This week, we have six reports ranging from Hill City, Minnesota to Topeka, Kansas.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with your observations, nature tales and insights! Get in touch with me (cmitchell@kaxe.org), John Latimer (jlatimer@kaxe.org), or text "phenology" to 218-326-1234.
Apple Blossom Village in Bemidji
Soren reported from Alexzandra Lucia’s class at Apple Blossom Village in Bemidji:
“This is Soren with the phenology report for Apple Blossom on Sept. 13. The wind is getting colder and daylight is shrinking. The leaves are changing color to red on the maples and sumac. The leaves are falling off of the basswood trees and box elder trees.
“Chipmunks and squirrels are getting busy gathering acorns. John told us it was a mast year for the oaks. Our eagles are working on the nest and ducks, geese, and loons are migrating off of Lake Irving. The flowers on touch-me-nots have fallen off. That’s all for this week from Apple Blossom Village.”
John has noticed many similar events in Grand Rapids, including geese migrating south and jewelweeds (also known as touch-me-nots) with seed pods but no flowers.
Hill City School
Pearl and Juniper reported from Matt Alleva's class at Hill City School:
“Hi, this is Pearl and Juniper with the phenology report from Hill City School phenology trail, located in the Hill City School Forest, during the week of Sept. 11-15, 2023.
“On the phenology trail, the ash tree near the football field did not show any leaf color change. The highbush cranberry tree is at 93% color, 10% leaf loss and still has a few berries. The white bur oak has 15% color change and no leaf loss. There are very few acorns around the tree.
“In the Hill City Forest and in the Hill City area, we observed a red squirrel living by the bench in the forest, and minnows living in Morrison Brook. Multiple frogs (which the students think are leopard frogs) were near the Morrison Brook.
“Deer and grouse are active in the woods. Atreyu saw a Barred Owl and a Screech Owl in his yard.
“Geese and a few duck species are migrating. Squirrel activity is increasing. Piper saw a garter snake in her yard.
“It’s a bird! It’s a bee! It’s phenology!”
These students have a great black ash tree outside their classroom, John points out. Currently, many ash trees are at full color, but the one outside their classroom hasn’t started to turn. John suspects that the difference may be due to genetics.
The highbush cranberries are likely to stay on the bush until the birds get pretty hungry: they’re not a favorite food. John’s happy that the students are getting out and being observant, with sightings of both owls and snakes! Garter snakes are moving across roads right now on their way to their winter hibernacula, so keep an eye out while you’re driving.
Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade
The homeschool student group reported on their visit to Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade:
“During our trip to Long Lake Conservation Center, we learned about trees,”
“...And we saw leopard frogs,”
“...and acorns,”
“...moss,”
“...and new trees!”
“We saw people,”
“...and we saw moths,”
“...we learned about trees and pine needles.”
“We also saw some mushrooms.”
“We learned about new stuff!”
“Unplug, get outside, and live connected!”
John is happy this exuberant bunch was able to get outside at Long Lake and learn in the woods.
Roots and Wings Forest School in New York Mills
Finley, Leo, George, Timmy, Hazel, Rose and Kip report from Leona Cichy's class at Roots and Wings Forest School near New York Mills:
“We thought we saw something that ate a frog, and we thought it was the bones, but then we moved it around and we saw it was just berries that got pooped out.
“We saw a turkey feather in the field and then I collected it.”
“We saw two fox squirrels.”
“We saw the leaves on the trees, and we think 20% of the leaves have changed. Most of the leaves have been on the top of the trees and a few have dropped.”
“There’re less monarchs because they’re migrating.”
“The harvesting of the crops has started.”
“Thanks for listening! Stay wild!”
John echoes, “Stay wild! Those kids have a great place there, and Leona’s got a great situation going with those kids outside and learning about nature all the time.”
We got a good chuckle over the frog-that-wasn't-actually-a-poop!
Prairie Creek Community School in Northfield
Sophia: "Hi, this is Sophia.”
Ruby: “And this is Ruby.”
Sophia: “And we are from Prairie Creek Community School way down south in Northfield, Minnesota.”
Ruby: "This week we saw a ton of toads! MOST of them were alive.”
Sophia: "But one was VERY dead and one was being eaten by a snake, so it was almost dead.”
Ruby: "We also saw a lot of turkeys and deer.”
Sophia: “Arick saw two muskrats.”
Ruby: “And Silas saw a dam where his friend has seen otters, but he didn’t see any.”
Sophia: "Vigo saw two pheasants.”
Ruby: "Sebastian saw three Sandhill Cranes.”
Sophia: “And we’re still seeing vultures and herons.”
Ruby: "We found two dead adult Cedar Waxwings next to a big oak tree and we are wondering what happened to them.”
Sophia: "The box elder bugs are out in force.”
Ruby: "We’re still seeing a few monarchs.”
Sophia: "And we’re still seeing dragonflies.”
Ruby: "The goldenrod is beautiful.”
Sophia: "But many of the plants seem to be dry and dead.”
Ruby: "We think about a quarter of the trees are starting to turn red and yellow.”
Sophia: "We noticed that the trees on hills seem to be turning first.”
Ruby: "It’s been crisp and cool in the mornings and evenings.”
Sophia: "But it can still be pretty hot during the day.”
Ruby: "This has been Prairie Creek Community School.”
Sophia: "One more step along the phenology journey.”
John thanks the students for the report, and we giggled about the “mostly dead” toad. My guess for the cause of the dead Cedar Waxwings? They may have eaten too much fermented fruit. With just a few semi-alcoholic berries, the birds will get drunk and fumble around. Too many fermented berries can be fatal.
Rosie from Topeka, Kansas
Rosie, a listener, sent John a message from Topeka, Kansas:
“Good morning. I’m from Topeka, Kansas, and this message is for John Latimer. I’d like to know, John, if you would talk about swarming dragonflies. Last week I was out walking in my neighborhood in Topeka and around a streetlight in the daytime, there was a huge swarm of dragonflies, which I’ve never seen before.
“My other question is, what color are the squirrels in your area? We have brown squirrels. They’re brownish-red. This morning, I went out on my back porch and saw a black squirrel — I couldn’t believe it — with a reddish-brown tail. Alrighty, that’s it! My name is Rosie, and thanks very much. Bye!”
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).
