This week’s five phenology reports take very different tones, depending on what day and where in the state they were recorded.
Reports recorded mid-week last week strike a resigned, winter-weary note, while those recorded more recently (and farther south) are full of energy and hope! It’s a nice little snapshot of how Minnesotans’ moods are so affected by weather this time of year.
I, for one, am going semi-feral with joy as I work on my balcony for the first time since fall, listen to chorus frogs singing, and watch the first green things emerge. Yay spring!
Remember you can add your voice to this list! Get in touch with me (smitchell@kaxe.org), John Latimer (jlatimer@kaxe.org) or text "phenology" to 218-326-1234.
For more phenology, subscribe to our Season Watch Newsletter or visit the Season Watch Facebook page.
Prairie Creek Community School in Northfield
"Hi, this is Amelia — and this is Elliot — and we’re from Prairie Creek Community School, way down south in Northfield, Minnesota. We’ve got quite a big list this week. Spring has certainly sprung all at once. Let’s ‘hop’ to it!
“I see what you did there! We have seen a lot of rabbits. And a lot of deer. There are new mole tunnels in the ground. And we’ve seen the first flies and wasps of the season. And on Saturday the 8th, Anita heard the first spring peepers of the year. That’s exciting!
“The birds have been busy, too. And are they ever loud in the morning. We’ve seen or heard turkeys, cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves and pheasants. We’ve seen six sandhill cranes, woodpeckers, hawks, mallards in male and female pairs, HUNDREDS of swans and even buffleheads.
“We saw a crow with a stick, many, many Red-winged Blackbirds, and we’ve seen a lot of bald eagles, including two fighting! Finally — drum roll please — we saw our first heron on Saturday the 8th!
“We’re not done yet. Even the plants are busy. Aspyn was picking up dog poo from over the winter — Gross! — and underneath she saw brigh green plants!
"Cool! We are seeing tiny dandelion leaves. The red elder and red maples have bud break. And we’re even seeing crocuses and squill.
“That’s all for now from Prairie Creek Community School. One more step along the phenology journey.”
John notes it’s a big step along the phenology journey this week! He’s particularly excited they’re hearing spring peepers: frogs beginning to call is a major sign we’re transitioning out of winter weather.
In Grand Rapids, April 16 is the average date spring peepers are first heard. John’s hopeful they’ll begin around that time this year. (This is a marked change from last week, when he was predicting 2023 would rank among the top-five latest springs on record. Clearly, the intervening week has been kind to us!)
Crows carrying sticks this time of year are typically males inviting females to begin building a nest. The Northfield students seeing this behavior is a clear sign the crows are starting the nesting stage.
John adds there is typically a two-week interval between phenology events happening in Northfield and the same event happening in Grand Rapids, so we’ll be able to see how spring moves across the state over the next month.
Eagle View Elementary in Pequot Lakes
“This is the April 6 phenology report from Eagle View Elementary. Yesterday, we had a snow day at school because of the snow, ice and windy weather. Today when we took our walk it was still windy and cold. We were walking way up on top of the crusty snow and it was very noisy!
“We saw three geese flying over our school and two swans in the open water on Rice Lake. The open patches on the lake haven’t gotten much bigger this week. We spotted five robins huddled close to the ground on a weeping willow tree. Here are a few poems our second graders wrote about the robins:
Five little robins -by Gracie | Five little robins -by Tristan |
Five little robins -by Nora | Five little robins -by Sawyer |
“This is Ashlynn, Emme, and Jaxson reporting from Pequot Lakes. Still waiting for spring!”
John’s a big fan of the haikus (as am I). His favorite was Nora’s, with its mention of “thought it was spring now.” We all did, but we had to wait just like the robins! John encourages all of us to think of a haiku or two as well.
Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade
This week's report is brought to you by Dave McMillan, Dill Prickles and the naturalists at Long Lake Conservation Center.
“The never-ending winter seems to finally be coming to an end, but not before one more frozen gut punch. The latest storm brought less than 2 inches of snow but coated the trees with ice. As the temperatures rose, the ice dropped off the trees, hitting the crusty ground below and making the forest sound like it was popping popcorn.
“There were some signs of spring early in the week with the arrival of a flock of about a dozen robins. They hung out a bit, even singing their courtship song, but haven’t been seen since. They might be hunkered down, waiting for the storm to pass, or they might have headed back south.
