Ol’ Momma Nature threw me for a loop this week when Elisa Rachel posted a video of some tiny, fast-moving insects swarming over a beleaguered beetle’s back.
Plus, we hear about a giddy grouse and fall arriving at Long Lake Conservation Center in this week’s phenology talkbacks!
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
Staff naturalists Marla, Julia and Katie report from Long Lake Conservation Center:
“This week the first real signs of fall are being noted, including the wild sarsaparilla changing to yellow and red and the first of the tamaracks going gold. The first leaf drop is starting to happen as well with some species of trees.
“Some of us went out last night and observed the Super Blue Moon, an amazing sight through a pair of binoculars.
“About halfway across Long Lake, there is a shallow boggy area where two swans were seen standing on several mornings this week. Groups of turkeys were enjoying the plentiful acorns on the ground, and we saw the season’s first oak galls.
“We saw a tussock moth and the tree frogs and leopard frogs are still everywhere. The cosmos are blooming and some lobster mushrooms were spotted on the trail.
“We also noticed that the wild sarsaparilla is starting to die back for the season. It was a beautiful week in nature, and we want to remind everyone to... unplug, get outside, and LIVE CONNECTED!!”
John is always excited at the prospect of unplugging, getting outside and living connected – it'd be hard to say which of those three activities he values the most. He was happy to hear the naturalists listing so many changes happening in their neck of the woods and will go into more detail on the changes he’s noticing in this week’s phenology report.
Lucy
Lucy sent John this note:
“There are a family of grouse (one adult and four juveniles) feeding in my yard. Yesterday something spooked them and two flew hard into my windows. Both recovered; however I was hoping for a roasted bird dinner.
“Once settled, they comically fed on my neighbors’ high bush cranberry: One deep in its branches, the others fluttering up and down off the ground capturing berries. It was like watching kids jumping up for a high apple.
“They’re back this morning, looking into my patio window and edging their way to my baby highbush cranberry shrubs. The group gathers under the same conifer I saw them emerge from early last spring when there was still a foot of standing snow.”
John also had a grouse fly into his window this week! He went to look after hearing the crash and found the grouse staggering across his deck as if it had just come home from a long trip to the bar. Eventually, however, the grouse was able to fly away, so it likely recovered from its mishap.
Season Watch Facebook Feature
Each week, I ask John to comment on a post from the KAXE/KBXE Season Watch Facebook Group. This was what I wrote:
“Elisa Rachel posted a video of tiny, fast-moving insects swarming over a beetle’s back. Do you have any idea what’s going on here? Are they the beetle’s babies? Are they tiny ticks? Is this as terrifying as it looks? I have questions and quite a few concerns, John, please help.
“P.S. In the unlikely event you’re as mystified by this as I was, I (Charlie) did a little digging.
“I'm medium-confident that the underlying beetle is a tomentose burying beetle. These beetles are well-known for having hitchhiking mites, which don't feed on the beetle itself but on fly larva. The beetle feeds on carrion where fly larvae are abundant, so by hopping a beetle-back ride, the mites get a free trip to the ‘restaurant.’
“This particular beetle is likely carrying more mites than it bargained for!”
I’m glad I included the postscript, because John was mystified by this phenomenon as well! It reminded him of a time he was looking at a tiny bug through a hand lens (it was too small to view without one). After a minute of admiring the insect’s beautiful colors and patterns, he noticed that there were three even tinier bugs on the insect’s body!
Even bugs have bugs, friends — for better or for worse, we're all just walking microhabitats. I’d have to agree with John: “It’s a pretty interesting world out there, and we try to make it even more so on Tuesday mornings.”
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).
