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Which native insect loves football?

A big ol' brown bug lies dead on a bleacher near the Twin Cities in October, 2025.
Contributed
/
iNaturalist user gutenfrog
An American giant water beetle lies dead on a bleacher near the Twin Cities in October 2025.

During the week of Oct. 21, 2025, we enjoy reports of hooting Barred Owls, snoozy bears and star-struck stadium bugs. Staff phenologist John Latimer responds.

Cohasset Elementary School

Cohasset Elementary School phenology talkback: Oct. 21, 2025

Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade

This report is brought to you by Thomas, Emma and the students from Rippleside Elementary in Aitkin and Valerie, Sadie and the students from McGregor Elementary.

Long Lake Conservation Center phenology talkback: Oct. 21, 2025

“During our trip to Long Lake Conservation Center from October 13-15, the high temperature was 57 degrees and the low was 30.
“We had a much-needed quarter inch of rain on Tuesday. The absence of typical summertime critters was of note. We did not see any butterflies and bees. There were reports of both of these last week.
“We did see a small red dragonfly that we identified as an autumn meadowhawk. The lilypads have flowered and are now under the surface of the lake where they’ll develop and disperse seeds for next spring.
The loons have left the lake and no Canada Geese were spotted, but multiple Trumpeter Swans were observed. Other bird sightings included: Nuthatches, chickadees, one American Robin, House Finches, a Belted Kingfisher, woodpeckers and large flocks of Dark-eyed Juncos.
“We also saw white-tailed deer, gray squirrels, cottontail rabbits, and a toad in the bog. Garter snakes were observed in and around their hibernaculum, but not anywhere else. They aren’t venturing far from their den.
“We found a few purple asters still in bloom. Tamarack tree needles are golden but not dropping yet.
“We had a great time exploring nature and we want to remind everyone to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”

This report is brought to you by Kate, Connor, Charlie, and Clara and the students from Waconia Middle School.

Long Lake Conservation Center Waconia phenology talkback: Oct. 21, 2025

Little Falls Middle School

Little Falls Middle School phenology talkback: Oct. 21, 2025

blackboard illustrations show a tamarack tree, a Saw-whet Owl, and a harvestman.
Contributed
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Chad Kaddatz
A blackboard shows the phenology topics for Chad Kaddatz's Little Falls Middle School science class for the week of Oct. 21, 2025.

“This is Caleb and Brett reporting from Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of October 19.
“Now that a lot of leaves have fallen, we are seeing bald faced hornet hives in the trees
There are large groups of juncos hanging around our feeders, usually searching on the ground for seeds.
“We did spot a couple giant water bugs at the football game last Wednesday night.
“We got a video of a huge flock of blackbirds; it was definitely several hundred birds.
“We are seeing several woolly oak galls on fallen leaves, and woolly bear caterpillars on roads and sidewalks.
“Two of our larger birds, the Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures, have been common sightings.
“We have also captured videos of bears snooping around people's yards at night.
“Our tamaracks are starting to turn yellow, while the silver maples and red oaks are fully colored.
“After the rains this past week we started seeing earthworms on our driveways.
“There was a small flock of 5 White Pelicans soaring overhead.
“Crows seem to be moving in small groups these days, and we did see a single robin, maybe it will stay here for the winter.
“Mr. Kaddatz was stumped by a small warbler that has been at his house for a week. He was finally able to identify it as a female Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
“That is our report for this week, until next week, keep exploring, keep discovering, and keep connecting with the great outdoors.”

