wood frogs when walking the trails.
“Several garter snakes were out and about in the forest and the first one was seen entering the campus hibernacula. That usually means that cold temperatures are sure to arrive soon.
“Bumblebees were all over the zinnias in the garden. One flower had a katydid and a bumblebee on it. We found a large number of dragonfly larvae in our lake study class and also adult dragonflies around the lake.
“The night skies were clear and we were able to see the North Star, Cassiopeia and the Milky Way. We had a great time exploring nature and we want to remind everyone to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”
Little Falls Middle School
“This is Emma and Olivia reporting from Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of September 28th.
“There were swarms of male Craneflies fluttering in a small cloud, trying to attract a female.
“Several mushrooms popped up with the wet weather last week. People found Blewits, Milkcaps, Bolete, Puffballs, Russula, Hen of the Woods and Shaggy Manes.
“We are still seeing Butter and Eggs and several Goldenrods in bloom, and we did identify some White Snakeroot that a classmate found.
“The Fairy rings in our yards are very noticeable as the grass around them fades in color.
“Giant Water Bugs are leaving the ponds by our school, and can be spotted near light sources in parking lots and the football field on Friday nights.
“Leaf Miners are fun to find and try to trace the larvae path from earlier this summer.
“There have been groups of Flickers and Blue Jays, and Red and White Breasted Nuthatches have been very active at feeders.
“Grass Spiders and their funnel webs are all over our yards, and the morning dew makes them easy to find.
“We spotted a pair of Painted Lady butterflies, who are heading south on their annual migration.
“Wild Cucumber and Wild Grape seem to be growing on most trees, shrubs, and fences along our roads.
“Similar to last year, we have started seeing Lilacs that are re-flowering, this is apparently a result of stress to the tree.
“Box Elder Bugs have started to appear on the sides of our homes and garages this week.
“That is our report for this week, until next week, keep exploring, keep discovering, and keep connecting with the great outdoors.”
Prairie Creek Community School in Northfield
Hank: Hi, this is Hank.
Wyatt: and this is Wyatt.
Hank: and we’re from Prairie Creek Community School, way down south in Northfield Minnesota.
Wyatt: We’ve got two weeks of data for you this week. Last week, we were on our class campout and we saw a ton of cool things.
Hank: We saw Long-taled Giant Ichneumonid (ICK-nuh-ma-nid) wasps laying eggs in a maple with bore holes.
Wyatt: We also saw tons of mushrooms including a giant northern tooth fungus.
Hank: We drank from a spring where we saw and ate a lot of water cress.
Wyatt: Back at school, we’ve been using Merlin to “catch” birds.
Hank: We are at high migration right now. One day we got 29 different birds on a recording!
Wyatt: Both weeks we’ve seen sand hill cranes, turkeys, turkey vultures, humming birds – both male and female – blue jays, waxwings, goldfinches, cardinals, and redwing blackbirds.
Hank: We’re still seeing monarchs, dragonflies and…unfortunately…mosquitos.
Wyatt: Merlin “caught” a dark-eyed junco on September 22 and 23 and we might have seen one but it wasn’t confirmed.
Hank: THIS week, the box elder bugs and the asian lady beetles have arrived.
Wyatt: We have found two giant cecropia (seh-CROW-pee-uh) caterpillars here at school.
Hank: And we released a monarch butterfly that we have been watching since it was a fourth instar caterpillar.
Wyatt: Emory saw a bat in a store - and it wasn’t a Halloween decoration!
Hank: Natalie reported that the fog looks “like an ocean”
Wyatt: Our director Simon’s father-in-law always watches the barn swallows and he reports that they have left for the year.
Hank: Whew! There’s more but we’ve got to go. This has been Prairie Creek.
Wyatt: One more step along the phenology journey.
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, subscribe 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).