“A pair of Canada Geese and Trumpeter Swans flew over Long Lake. Turkeys have been very active, but we have only observed one tom in strut.
“A deer was struck by a car and killed on the road near Long Lake. A large adult Bald Eagle, two immature Bald Eagles and a crow were spotted feasting on the carrion. The difference between an adult and immature Bald Eagles is that the adults have white heads and tail feathers, and the immatures wear Axe Body Spray.
“The maple sap is STILL not flowing. We suspect that this upcoming weekend with be the only flow of the season at Long Lake. When the sun comes out, we are seeing garter snakes emerge from the hibernacula.
“Dill Prickles has been his normal attention-seeking self, walking around the campus like he owns the place. He’s eaten about 75% of his favorite Red Oak. We’re afraid the tree has given its life to the cause of Environmental Education.
“Spring is nearly three weeks behind schedule, and it’s of note that we have yet to see the otters this season. Last year at this time, they were spotted nearly every day gorging themselves on frogs.
“Also noted for their absence are puddle ducks. Normally, mergansers, Wood Ducks and Golden Eyes have returned by now to find open water along the shoreline and around the beaver lodge.
“Temperatures approaching 60 degrees ABOVE ZERO are forecast for next week. We can’t wait for the flood of new life but hope there are not actual floods. Spring weather is coming, and we want to remind everyone to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED.”
John thanks Dave for the report and invites listeners to stop by Long Lake Conservation Center in the area: it’s a wonderful place! I’m curious to hear if the otters will have emerged by next week — it seems odd that they haven’t been seen in a while.
Waubun School Forest
“Boozhoo Gidinawemaaganinaanag - Hello all my relatives. We are from the Waubun school forest! Today we have many different things to talk about. Our names are Harlee, Mckenna, Joseph, Cassidy and Hunter.
“We have noticed a lot of activity this past week. There have been many different traces and sightings of birds. We have noticed a lot of larger birds coming back such as mallards, geese, swans, turkeys and eagles. We have also noticed smaller birds such as song birds. We are excited to see more birds that will be coming soon.
"Many of the Waubun School Forest students have been noticing a lot of deer activity, like them digging into the snow for food, eating buds and eating from fields. One of our students noticed the deer stripping the cattails. The fawns from this previous fall are beginning to grow.
"Raccoons and skunks have both been spotted over the past week, while the strange part is raccoons have been spotted in the daylight hours while they are nocturnal. We have noticed many tracks, too!
"The weather has been getting weird lately. The temperature has finally reached above 40 degrees on Saturday, April 1, 2023. One of our students measured 6 inches of snow in the last week. The last storm we had, we ended up getting about 6 inches of snow. We hope to get warmer temperatures soon!
"Due to the crazy weather conditions, tapping has been delayed this year. Last year we first tapped March 20, 2022, and we’re finally able to start April 6, 2023. So, the tapping season will be shorter than last year’s.
“Thank you for listening to our Waubun school forest phenology report! LIVING THE NATURE LIFE!”
John’s interested to hear the sap run has been so much later this year compared to last year. (Similar to Waubun, in Grand Rapids, Heidi’s maple taps started to run this week.) Last year was also a cold, late spring! I don’t keep copious notes like John, but as I recall, March 2022 was somewhat typical while April was absolutely miserable. This year, the months seem to have switched character.
Tony in Dixon Lake
“Much snow melt in Dixon. The meltwater is 10 inches deep in spots. Third River is open downstream to the First Beaver Dam. Many migratory birds appeared this week, including woodcock, Wood Ducks, goldeneyes, Green- and Blue-winged Teals, wigeons, mallards, coots, Ringneck Ducks, pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Ovenbirds, robins, Yellow-rumped Warblers, phoebes, oh my!
“Compton tortoiseshell butterflies and blue bottle flies on or near the river, Sandhill Cranes, a Saw-whet Owl is calling constantly, and a Barred Owl was found dead near the house, presumably trying to hunt near the bird feeding station. Two white tail deer were predated upon on County Road 33.”
John is thrilled to get the report. Thanks, Tony!
As always, we hope to hear from you, dear reader. Let us know what you find out there.
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).