North Star Elementary School in Virginia

North Star Elementary School phenology talkback: Oct. 21, 2025

"This is Walter, Aryana, Peytyn, Myah, and Caleb with a report from North Star Elementary on October 8, 2025.
"The low temperature this morning, on October 8, was 26 degrees. We noticed frost on the grass, and fog in the air, and we could see our breath. At 9:30, when we took a walk, the frost was still lingering in the shady areas of the playground but it had melted in the sunny areas. It is warming up quickly in the sun. Our high today is 57 degrees. As I rode my bike to school, I could barely see the lake through the fog. It was so cold I had to turn around and get a warmer jacket.
"Tamaracks in our school yard are still very green.
"We noticed some very calm wasps in some red pine branches. They must have been too cold to fly this morning.
"In a white pine, we noticed a small yellow and black insect that looked like a caterpillar. We took a picture and looked it up and determined that it was actually a sawfly larvae, which isn’t a true caterpillar and is an invasive species. After learning more about sawflies, we decided to go back out and collect them. They eat pine needles and generally won’t harm a mature tree, but all the trees in our schoolyard are very young and could be damaged by this invasive insect. We removed a total of 15 of the larvae from 4 trees.
"The trembling aspen leaves are still mostly green but we noticed that the edges of the leaves are turning yellow with some brown that is curling in. The leaves felt dry.
"The white oak is still mostly green but it has some leaves that have turned orangeish-brown.
"The silver maples across the street from our school still have about 25% yellow leaves and most leaves are hanging on.
"North saw some geese flying overhead.
"Later, some students took a walk to Silver Lake in Virginia. Here are some of their observations.
"They could see a robin in the tree branches along the shore, a solitary Mallard resting on the shore; and a bevy of 6 swans on the water across the lake.
"They could hear a large flock of about 30 geese honking as they landed on the water.
"They could feel a cool breeze with the warm sun.
"In our own neighborhoods Austin saw two Wild Turkeys walking around Parkville and Aiden saw a red fox in his yard in Gilbert. Porter’s dad saw a black bear on his trail cam. It was going through his garbage can at his cabin near Lake Vermilion on October 7. Zoe has been seeing a lot of Turkey Vultures soaring in the sky.
"This has been a report from North Star Elementary in Virginia. Keep exploring the great outdoors!"

Rockford Middle School

Rockford Middle School phenology talkback: Oct. 21, 2025

"Hi, this is Keira, Charlotte, Griffin, Chris, Danny and Elijah from Mrs. Korzendorfer’s sixth-grade classes at Rockford Middle School - Center For Environmental Studies. We are reporting on the week of October 8-10 during our class trip to Deep Portage Environmental Learning Center in Hackensack.
"The temperatures ranged from highs in the 60’s to lows in the 40’s. We had partly sunny and cloudy days with a quick rain shower before our campfire night.
"On our last morning some wind blew in making for a chilly start to the day. It was a welcomed relief for some of us after all of our warmer weather. The Minnesota DNR fall color map listed this area was 75 - 100% color change but this surprised us. Many of the deciduous trees were still hanging onto their leaves. We saw a lot of yellow and green with sprinkles of orange and red on the trees and a lot of brown on the ground. It was maybe more like 50 - 75% color change, but plenty to still hear the crunching of leaves beneath our feet on the ground.
"While hiking at Deep Portage, Crosby and Callum surprised some deer that took off into the woods and saw several squirrels gathering provisions for winter. Some classmates heard frogs croaking while in their water canaries class down at Bass Pond. They think it was a green frog because Danny was able to catch one in the mud along with Beckett, Grant, and Ian who discovered a few tadpoles.
"Mario and I found some minnows. Many of us found dragonfly larvae, also known as nymphs, in various sizes. We learned that they can live in Minnesota waters for up to five years before becoming flying adults. They are a bioindicator species because they are sensitive to water quality and can be used to monitor the health of bass pond. Mario and Jay saw a couple deer down at the pond; it looked like they were eating the lily pads.
"Many of us got to visit a bog for the first time. There was a lot of sphagnum moss throughout the bog. It was spongy and pinkish-red in color. Keira recognized the presence of pitcher plants, a carnivorous plant, that preys on insects from her visit to Big Bog State Park last year. The tamarack trees still held on to their green needles and have yet to turn yellow.
"Sunset is slowly creeping earlier each night and is currently around 6:36 pm a sign that we are in the fall season. This was just right for our game of nocturnal hunters and after dinner campfire.
"Ms. Honza and Mrs. Korzendorfer were up early on our last day for a sunrise hike around Bass pond when they heard a Barred Owl hooting, 'Who cooks for you?' repeatedly just before dawn.
"We enjoyed our time outdoors at Deep Portage. Some of us hope to return with our families in the future. That’s all for this week. Thank you for listening. We will be back in a couple weeks after our fall break. Bye….."

What have you seen out there? Let us know: email us at comments@kaxe.org or text us at 218-326-1234.

For more phenology, subscribe to our Season Watch newsletter and podcast 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).

Charlie Mitchell (she/they) joined KAXE in February of 2022. Charlie creates the Season Watch Newsletter, produces the Phenology Talkbacks show, coordinates the Phenology in the Classroom program, and writes nature-related stories for KAXE's website. Essentailly, Charlie is John Latimer's faithful sidekick and makes sure all of KAXE's nature/phenology programs find a second life online and in podcast form.


With a background in ecology and evolutionary biology, Charlie enjoys learning a little bit about everything, whether it's plants, mushrooms, or the star-nosed mole. (Fun fact: Moles store fat in their tails, so they don't outgrow their tunnels every time conditions are good.)
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