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!”
Cherry School near Iron Junction
“Hi, this is Sailie, Aaron, Jacob, Willie, Annelise, and Harlie reporting from Cherry School in Iron Junction, Minnesota on October 6, 2025.
“We have been noticing that it has been foggy in the morning and last week we had warmer weather. This morning, it became much cooler and some students reported seeing frost.
“On September 19, Ellie saw and smelled a dead skunk on the road near Cherry.
“On September 21, Symphony saw a steam cloud forming above the pond in Eveleth.
“On October 5, Lucas noticed most of the trees in his yard were bare. We think it’s because of the strong winds.
“On October 3, Ms. Cari saw about 40 geese flying south near Buhl.
“On October 5, Avery noticed two Asian beetles inside her house and Bella noticed a baby snapping turtle on the sidewalk.
“On September 29, during our walk in the school forest, we noticed maples have changed colors. We saw two maples with peak color and one was about 80 percent bare. We also noticed that the speckled alder was about 67% bare and we saw wooly alder aphids on the trunk.
“On October 2, we took a field trip to the St. Louis River in Toivola. We used nets to catch macroinvertebrates with Jim from Trout in the Classroom. We found stonefly nymphs, emerald dragon fly nymphs, several large crayfish, and more! We were analyzing the macroinvertebrates we found and determined that the water quality index is 1.8 and the water quality is excellent.
“We also went for a walk near the Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center with Clinton. We saw a porcupine about 15 feet ahead of us on the trail. It looked spiky and was maybe looking for a place to hibernate. We also saw a marsh meadow grasshopper that Clinton picked up to show us. On the boardwalk, we felt some squishy sphagnum moss. Some classmates stuck their arms all the way through the moss to reach the water. We also saw a lot of pitcher plants and learned about how they attract bugs to eat.
“This concludes our phenology report. This has been Sailie, Aaron, Jacob, Willie, Annelise, and Harlie reporting from Cherry School. Nature Rules!"
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 27, 2025. My name is Ford, and I am your phenologist for this week!
“On Saturday, September 27, we had 11 hours and 54 minutes of daylight and on Saturday, October 4, we had 11 hours and 32 minutes of daylight. That is a loss of 22 minutes of sunlight in seven days.
“On Monday, September 29, Valerie saw that there were about 50% more aspen leaves on the ground than on September 23. On Wednesday, October 1, Solvei saw a bunch of mushrooms that had turned dark brown, and started to decay. Just a few days ago they were golden brown. Mrs. Rolfe’s class noticed on October 1, that the Harthorn trees by the creek are now dropping their haws or apples.
“On September 30, Lydia saw a bluebird on her deck. She is seeing far less bluebirds than even a week ago. She believes they have already started migrating. On Wednesday, October 1, Ms. Helgesen’s class saw a flock of 30 European Starlings flying and landing near the pond. They think the starlings might be migrating. Ms. Urban has seen a lot of Dark-eyed Juncos in her yard, and also at the playground at school. As they fly away, she can see their white outer-tail feathers, which is a good way to ID them from far away. The juncos forage on the ground for food and are eating up to prepare to migrate. We will see them pass through school again in the spring.
“On Tuesday, September 30, Nora saw two fawns without a mother deer in an alleyway. She suspects that the two fawns were looking for food.
“On Sunday September 28, Zander watched a monarch butterfly drink from the hummingbird feeder alongside a Blue Jay and Common Grackle who ate suet from the stand.
“On Friday, Julia saved a newborn snapping turtle at her house. She put it beside a river in a safe place. On Monday, September 29, Jaxton saw a garter snake near his chicken coop. One of his chickens had it for a tasty snack. Chickens are omnivores and view smaller snakes as a treat or a special food source, swallowing them whole or pecking at them.
“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 Decy and the students from St. Joe's Rosemount, and Adrian, Emmy and the students from Nativity of our Lord in St. Paul.
