Cherry School near Iron Junction
"Hi, this is Sailie, Willie, Ellie, and Paisley reporting from Cherry School in Iron Junction, Minnesota on October 27, 2025.
“We have been noticing that it has been getting colder. On October 23, we saw snow falling from the sky for the first time this year. It has also been frosty on the ground in the morning.
“On October 16, Ellie noticed a fox in her yard near Cherry.
“On October 19, Symphony saw a group of deer and turkeys in Eveleth.
“On October 20, Mackenzie saw a black bear looking for food at her house in Hibbing.
“On October 21, Lily saw geese migrating near Cherry.
“Ms. Alexus noticed her last robin on October 18. Ms. Jen counted 29 robins in her yard near Zim on October 12. We think the robins have left for the year.
“Last week during our walk in the school forest, we noticed all the trees became more bare. Most of them were fully bare. We noticed one sspen tree was about 80% bare and the speckled alder is about 95% bare. We also saw white mushrooms on a log and a grouse flew up.”
“This concludes our phenology report. This has been Sailie, Willie, Ellie, and Paisley 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 weeks of October 11 and October 18, 2025. My name is Azalea, and I am your phenologist for this week!
“On Saturday, October 18, there was 10 hours and 49 minutes of daylight. This was a decrease of light by 19 minutes compared to the previous Saturday. It was not surprising, then, that on October 20, I noticed in the morning it was dark out. This is caused by the earth's axial tilt that leans away from the sun and an indication that winter is not far away. On October 22, Ian saw a few snowflakes outside his house while playing basketball. Ilo noticed that the temperature at his house was below freezing on October 23. Also on this day, Gavin saw frost covering his family’s car. On October 23, Mrs. Rolfe’s class saw the rain turn to tiny snowflakes when they were out in the woods. On Friday morning, October 24, a layer of frost covered the ground. It was so chilly that Ms. Jackson saw her breath outside when she took her dog out.”
“On Tuesday, October 21, Ms. Jackson’s class noticed that only a sparse amount of leaves remain on the trees in our school forest. As of Thursday, October 23, the North Shore is past the peak of its fall colored leaf season. As of Friday, October 25, the grass is still green on our school playground. On Thursday, October 23, Nora noticed that leaves on a tree in her yard started changing to yellow this week. On Wednesday, October 22, Solvei noticed that about 90% of the leaves had fallen off the trees in her yard. On Thursday, October 23, Sadie noticed an unusual amount of mushrooms growing in her backyard. No green leaves remain on her trees. Both sixth-grade classes noticed fallen leaves around their phenology trees. Ms. Jackson’s class noticed that their red maple has dropped all its leaves, and the burr oak only has dried out, retained leaves. Oaks have a tendency to retain their dried-out leaves longer than other tree species and can keep them for months before shedding them. All of the phenology trees for Ms. Rolfe’s class still have some colored leaves retained on them this week.
“On Tuesday, October 14, Mr. Dover’s class birdwatched from the playground and watched Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks and lots of unidentified songbirds flying south. On October 18, I observed five turkeys running across the street with thicker feathers than last time I saw a turkey. They are now getting ready for a long winter. On Monday, October 20, Ms. Urban saw a flock of White-crowned Sparrows in the yard outside the greenhouse. These birds are migratory and are on their way to their winter grounds anywhere in the central United States or as far south as Mexico. On Tuesday, October 21, Mr. Otten saw a Trumpeter Swan flying over the orchard. On Thursday, October 23, Ellia saw two Snow Buntings on the sidewalk by the school. These are the first of the season!
“On Oct. 19, Gavin saw a wasp in his friend's van. On Sunday, October 19, Ms. Urban saw a mosquito in her car.
“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 James, Karina, Neveah and the students from TrekNorth Junior High School.
“During our trip to Long Lake Conservation Center from October 20-22, the weather was cloudy, rainy and blustery with a high temperature of 54 degrees and a low 30.
“During our bog trek, a Bald Eagle flew overhead and we noticed that the leatherleaf is turning red and that the tamaracks are now 100% golden and losing needles quickly. In the forest, the thistle and white yarrow are still in bloom. The rusty colored oak leaves are still hanging, but many of the other trees lost their leaves in the wind.
“On the lake, a muskrat has been seen regularly eating weeds near the shore. During our Lake Bottom Organisms class we found tadpoles, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, a scud, a giant water bug, a dead crappie and a backswimmer. Mr. Larson can confirm that backswimmers bite! He said the bite hurt quite a bit, comparing it to a bee sting.
“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 Haley, Joe and the students from Fridley Middle School.
“During our trip to Long Lake Conservation Center from October 22-24, the high temperature was 51 degrees and we had a frosty season low of 19 degrees. We even had a little frozen rain. Brrrrr!
“The days were mostly sunny and beautiful, but the nighttime stole the show. During our Astronomy class and campfire with s’mores, we heard coyotes yipping on the other side of the lake, and heard Barred Owls hooting. A shooting star passed right over us, we saw the North Star, the Milky Way, and Joe found Saturn on the telescope. It was really cool to see the rings.
“While canoeing, we saw a muskrat and six Trumpeter Swans on the lake. We also found a tussock moth caterpillar, snakes near the hibernaculum, puffball mushrooms, and a doe and its fawn. The fawn had no spots.
“At the bird feeder, we saw Blue Jays, Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, nuthatches, and, of course, squirrels. 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 Brodi and Emma reporting from Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of October 26.
“We have had sightings of flying squirrels and skunks, most have been searching for food around our homes.
“Speaking of looking for food, a classmate caught a coyote trying to steal their cat food from a feeder.
“Spider egg sacs are easy to spot on windows and siding, and on sunny afternoons we have seen glints of light reflecting off the ballooning spiders as they drift by.
“There was a large flock of smaller birds that flew overhead, but they were making a lot of noise, so it was easy to identify them as Red-winged Blackbirds.
“We have had observations of larger mammals this week, including black bears, a bobcat, and a gray wolf.
“A student captured multiple images of a piebald deer on his trail camera. The doe looked normal, but has a large white patch on her forehead.
“We have been seeing harvestmen and crane flies, which both are sometimes called daddy longlegs.
“The fruit of the highbush cranberry is easy to find this time of year, but we were surprised to see that they are still holding most of their leaves.
“We have had reports of Canada thistle that was still carrying flowers, and a unique sighting of blue violets in bloom.
“There was a large group of 50-75 crows in a field.
“Silver maple leaves have dropped, and the upper branches all have large buds that look like a tree in the springtime.
“A student saw a tractor in a field that was hauling corn, and noticed 5 deer that were following and picking up spilled corn.
“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
Hugo: “Hi, this is Hugo-”
Theo: “And this is Theo-”
Hugo: “And we’re from Prairie Creek Community School, way down south in Northfield Minnesota.”
Theo: “Breaking news – this past Friday, the ginkgo trees in town all lost their leaves at the same time.”
Hugo: “We had peak color this weekend. That is much later than the early October average we found in data from the 1980s.”
Theo: “We didn’t see any monarchs this week.”
Hugo: “We did see one dragonfly, worm castings, Sandhill Cranes and even a heron.”
Theo: “The bird count is drifting down – we just had 17 species this morning compared to 30 two weeks ago.”
Hugo: “We saw many pheasants, eagles and starlings.”
Theo: “We saw a lot of deer and raccoons.”
Hugo: “This has been Prairie Creek-”
Theo: “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.
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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).
