This week, we have two student reports and a whole lot of observations from our Season Watch Facebook group! Enjoy.
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
Bode, Scott, and Carson report from their week at the Forkhorn I camp at Long Lake Conservation Center:
“Our week at camp featured a full-on invasion of leopard frogs. We spotted little ones, big ones, tall ones, short ones. One person in our group counted more than a hundred on one hike. We think the little rain we had got them out and about.
“High temperatures topped out at a summer high of 91 degrees Fahrenheit. Swimming was a great way to cool off. Our group liked collecting leeches. We found lots.
“Other nature sightings included a black bear spotted by a Long Lake teacher, and a Barred Owl was heard calling at night. We saw June bugs flying (ewwww), a red squirrel in a window feeder eating lots of seeds, garter and red belly snakes, Pileated Woodpeckers, blue sarsaparilla berries (not all blueberries are blueberries), and ghost pipe.
“We thought ghost pipe was really interesting. These transparent white plants don’t have chlorophyll and get nutrients by stealing from nearby tree roots. Mark Jacobs stopped by as part of Backyard Bumble Bee watch and found brown-belted, two-spotted, Diervilla clearwing, northern amber, yellow-branded and yellow cuckoo bumble bees."
“It was a great week in nature and we want to remind everyone to… Unplug, get outside, and LIVE CONNECTED!”
John is happy to hear that the students were able to observe so much during their time at Long Lake Conservation Center. Swimming is certainly the best way to beat those 90-degree temperatures! Like the students, John has seen a lot of newly-emerged frogs and toads. They spent early and mid-summer as tadpoles in the ponds, and recently metamorphosed into their terrestrial adult forms!
Roots and Wings Forest School near New York Mills
“This is Laney, Ruby, June, and Sydney reporting from Roots and Wings Forest School in New York Mills for July 24-27. We saw four meadow jumping mice. They are small and cute with long tails. Their fur is brown and they have big feet for a mouse. They were not shy, and we watched them for about 20 minutes.
“We also saw a red -bellied snake. It was only a few inches long. It was gray on top and red on the bottom.
“We saw ants putting eggs into a hole. The eggs were white and some of them were bigger than the ants themselves.
“We have a spider living in our wildlings classroom and it is a furrow orb weaver. Its abdomen is the size of an [muffled] and it caught a wasp, spun it up, and ate it.
“We’ve also seen red squirrels, a doe, a buck, loons, and a hawk.
“Thanks for listening! Stay wild!”
John is excited to see the photo of the orb weaver spider, saying that what endears them to him is “when I look at their webs, I find deer flies in there. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend! Long live the orb weaver.”
Orb weavers typically have alternating bands of light and dark colors on their bodies and legs and create very interesting orb webs! To create the web, the spider lets a strand of silk float in the wind. When it adheres to something, the spider walks across the line, laying a very loose strand of silk behind her which she attaches to the other side. Next, she begins laying silken struts connecting the two lines to each other. This forms the basis for the orb-shaped web.
Season Watch Facebook feature
This week had a lot of orange! Participants observed hummingbird clearwing moths on tigerlilies, chicken of the woods mushrooms, tricolor bumblebees, and a red squirrel practicing its gymnastics. The Newstoks also posted photos and video of a fledgling Ruby-throated hummingbird!
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).
