Please note as schools let out for the summer, we become more and more hungry for reports for our Phenology Talkbacks segment. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with your observations, nature tales and insights! Get in touch with me (smitchell@kaxe.org), John Latimer (jlatimer@kaxe.org), or text "phenology" to 218-326-1234.
Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade
Tori, Bella, Kinley, Chloe, Charli, Briley reported from the Forkhorn Firearm Safety Training Camp at Long Lake Conservation Center:
“Hello, we are reporting from summer camp at Long Lake Conservation Center June 11 through 16.
“Here are some of the things we noticed during our adventures: frogs and minnows swimming in the lake, we saw eight deer and the Long Lake porcupine, Dill Prickles, was sighted walking into a wetland.
“Loons were taking a bath on the lake and a large flock of geese were flying over the lake. We also saw a goldfinch and Indigo Buntings. We also think we heard a Screech Owl.
“A painted turtle was laying eggs on the beach and many blue lake darner dragonflies were seen. Fireflies flashing at night and we saw the first monarch butterfly caterpillars of the summer!
“We ‘spotted’ many giant leopard moths (they have a lot of spots), spittlebugs and there were several chipmunks running around with very full cheeks. We saw white admiral butterflies.
“The spreading dogbane and the daisies are in bloom! Bluebird chicks were heard in the nesting box and Black-billed Cuckoos were heard, but not seen. They eat tent caterpillars, so they have plenty of food out here.
“It was a great week and we want to remind everyone to… Unplug, get outside, and LIVE CONNECTED!”
John thanks them for their reports and states that their observations are consonant with his own over the last week. (In this case, consonant is defined as “in agreement or harmony with,” not its more commonly used definition.)
Newstok family near Grand Rapids
Ruth, Axel, Pearl, and Scott Newstok report from their cabin near Grand Rapids:
“Hi, John Latimer and Heidi Holtan. It’s Ruth, Axel, Pearl, and Scott Newstok.
“It was a busy week. We went to Scenic State Park and saw a silvery-blue butterfly, columbine, bush honeysuckle, and a type of honeysuckle with double red fruit we called ‘baboon’s butt.’
“There were fields of orange sageweed and many showy lady-slippers. I noticed a spider eating a moth and a transverse-banded crab spider on a daisy.
“I counted 94 monarch caterpillars on our milkweed. They have eaten so much that we had to emergency transport many little caterpillars to another patch of milkweed.
“Sarah and I had a sad encounter with the natural world this week. We were walking down the trail and we thought we heard something like a lamb bleating, and we came upon a fawn on the ground. Then, we suddenly realized it was being attacked by what we thought was a wolverine, but we later discovered was a fisher. We scared it off, but the fawn sadly didn’t survive.
“We snuck up on a snoozing loon on our lake and got very close before he woke up.
“We spotted the Very Rare Wild John Latimer plus a Heidi Holtan at the KAXE Picnic in Grand Rapids.
“Sadly, this is my last report, but I can’t wait to hear Axel, Pearl and maybe even Scott do more reports in the future.
“Bye!”
John wishes Ruth a safe journey and enjoyable time at camp! We’ll miss her but are happy to have the voices of her family to keep us informed about events in nature.
First, what a rockstar report: I laughed out loud at their creative “baboon’s backside” name for a honeysuckle, shared their giggles about the word “caterpillars”, and became a human exclamation point after hearing about the fisher hunt.
It was a sad day for the fawn, but a good one for the fisher. May the hungry weasel live long and happily (as well as any of its babies it might be feeding). As John points out, nature can be “bloody in tooth and claw,” but it’s not every day you get to bear witness to it. (I'd bet a couple bucks that the momma deer wasn’t fawnd of the outcome, doe.)
...I’ll see myself out.
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).
