This week we have ten reports, heralding the return of some summer residents, the emergence of hibernators, and an early beginning of the maple sap harvest.
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.
Prairie Creek Community School near Northfield
Ann: “Hi, this is Ann...
Arlo: "...and this is Arlo, and we’re from Prairie Creek Community School, way down south in Northfield, Minnesota.”
Ann: "First up: fungus! Finnly saw a fresh elf cup when he was on a hike. We all agree that seems really early.”
Arlo: "We also have the very tips of some of our maple trees flowering. At least we think they’re flowering - they are way up and hard to see.”
Ann: "Speaking of phenology signs – Viggo saw the first kestrel of spring on Feb. 22. It was sitting on his bird feeder…waiting.”
Arlo: "Silas saw a hatch of baby turtles that had all died. It’s been warm here – but not warm enough for turtles.”
Ann: "Maysoon saw a large flock of chickadees and we’ve been hearing a ton of woodpeckers. Downy Woodpeckers and Red-bellied Woodpeckers have all been making a lot of hammering noise.”
Arlo: "We’ve also seen juncos, cardinals and Blue Jays this week.”
Ann: "AND EAGLES! Arick saw 15 eagles down by Wabasha, and Silas saw four to five eagles on the ice by his house. Michelle saw two eagles sitting by their nest and we all saw two eagles soaring together.”
Arlo: "There was a robin in our crab apple tree. It was eating.”
Ann: "Sienna saw a lot of ducks and Sophie saw 2 turkeys.”
Arlo: "Ruby saw a fox wandering around at night.”
Ann: "We also saw two possums - one alive and one dead.”
Arlo: "This has been Prairie Creek Community School, way down south in Northfield, Minnesota.”
Oak Grove Elementary School in Bloomington
“Hi, this is Lindsay, Carly, and Layla reporting from Oak Grove Elementary in Bloomington, Minnesota.
“This week’s weather has been snowy with a high of 43 degrees today.
“We’ve had lots of snow, but it’s hard and melting.
“With our animal observations, we noticed deer, dog, rabbit, and fox tracks.
“With our plant observations, we noticed a growth that we will explore next week.
“We are wondering if another animal invaded the bird nest.
“That’s all for today. Stay tuned for the next OGE Phenology Club nature episode! Adios!”
Little Falls Community Middle School
“This is Madelyn and Grace reporting from Mr Kaddatz’s class in Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of Feb. 24.
“This week was another in a long winter of above average temperatures.
“Some of our observations this week were a definite increase in skunk sightings, probably waking from their slumber and searching for food due to this warm weather.
“We had a mosquito sighting in a classmates house. Our best guess is that it was hibernating in some firewood that was brought inside.
“We have really noticed the red osier dogwood and willows with their bright red branches, which is usually our first of many first signs of spring.
“The gray squirrels are doing a lot of ‘chasing’ in our yards, which indicates that the first round of mating season has begun.
“We did get a report of a pair of bluebirds in Mora. We are curious about what they would be feeding on.
“Large groups of crows were spotted earlier this week. Even though many stay here all winter, this large murder was probably a migrating group returning from the south.
“Mr. Kaddatz observed a Bald Eagle swooping down and grabbing two ‘hand’fuls of hay from a large round bale: Probably nest building.
“Our biggest question of the week is, ‘What impact will this strange weather year have on our hibernating and sleeping animals who are waking quite a bit?’
“That is our report for this week. Until next week, keep exploring, keep discovering, and keep connecting with the great outdoors!”
Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade
This report is brought to you by Nathan, Louise and the students from Paynesville Elementary School.
“During our outdoor school trip to Long Lake Conservation Center Feb. 21-23, the low temperature was 16 degreesFahrenheitt and the high temperature was 50 degrees. What is left of the snow is very patchy. The ice is getting darker but was still 7 inches thick.
“Our group found some cranberries in the ‘baby’ bog around the shore of Long Lake. Some of us even tasted them. There were some small sprouts of green popping up in the woods and we saw chipmunks running around. The Long Lake staff says that’s the first time the chipmunks have been seen on campus since Nov. 19.
“Though there are reports of ticks emerging a bit to the south, we are happy to say that we did NOT see any. On one of our hikes, we found a deer skull, and saw lots of deer tracks in the mud. We also found what we think is wolf scat. A porcupine was observed near its outhouse a long way from campus and Naturalist Beth told us that she smelled a skunk on campus during an evening hike.
“Common Redpolls found the feeders, along with chickadees, nuthatches, Hairy, Downy and Pileated Woodpeckers, and Blue Jays. We heard woodpeckers drumming. There is a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker around, and a group of turkeys was on campus on Wednesday including a Tom in strut.
