Phenology and mindfulness
We all need a little extra mindfulness in our lives (or at least, our therapists say so), and John starts the phenology report Tuesday, July 18, with a note on how studying phenology makes him more present and aware.
He and his neighbor Marvin talked last week about how the crows have started to create large flocks in their area. The flock John spotted had more than 50 individuals — certainly much larger than a single family!
Most people (such as I) wouldn’t even notice this phenomenon. I might see it and even take a moment to admire the crows, but I certainly wouldn’t have been paying enough attention over the last months to notice that the crows haven’t been in flocks since early spring.
John and Marvin, being much better students of nature, do notice this sort of thing (partially because they take the time to take notes). They know the crows have been busy nesting and raising young. The first thing they do in July, once the fledging process is complete, is to gather in large flocks and have a raucous party with the other crows! (I believe this “empty nest” behavior is also seen in parents of college-age kids.)
John credits his habit of noting changes in nature with his ability to be present and notice more than you or me. Since he is trying to understand the world and note subtle changes, he has his eyes and ears open. The first butterfly of spring isn’t going to flutter in front of his face without him noticing it. I, however, would likely be so busy planning the perfect comeback to That Thing Someone Said To Me five years ago that it could land on my jacket and I still might miss it.
With that in mind, I’ll grudgingly admit that ol’ J-Lat has a point. After a year on the job, I might even start writing my observations down. But I won’t stop making fun of him on the internet for saying things like, “I’ve got a wintercress flower here and I’m peering into its nether regions.”
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.
Crow Conventions
As always, John’s keeping track of his avian neighbors: he saw the first large flock of crows this year on July 11. The average date is July 25, and the earliest in his records was June 30, 2017. The latest was Aug. 13, 2000.
As John points out, that’s a significant three-week gap. He would like to dig through his records to draw a firmer conclusion, but he hypothesizes that late or early springs may delay (or accelerate) the nesting process, which concludes with rejoining large flocks.
These large groups often gather in freshly mown hay fields, where grasshoppers, seeds and small critters have been revealed. In some years, farmers may get two harvests: this year’s lack of rain suggests that they may just get one. These harvests are important for the crows: they use the hayfields to pack on protein and fat in advance of leaner times in winter.
Stymied in the swamp
Alas, the Veery nest John discovered last week in the swamp did not survive. He stayed away for a week to not upset the mother bird, but when he returned, the nest was empty. John is quite worried he was the inadvertent cause of its demise (perhaps his scent led a predator to the nest?), but he’s not sure what happened to the eggs.
Likely, a skunk or raccoon or other egg-eating critter found the nest and ate the eggs. The mother bird is likely fine but is unlikely to nest again this season. However, she may have already raised one clutch of chicks by this point.
More mid-summer avian activity
In the forests, you can hear the Veeries and Red-eyed Vireos singing, plus Barred Owls calling in the night hours. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are active at local feeders but will be heading south soon. However, we’ll be able to enjoy the presence of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (and their fledglings!) at feeders for a while still. They will be swarming the feeders over the next month or two as they prepare for their long journey south. Males will leave first (typically in mid-August), followed by the females and juveniles in mid-September.
John spotted a Red-tailed Hawk sitting on a hay bale in a field, waiting for a mouse or vole to make an ill-timed foraging foray. Another field held a pair of Sandhill Cranes. Oddly, there were just two: an adult and a colt. Normally, colts are found with both parents. John isn’t sure where the other went!
Sandhill Cranes arrive in Northern Minnesota with gray plumage, which slowly turns red as the season progresses. This isn’t a magical color-changing function within the plumage itself: instead, it is stained red by the iron-rich mud the cranes rub on their feathers.
A pair of reddish Sandhill Cranes tricked John while he was driving to the Twin Cities this week. While driving along, he suddenly spotted a mountain lion standing in a nearby field! It was the first one he ever saw in the wild, and needless to say, he craned his neck around for another look. As his perspective changed, he discovered that the “mountain lion” was actually an illusion caused by two Sandhill Cranes aligned in such a way as to make them look like one four-legged creature.
Insectivorous air force
The dragonflies are busy swooping up the summer mosquitoes and other insects. John is seeing a lot of chalk-fronted corporals, twelve-spotted skimmers and common whitetails. Populations of these dragonflies will decline as the summer progresses and be replaced by populations of darners and meadowhawks.
Two damselflies to watch out for include the ebony jewelwing and the river jewelwing. (Reminder: damselflies are thinner-bodied than dragonflies and rest with their wings held over their backs. They have hammerhead-shaped faces and look much more fragile than a dragonfly.)
Ebony jewelwings have jet-black wings, while river jewelwings have black-tipped wings with amber-colored patches. The bodies of both damselflies are strikingly iridescent, varying in color from green to blue. Mid-summer will be the last chance to see them this year: get out and enjoy them while you can!
Plant progression
- Ripe fruit/seeds: Raspberries, blueberries, juneberries.
Peak flowering: Yarrow, black bindweed, common milkweed, swamp milkweed, clasping dogbane, spreading dogbane, tansy, sawtooth sunflower, creeping bellflower, white sweet clover, common bellwort, common arrowhead, swamp loosestrife, cattails, meadowsweet and water hemlock.
Plant spotlight
White sweet clover is a round, tumbleweed-like 3- to 4-foot shrub covered in tiny white flowers. Look for it along gravel roads or on the rocky shoulders of paved roads. Yellow sweet clover is similar, but the flowers are yellow.
Water hemlock has flat clusters of 10 or more groupings of white flowers. It, and its cousin the bulbet-bearing hemlock, are highly toxic and should not be consumed. They are North America’s most toxic plant and it is potentially deadly in any quantity. It can be eliminated by mowing or digging, though you should wear rubber gloves and a face mask. It can be absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes, so take extra care!
On a more edible note, raspberries and juneberries are ripe and it’s a bountiful year! John requests listeners send in the locations of good blueberry patches, so he can pick them clean. (Don’t do it unless you don’t want the blueberries yourself — I've seen that old man eat and it’s impressive.)
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).
