Enjoy our twelve reports this week, which contain mating eagles, the first flowers of spring, and the long-awaited ascension of the next chelonian dynasty..
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.
Fort River Elementary School in Amherst, Massachusetts
“Hi and hello from Fort River school in Amherst, Massachusetts. Daylight savings time has started, and warmer weather is coming. We are here to tell you about some signs of spring.
“Some flowers are in bloom, including daffodils, purple crocus and dandelions. Skunk cabbage is growing in the swamp; most of its color is maroon, but the flowers are blooming.
“The weather has been much warmer every day this week: up in the high 50s to mid 60s! The mosquitos and several bees are out as well. There has also been garlic poking up. Logan even saw a bunny on his way home from school.
“Some people noticed that some leaves on the trees are coming back: there are buds on the walnut tree, silky dogwood and red maple. The grass is much greener than it was the last time we came out!
“On March 13, the day length was 11 hours, 20 minutes and 50 seconds, and it got up to 64 degrees with a low of 28.”
“And that’s a wrap from the Western Mass Phenology Class!"
Prairie Creek Community School in Northfield
Jaxon: "Hi, this is Jaxon."
Kaia: "And this is Kaia, and we’re from Prairie Creek Community School, way down south in Northfield, Minnesota."
Jaxon: "It has been crazy weather around here. It was 70 degrees last week and now it’s not even 30!”
Kaia: "Everything seems very confused. The squill and forsythia are blooming."
Jaxon: "We have dandelion flowers, and the burdock is up."
Kaia: "The rhubarb is starting to pop up at Silas’s house."
Jaxon: "We’re still seeing juncos."
Kaia: "And there are a lot of eagles around, too."
Jaxon: "We’ve seen a lot of Red-winged Blackbirds."
Kaia: "And the Cedar Waxwings and robins have been feasting on the crab apples from last year."
Jaxon: "Silas even saw some seagulls and Michelle might have seen pelicans, but they were up very high."
Kaia: "We saw (and felt) our first mosquitos on March 11."
Jaxon: "And the frogs by Anita’s house are starting to chirp."
Kaia: "Andrew even saw a frog by his pond."
Jaxon: "Sophie saw a worm on March 14."
Kaia: "And Andrew saw an ant on March 15."
Jaxon: "The leaves from our white oak have started to fall."
Kaia: "And the big ash tree on our playground has bud break… Don’t worry folks, we are treating the tree, so it doesn’t get emerald ash borer."
Jaxon: "There have been a lot of deer out and about."
Kaia: "And I saw a chipmunk."
Jaxon: "I saw another dead skunk, and Silas and Sienna both smelled skunks."
Kaia: "Whew! That is a sign of spring that isn’t my favorite!”
Jaxon: "This has been Prairie Creek."
Kaia: "One more step along the phenology journey.”
Oak Grove Elementary in Bloomington
“Hi, this is Nathan, Hannah, Vinny, and Ellie reporting from OGE in Bloomington. Today’s report is about sap and syrup.
“We have a maple tree on the playground. We tapped it and collected 3 gallons of sap so far.
“Then we boiled it for 6 hours and got 1 cup of pure maple syrup.
“We did a taste test of it against fake syrup, the sugar and water kind. Half of our club liked the fake syrup more, half liked the real maple syrup more. Some even mixed them both together.
“One kid said the real syrup tasted like Grandma’s house.
“That’s it for today’s OGE phenology club update. Let this stick in your brain!”
Kenwood Community School in Minneapolis
“Hi, I'm Natalie Peterson with Kenwood Community School, and I am here with Caleb and Calvin to share our nature findings for the week.
“The first one is on March 15. The birds have came back from migrating to different states. They’re back because I guess it got warmer, and now it's not freezing and it's not cold.
“The second thing I observed was that there's grass growing back. The grass isn't dying so easily anymore.
“There's not that many leaves on the trees anymore. They're growing back and stuff and they're kind of changing colors, but there's not as many leaves on all the trees.
“It's warmer, and I see more plants growing, and there's more just like crops in general growing around Minnesota.