“The maple sap is flowing and it tasted sweet. It was a great week in nature, and we want to remind everyone to… Unplug, get outside, and LIVE CONNECTED!”
West Rapids Elementary in Grand Rapids
“Hello, my name is Oscar. This is our phenology report from Mr. Cody’s fourth-grade class at West Elementary.
“It was really sunny and warm: just right for walks. To start the walk, we found fox scat with a bunch of rabbit hair.
“There was green sedge on the edge, acorns scattered all over the place, and chickadees were heard along the way. There was mountain maple as well.
“There was speckled alder and giant Pileated Woodpecker holes.
“To wrap it all up, there was rabbit fur five feet up in a tree. All for now! Oscar.”
Cohasset Elementary
“Hello I'm Adley and Riley from Mr. Lindner’s fifth-grade science classroom at Cohasset Elementary School. We have made a lot of observations over the past week.
“As a class, we did a really cool activity by estimating the height of a tree by using a ruler and the height of students. We stood away from the tree holding out a ruler until it was the length of the tree. Then we measured our partner’s height in inches that was standing next to the tree.
“We found that our data has some outlier numbers, which means they did not fit with the other numbers. We had some accurate estimations for some of the trees and some estimations that did not seem correct. This activity was great as we got to use our skills in math and in data analysis.
“Our branches had not made much progress last week. Mr. Latimer said it could not be that all that stored energy is used up. We will continue to monitor the progress.
“We will still be experiencing really warm weather for time of the season. So we are going to start on our ice-out data this week. We are recording the high and low temperature and the average temperature for the day.
“We are looking forward to another week of observations. Thank you for listening. Like Mr. Latimer always says, ‘Onward and awkward!’”
TrekNorth High School in Bemidji
“Hello from TrekNorth High school in Brrrrrmidji, Minnesota!
“I’m Amya and I’m Izabel, and we are going to share what we did in nature with our stats class last week.
“We have been working on our observation skills. When we walked last Thursday, we wrote these sentences for our signs of spring:
- Snow was not existent, but ice was.
- Izabel saw multiple dog tracks
- I smelt green stuff thawing out. Birds were chirping in small bursts.
- The birch tree’s bark was turning more white, the tree branches were shorter from winter but starting to grow out again, the birds were chirping.
- Amya heard birds chirping here and there, along with seeing tracks.
- Mud, lots of mud.
- The small new green leaves are finding their way out of the old brown branches.
- Lots of leaves
- The sun was shining on all of the beautiful golden grass
- On the walk I was able to observe the trees seeing life once again; particular observations were burgundy-tipped aspen graced by veils of thin ice.
- Damp green moss was growing on the bottom of trees
- There were rough spots on the ice
- I was able to find both a Mountain Dew, and a Coke on the ice.
- Ice melting in places that I cannot explain.
- I saw a bunch of tracks and mud.
- Seeing frozen puddles tells me that the snow has been thawing out
“From TrekNorth High School in Bemidji, I’m Amya and I’m Izabel and we’re doin’ math (and stats!) in nature.”
Lake of the Woods School in Baudette
“This is Parker with the phenology report from Baudette for Feb. 16-22.
“Aurora reports seeing and smelling a skunk roaming near her house this week.
“Elijah is still seeing many chickadees and hearing their spring songs.
“Finally, multiple students are seeing deer out and about but none with antlers. Could it be deer shed hunting season?”
Judd Brink from the Sax-Zim Bog
Our next report comes from Judd Brink, a tour guide at the Sax-Zim Bog.
Judd wrote, “When you think of visiting the Sax-Zim Bog in February, one would expect deep snow, ice-covered roads and multiple layers of clothing and gear to keep warm when looking for birds in the bog! Well, you could almost explore the boardwalks in sandals and a sweater this winter! It’s been very mild this season and the warmest winter with the least amount of snow in the 12 years I have been guiding.
“Birding the Bog this week includes these feathered friends: Canada Jay (starting to gather nesting material of snowshoe hare fur), Red- and White-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped and Boreal Chickadee, Black-billed Magpie, Bald Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, Northern Harrier, Pine and Evening Grosbeak, Trumpeter Swan, Great Gray Owl, Snowy Owl, Northern Hawk Owl, Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl, Black-backed Woodpecker, Northern Shrike, Common and Hoary Redpoll, Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch, Common Raven and Snow Bunting.”
KAXE-KBXE Season Watch Facebook group
We conclude with some observations from the KAXE-KBXE Season Watch Facebook group. In the past week, members have reported seeing a Compton tortoiseshell butterfly in Northern Cass County, a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds in west central Minnesota, and Sandhill Cranes along the Mississippi in Minneiska.
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).