“During our trip to Long Lake Conservation Center from October 1-3, we had a beautiful, summer-like trip with a high of 83 and a low of 51.
“The snakes are on the move and nearly everyone in our group spotted at least one garter snake, including one that was two feet long.
“We also flushed a Ruffed Grouse on the way to the bog and spotted a number of frogs.
“Way more trees have changed colors here than in St. Paul and our walks through the woods were crunchy because of the fallen leaves, but Long Lake is still a ways from peak color. We estimate that we’re at about 50 percent of peak color. The tamaracks in the bog have not begun to turn golden.
“Our group heard a Saw-Whet Owl, wooly bear caterpillars, whitetail deer, a kingfisher and squirrels busily gathering food for the winter. Large flocks of juncos were seen.
“One of the highlights of the trip was stargazing. We enjoyed clear skies and saw the craters on the moon with cool shadows. We also saw lots of stars, including the big dipper. Despite it being pretty dry, a few of us managed to get about waist deep in the bog.
“It was a great time exploring nature and we want to remind everyone to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”
Little Falls Middle School
“This is Brianna and Amira reporting from Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of October 5.
“There have been some migrating warblers coming through this week, as we spotted some Nashville Warblers, and larger groups of Yellow-rumped Warblers.
“The most annoying pests this week have been the minute pirate bugs, as these tiny insects do cause a painful bite.
The black walnut tree by our school is dropping its fruit, and the large green balls will stain your fingers brown if you handle them.
“We did have large groups of White-throated Sparrows appear in Little Falls late last week.
“We spotted our first junco of the year on October 4.
“A classmate was lucky to see a male Ruffed Grouse doing a territorial display, and was able to capture some video of him.
“Unfortunately, large numbers of Asian beetles are starting to show up on our houses and garages.
“For the 6th time in the last 7 years, Cedar Waxwings have shown up on our crabapple trees outside our classroom between October 2-3.
“Blue Jays have been spotted in groups, and there was a small flock of 14 Sandhill Cranes flying overhead this weekend.
“A student still had a hummingbird at his house, but we are guessing this might be the last sighting for a while.
“Gray Tree frogs are becoming a common sighting, and are very loud in the evening.
“That is our report for this week, until next week, keep exploring, keep discovering, and keep connecting with the great outdoors.”
Rockford Middle School
Prairie Creek Community School in Northfield
Henry: "Hi, this is Henry-"
Oscar: "And this is Oscar-"
Henry: "And we’re from Prairie Creek Community School, way down south in Northfield, Minnesota."
Oscar: "We had an awesome visit with John last Tuesday. It took us an hour and a half to walk our cross country course that we usually run in five minutes!"
Henry: "And we didn’t even do the whole course!"
Oscar: "It’s amazing how much you see when you slow down."
Henry: "We saw 'volcano ants,' magic dogwood leaves, gentian flowers, smooth sugar maple leaves, water striders, asters, and mole tunnels."
Oscar: "We also found A TON of wooly bears."
Henry: "It seems like it is a big year for wooly bears – kids have been collecting them at recess and they sometimes get over a dozen (don’t worry, they let them go.)"
Oscar: "We don’t have data from previous years to compare so we’re not sure if it’s a big year or not."
Henry: "On Friday, our Merlin app collected a record number birds including bluebirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, an Ovenbird, and even a Palm Warbler. The app has had Dark-eyed Juncos every day – but we aren’t seeing them yet, we’re just getting them on the app."
Oscar: "It makes us wonder how many of one kind of bird have to be in an area for you to see just one."
Henry: "We’re still seeing monarchs and dragonflies – but we’re wondering if the cooler temperatures this week will finally send them south."
Oscar: "We’ve noticed that some trees, like the walnuts, have lost almost all of their leaves."
Henry: "But other trees, like our oaks and the dreaded buckthorn, are still fully green."
Oscar: "This has been Prairie Creek-
Henry: "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).