“I'm Calvin from Kenwood Elementary School, and some of the phenologies are: It's very green and it's very early in the year. Because of that, robins and other types of birds are coming back from migration. There are lots of other animals and squirrels out too.”
Little Falls Middle School
“This is Harper and Bella reporting from Mr. Kaddatz’s class in Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of March 17.
“This week we saw the return of Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, Wood Ducks, Mallards and Green Winged Teal.
“We did have another unique find this week, as an Eurasian Collared Dove was recorded on the Merlin App.
“The crocuses are up and blooming, and on Saturday we found our first dandelions blooming by the high school.
“We are observing more and more geese that seem to be hanging out in pairs.
“In one day, we went from seeing singles or pairs of robins to seeing large flocks as more and more arrived here.
“Our first deer tick was reported on March 15. We are anticipating a large tick population this spring.
“Mr. Kaddatz thought he heard a frog croak, but it never repeated its call, so it is unverified.
“The strong wind this weekend blew a lot of the old red oak leaves off the trees.
“There was a zebra jumping spider soaking up the sun on south side of the baseball shed.
“The cardinals are calling loudly in the mornings.
“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 Candy. Claire and the students from Saint Raphael Catholic School in Crystal.
“During our outdoor school trip to Long Lake Conservation Center March 11-13, the low temperature was 27 degrees and the high temperature was 64 degrees.
“The last time we had temperatures in the 60s was Oct. 20.
“The big news was that the ice went out on Long Lake on Monday, March 11. That is a full month earlier than the historical average. In comparison, last year’s ice out was on April 30, and in 2022 it was on April 29.
“The open water seemed to wake nature up. Our group saw and heard many cool things, including lots of first-of-the-years sightings. These included American Robins, Canada Geese, Common Grackles, a Hooded Merganser, and Compton tortoiseshell butterflies.
“Our group had a really fun close encounter with beavers. We watched two small and two large beavers carrying sticks through the water. One even came and sat on a log near shore. The otters were seen popping their heads up and playing, and we saw two eagles flying over the lake together. One was an adult, and the other was immature.
“The Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers were very active, drumming and playing.
“Our group counted 40 garter snakes outside of the hibernacula soaking up the warm sun. We encountered a gopher in the thicket and enjoyed drinking the sap and tasting syrup and maple candy.
“Our teachers confessed to cutting a night hike short because they “got the poop scared out of them” by three owls.
“It was an eventful week in nature, and we want to remind everyone to: Unplug, get outside, and LIVE CONNECTED!”
North Shore Community School near Duluth
“Hello from North Shore Community School on the North Shore of Lake Superior. This is the phenology report for the week of March 9, 2024. My name is Iris Mae, and I am your phenologist for this week!
“This week temperatures were well above the average. These temps do not usually happen until the second week of May! The high temp for Monday, March 11 was 62 degrees, which beat a record of 60 degrees, and the normal temp usually is about 34 degrees.
“Also, it’s been noted that this is officially Duluth’s least snowiest season on record as of March 10, even if we picked up the average normal snowfall for the rest of the spring!
“On Saturday, March 9, we had 11 hours and 59 minutes of daylight. On Sunday, March 10, we turned our clocks 1 hour ahead for Daylight Saving Time. We are excited to have longer daylight length longer into the evening.
“Mrs. Rolfe’s neighbor on the Wildwood road had a Red-winged Blackbird in their feeder on March 10. They said this is the earliest they have seen one here! They usually arrive in late March.
“Ms. Jackson briefly spotted a goldfinch at her bird feeder on Saturday, March 9. She usually doesn’t see them until April at the earliest. On Sunday, March 10, Ms. Urban saw two Yellow-rumped Warblers in her yard foraging on the ground.
“On Monday, March 11, Eloise’s family, who had recently brushed their dog, saw a robin gathering fur from around their yard! On Wednesday morning, March 13, when Mrs. Markon arrived at school, she heard an owl hooting from the woods surrounding the school. On Wednesday, March 13, Ms. Urban heard a grouse drumming for the first time.
