The 41st year begins
Our beloved staff phenologist John Latimer began with an apt message for Thanksgiving week, saying, "This marks the beginning of the 41st year and I’d like to just express my overwhelming gratitude and just consternation at the response to last week’s fund drive that featured 40 years of phenology, and to all of those of you who participated.
“You know, I mentioned at the party on Saturday night that I was merely the voice; that a lot of the notes that I profess each week come from you, from our listeners, from people who are also phenologists or maybe want to be phenologists.
“Remember: the only thing it takes to be a phenologist is a piece of paper and a pencil. If you write it down, you’re a phenologist. So just get out there and write some things down.”
Lake ice
Last week, while you warmed the old guy’s heart with your love for the outdoors, the lakes were getting chillier.
John went out for a walk with his dog to nearby Crooked Lake. (“If you’re curious,” he added, “there are probably 21 or 22 Crooked Lakes. I know of three in Itasca County for sure, so I’m on one of those. It’s a small one; about 70 acres and maybe 25 feet deep.”
With cold nights and warmer days, the lake has been on a freeze-thaw cycle since around Oct. 31. Each morning, the lake has frozen up: each afternoon, it’s thawed out again. John is confident the ice will set in as soon as the temperatures stay below 35 degrees for a full day.
John loves to ice skate on frozen lakes, so he’s looking forward to the day when the lake finally freezes over!
Ice safety
A few words of caution before you seek to emulate him, however: you need at least 4 inches of ice to be safe to walk. Any less than that, and you stand a risk of falling through.
People are people, however, and often go out when conditions are less than ideal. If you’re one such person, here are a few tips to lessen your risk: stay in shallow water, bring a friend, and bring some tools to help you get back to dry land if you fall through the ice.
Staying over shallow water makes it much easier to get back on top of the ice again – plus, with only wet feet, your chances of hypothermia are much less. (Frostbite, though, is a real risk – bring dry shoes and socks just in case!)
Bringing a friend is another smart move. As John says, “Don’t go out alone, because when you do fall through, your body does some weird things and thinking isn’t one of the things you get really good at when you’re cold. You don’t think very clearly, and you can make mistakes.”
John also recommends taking spikes, a rope and a picaroon. (I had to look up what a picaroon was – it's either a pirate or a tool with a spike at one end, commonly used to move timber. I’m assuming he means the tool, but I really enjoy the image of John Latimer and a pirate going ice skating together.)
He concludes, “Stay in shallow water until you’re absolutely confident. If you’ve got 4 inches of ice, it’s pretty safe, but below that you’re taking chances. And that’s entirely up to you, but be thoughtful about it.”
What’s that fluff?
John’s been seeing a lot of fuzz floating through the air! Here’s a handy guide to fuzzies and where to find them:
- Wetlands: Look in stands of willows for the fluffy seedheads of autumn willow and along lakeshores and rivers for cattails. The cattails are still mostly dark brown, but the tops of some are beginning to loosen and drop seed. They will continue to disperse seeds through March.
- High ground: Look in hazel brush for purple clematis vines. Each flower matures into a seedy little poof of seeds.
- Pastures, prairies, and fields: Milkweed pods are dropping seeds. They don’t fall off the plant all at once, but disperse gradually over time.
Animals turning white
Snowshoe hares have turned white, as well as short- and long-tailed weasels. These colors help them hide in the snow, but make them stand out against the dark leaf-litter.
The short-tailed weasel not only has a shorter tail than the long-tailed weasel, but is also much smaller.
Species spotlight
Plants that still have leaves include:
- Blackberry: Mostly bare, but John found one patch in a shaded spot with green leaves.
- Elderberry: Still have leaves, but they’ve frozen and turned dark brown. Some green leaves still in Akeley.
- Labrador tea: Leaves are beginning to turn red and lay down flat along the stem. The leaves will turn green in spring and stand out from the stem again. The change in leaf position helps protect against damage from heavy snow.
- Leatherleaf: A deep burnished brown (like leather). Leaves fold up against the stem to protect against snow damage. 60-80% of seeds have fallen.
- Tamaracks: Down to the very last ratty orange needles. The only remaining ones are in this year’s growth, with single needles at each fascicle. Next year they will produce 15-30 needles from that spot.
Ruffed Grouse and ravens
This week, two daredevil grouse barely escaped with their lives after flying in front of John’s car. He winced and looked in the rear-view mirror for the dreaded puff of feathers and rolling carcass, but there was nothing to be found: they must have managed to duck below the fender and avoid the wheels. “I was astonished and grateful,” said John. “I don’t want to kill any grouse if I don’t have to.” (Tell that to the grouse he hunts on purpose!)
Another notable run-in (so to speak) was with a flock of ravens. “I had a flock of six come over and kind of chat with me and kind of wish me good luck. I hope that’s what they were wishing me... Maybe they were wishing I were dead so they’d have something to eat. But at any rate, I looked at them and thought, ‘nice to see you guys.’”
A few days later, John found another flock of ravens. At this time of year, unmated adults and juveniles gather into relatively large flocks. They roost together at night, guard each other, forage during the day, and communicate food sources to each other when they return to the roosting areas at night.
Mated ravens, in contrast, jealously protect their territories from other ravens. If a mated pair discovers a food source, they certainly won’t go telling other ravens about it. Instead, they will cache as much of it as possible in a secret location, hiding from other ravens in the process. (If spotted, they know the other ravens will steal the food).
Flowers and insects
Despite the advancing winter, John and his fellow phenologists are still finding insects. John’s friend Dallas found a Mourning Cloak butterfly, and John’s dog Mila aquired a deer tick.
Another unseasonable find was a male quaking aspen tree that already put out flowers for next spring. No procrastinating for that fella! About 5% of the buds on the tree were open.
Over the years, John has found a number of early-flowering individuals. On his mail route, he found a few pussywillows that opened their buds in November.
Despite their oddly-timed bud break, these flowers don’t develop or release pollen until the spring. “So, the fact that this aspen has put out flowers for next year really doesn’t mean that spring is here. It simply means that this guy’s just an early bird,” John clarified. “I’ll keep an eye on it and you will hear more about it than you probably ever wanted to. So, stay tuned!”
A word of thanks
"That’s our phenology show for this week,” John concluded. “Again, thank you for that great outpouring of support last week. That was really touching. I’m happy to do this, obviously, and I hope to continue doing this until Heidi kicks me out.”
Not gonna happen, John!
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).
