A magpie showed up to make John Latimer’s week!
They aren’t very common in Itasca County — John's seen a few over the years — so it was a surprise when one dropped in to get a snack from our staff phenologist’s bird feeder.
A spotlight on aspens
The aspens and tamaracks have stepped in to provide a stunning backdrop to the magpie’s shenanigans. Trembling aspens (also known as quaking aspens) and cottonwoods have turned a vibrant yellow, contrasting gloriously with the green pines. More unusually, the bigtooth aspens have displayed some vivid oranges and reds this year. Typically, bigtooth aspens skip that end of the spectrum and turn yellow like their relatives.
To tell the difference between a bigtooth aspen and a trembling aspen, take a look at an individual leaf. The trembling aspen has finely serrated edges, while the bigtooth aspen has fewer, rounder and larger bumps along the edge. John compares the edges of a bigtooth aspen leaf to a bicycle gear, with knobby “teeth” sticking out from the edge of the leaf.
Aspens tend to lose their leaves from the bottom up, as if animals of increasing height are stopping by to browse the leaves each night. At first, just the lower few branches are bare, and the band of yellow reaches two-thirds of the height of the tree. After a week, the lower third is bare and all of the remaining leaves are yellow. As time goes on, the bare branches march higher until the entire tree is devoid of leaves.
Aspens, oaks and willows are responsible for most of our late-season color. The willows are the last to turn and may remain green until early November.
A shifting seasonal color palette
Interestingly, the dominant tree species in each region have a big impact on the cultural importance of seasons. When we think of fall colors here in Minnesota, we think first of the vibrant reds and oranges on our maple trees. The late-season red oaks and yellow aspens function as an enjoyable conclusion to the main event.
In Colorado, however, fall is primarily yellow. Alpine forests are dominated by evergreen trees and aspens, so if you ask a Coloradan what fall looks like, they’ll describe vast swaths of yellow aspens contrasting with the deep green of spruce and pine groves blanketing the mountainsides.
A fun way this connection between ecosystem and culture shows up is in wedding photos. If you look at “Outdoor autumn wedding in Minnesota,” you’ll see happy couples surrounded by yellows, reds and oranges, sometimes with a lake in the background. If you search “Outdoor autumn wedding in Colorado,” you’ll have to work harder to find reds and oranges (but you’ll see plenty of yellow, and lots of mountains).
Species spotlight
It’s a good time to spot asparagus plants and flag them for spring! Their bright yellow coloration and distinctive fronds make them easy to find in fall. The tasty stems pop up in spring, but they’re much harder to find at that time of year: a well-placed flag in autumn can make your spring foraging much more enjoyable.
Blackberries and raspberries still have green leaves on their canes. However, these green leaves are only on first-year stems. These plants have a two-year cycle: the first year they devote entirely to getting energy, and only in their second year will they produce fruit. After producing fruit, the cane will die. Second-year (fruit-producing) stems are called floricanes, while first-year stems are called primocanes. (John refers to the first-year stems as floricanes and the second-year stems as fruiticanes, but I’ve not found those terms used elsewhere.)
Round-leaved dogwoods have mostly lost their leaves, but John’s found a few young plants that have retained their leaves into the later season. These leaves have a fascinating pattern, with dark veins showing up like an “x-ray” image of the leaf’s vein structure.
And, of course, we can’t let a mid-fall phenology report go by without mentioning buckthorn. It’s the best time of year to get rid of this noxious plant. They hold onto their leaves quite late, so they’re easy to find, and there’s nice, cool weather for doing outdoor work. Go vent some frustration on this unwelcome forest pest!
Plant progression
- Bare-branched: Maples (with some exceptions), smooth sumac, hazel, round-leaved dogwood.
- Colorful leaves: Red/orange (oak, bigtooth aspen, staghorn sumac, blueberry), yellow (trembling aspen, cottonwood, tamarack, asparagus.
- Green leaves: Blackberries, raspberries, buckthorn.
- Flowering: Dandelion, wood sorrel, red clover, northern winter cress, common fleabane.
Birds
On John’s driveway, he found a male grouse in full display with two hens watching the show. John has also heard them drumming in the woods. John is intrigued by their fall displays, since mating most commonly occurs in the spring. After all, why would the male grouse go through all that effort if they can’t produce offspring?
John has a few theories. If the display behavior is triggered by day length, the amount of daylight right now is very similar to the day length during their breeding season. In addition, young male grouse are dispersing to new territories, so the displays may be more territorial than romantic in purpose.
After all, there are a lot of factors for male grouse to consider when choosing a display site. The drumming log should have good resonance, good viewing area for females, and be in a nice habitat. A prime log is worth fighting over, so fall is a prime time for males to sort these issues out.
Other birds stood out to John this week. This includes a young Red-bellied Woodpecker that visited his feeder. John is hoping it will hang out throughout winter. He’s also seen Pileated woodpeckers visiting his suet feeder every day, as well as lots of juncos searching for fallen seed on the ground. The juncos will hang out until mid-January or so, when they finally give up on Grand Rapids and head south for warmer climes.
Insects
John has spotted meadowhawk dragonflies, which are small late-season dragonflies with sex-specific coloration. Males tend to be red, while females are gold, yellow or tan. They are relatively small, about 1.75 inches long with a wingspan of about 2 inches.
Other insects John encountered were grasshoppers and three deer ticks. With that in mind, don’t forget to check yourself after your outdoor excursions: nobody wants a tickborne illness!
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)