“On Sunday, March 10, Mrs. Markon was walking her dog and saw a sign of spring; the pussywillow, or goat willow, was beginning to bud on the trees down her road. On Wednesday, March 13, Ms. Urban began boiling our maple sap collection to begin the process of making maple syrup.
“On Tuesday, March 12, Ms. Urban saw a tortoiseshell butterfly in the school forest.
“On Wednesday morning, March 13, wood frogs were heard in a swale on Ms. Jackson’s property in Knife River.
“With the warm weather on Monday, March 11, Mrs. Rolfe’s science class enjoyed learning about NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper Mission while sitting outside on our trail chairs!
“This concludes the phenology report. Have a great week and be observant!”
West Rapids Elementary School in Grand Rapids
“Hi. Our names are Graham, Tristan and Owen from Mr. Cody's fourth-grade classroom at West Elementary School.
“Wow. What a day! We're gonna skip all the bud break for the day.
“On our way to the creek, we noticed a large amount of white bird scat on the sidewalk. Little did we know what was to come!
“Three noisy eagles began circling. Two of them landed in a tree for mating, which is pretty rare. It was amazing to see so close. Taylor and Maddie even got a binocular view.
“Before leaving, one of them dropped proof of what the original scat was from.
“What made it more crazy was our notes from March 8, 2022: we saw two eagles in the same area.
“Watch, learn and observe!”
Cohasset Elementary School
“Hello, we are in Mr. Lindner’s fifth-grade science classroom at Cohasset Elementary School. We have made a lot of observations over the past week.
We have been tracking the average temperatures to predict ice out. Our class has calculated 50.5 towards ice out. Students have reported many little lakes have already iced out. Usually, it does not happen until closer to 220 degree days toward ice out, but lack of snow, bad ice conditions and warm temps have sped up the process.
“Our class has spotted many robins around town and outside of town. We have also spotted many geese, swans and ducks. Other students saw a fox and coyote. We have also spotted many willows and fuzzy buds.
“We are looking forward to another week of observations. Thank you for listening like. Always saved onward and awkward.”
Science Nature Adventure Program in Bemidji
“Hi, this Mason from Bemidji Middle school’s SNAP group giving the phenology report for the week of March 11-17.
“For the past few weeks, we have observed that robins are back already.
“We have one Osprey nest on school grounds that the pair has already came back to, but the SNAP group is guessing when the next pair will come back to the new [nest] at the electrical line across the road.
“When we were walking in the woods by our school, we saw red squirrels fighting and we saw buds bursting on quaking aspens already.
“Plus, we went to check out the turtle ponds and they were really low. If you see a turtle, you must treat it like royalty.
“One pond over by the ultimate frisbee course is completely empty. We have seen a loon on lake Bemidji with other assorted birds.
“There has been green grass with 50-60 degrees and lots of wind. Watch out for wood or deer ticks: they are out.
“Until next time... SNAP to it, get into the wild and be observant!”
Lake of the Woods School in Baudette
“This is Melody with the phenology report from Baudette for March 9-15.
“On Friday, our class tapped the maple tree outside of our classroom. So far, it’s been a great week of sap collecting. Our best day on Thursday yielded 1,440 milliliters (about 48 oz) of sap.
“While checking our sap bucket on Monday, many students noticed a house fly attracted to the sap seeping under our spile.
“On Monday, a crane fly was seen fluttering outside of a student’s house window.
“Also on Monday, Molly spied a snowshoe hare in the forest near her home. Blotches of brown were beginning to appear on the hare’s body.
“Finally, on Thursday, Mr. Birchem reported seeing the first American Kestrel in Lake of the Woods County.”
Judd Brink at the Sax-Zim Bog
“Birding the Bog: American Kestrel, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Hooded Merganser, Trumpeter Swan, Northern Harrier, Rough-legged Hawks (still moving through the area), Great Gray Owl, Northern Hawk Owl, Northern Shrike, Red-tailed Hawk, American Robin, Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch (spring molt starting) Mourning Dove, Common Redpoll, Red Crossbill, Evening Grosbeak, Boreal Chickadee, Canada Jay, Black-billed Magpie, Brown Creeper, Red- and White-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay and American Tree Sparrow. Happy Birding!”
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).
