It’s officially fall, according to meteorologists!
(Meteorologists track spring, summer, fall and winter by the weather and climate — it starts to “feel like fall” at the beginning of September, so meteorological fall starts Sept. 1. Astronomical fall, which is based on the earth’s position relative to the sun, doesn’t occur until the fall equinox on Sept. 22.)
John Latimer is feeling the changing of seasons and is hard at work — or play, depending on perspective — tracking the changes outdoors.
Despite the turning season, it was a hot week last week: John found the splashing spray from his sailboat a pleasant experience, not a cold and miserable one. He’s still enjoying swimming at his local swimming hole and has noticed many signs of the changing seasons there.
Spot the dogwood
Changing leaves are a prominent sign of the oncoming fall. Round-leaved dogwoods are turning a red-burgundy color similar to a red wine. At this time of year, they also produce sky-blue berries that are worth a look — just be careful, since they’re a favorite food of bears.
Pagoda dogwoods (also known as alternate-leaved dogwoods) are also turning colors. Pagoda dogwood leaves turn yellow or scarlet, but the whole shrub won’t change color at once. Instead, the leaves will turn one by one, with some leaves already falling off the plant while others are still green.
Red osier dogwoods turn bright red or purple. They have indeterminate flowering, meaning they will continue to produce flowers throughout the season. Thus, on the same plant, you may find open flowers, unripe berries, and ripe berries all at once!
Look at those leaves
Balsam poplars (also known as Balm of Gilead) are turning yellow. These turn quite quickly, with all the leaves on the plant changing from green to yellow almost overnight.
Woodbine (also known as Virginia creeper) are turning a vivid red. Look for their whorls of five leaves vining up trees, buildings and fences, and take a closer look to spot the toe-like grasping pads it uses to hold onto vertical surfaces. You may also spot dark blue berries: these are not recommended eating, since they taste bad and will come back out of you more quickly than they go in.
John spotted his first fully colored red maple this week. He determines a tree is at full color when he doesn’t see any green leaves, and this one was right on schedule! He expects to see peak color in the maples around Sept. 21-25.
Black ashes in wet areas have turned yellow, though John has spotted a few in upland locations that are still green. Typically, black ashes are the first trees to change color and the first to drop their leaves. They are also the last to break bud and put out leaves in spring, so they have a remarkably short growing period compared to other native trees.
The 3-year-old needles on Norway pines (or red pines) are beginning to turn reddish-brown. Norway pines keep needles for three years, after which the needles tend to be too damaged to be worth the energetic cost of maintaining.
While looking at the pines, also keep an eye out for red squirrels cutting cones to store for winter. Since the squirrel can’t get all the way to the end of the twig, they will chew off 6-8 inch sections and harvest the cones on the ground. It can be a noisy process if they fall on your metal roof!
Insect inspection
John saw a beautiful freshly emerged monarch butterfly on Monday. He has seen monarchs as late as Oct. 31, but they typically depart the Grand Rapids area by Sept. 20-25. They seem to migrate around the same time as the maple trees reach peak color.
John has also spotted Compton tortoiseshell butterflies, an American lady butterfly, a variegated fritillary, and a mourning cloak butterfly. The Compton tortoiseshell and mourning cloak butterflies both overwinter in Minnesota as adults, so they will find a sheltered hiding spot to wait out the winter before emerging as one of the first butterflies we see in spring.
There are still dragonflies darting about, including the migratory green darner and many meadowhawks. In fact, John captured a white-faced meadowhawk last week! The meadowhawks tend to be smaller than other dragonflies and stick to the warm side of the color palette. Males are reddish and females are gold, tan or yellow. John has seen them flying around as late as November.
Keep a beady eye on those birds
John’s keeping a watchful eye out for migratory birds, and has seen Northern Flickers, flocks of American Robins, a few juvenile Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, White-throated Sparrows and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
He expects the hummingbirds to depart between Sept. 12-20. However, some stragglers stay longer, so he keeps his hummingbird feeders out through mid-October.
In September, John increases the amount of sugar in his nectar from 1 part sugar in 4 parts water to 1 part sugar to 3 parts water. The increased concentration helps the birds pack on more energy as they prepare for their long journey south.
Plant progression
- Leaves turning color: Round-leaved dogwood, pagoda dogwood, red osier dogwood, balsam poplars, woodbine, bracken fern, spreading dogbane, red maple and black ash.
- Done flowering: Gray goldenrod and Canada goldenrod.
- Flowering: Jerusalem artichoke and zig-zag goldenrod.
- Not yet flowering: New England aster.
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).
