This week's three reports include sightings of dragonflies, garter snakes eating toads, leopard frogs, barred owls and bear scat.
Axel reports from Owen Lake north of Grand Rapids
"Hi this is Axel Newstok. This is our last report of the summer. We head back to Memphis this week. I took a Secchi reading with my neighbor, Mr. Olson. I know he listens to this program so a shout out to him.
A Secchi reading is a measurement of water clarity. We drop a white disc into the water until we can't see it anymore. Then we measure the depth using knots on the rope. The clarity of our lake is 12 1/2 feet. Then he reports the findings to the DNR. It was very fun and interesting to do.
I saw a Garter snake eating a toad. The toad was so big, the Garter snake had to unhinge its jaws to swallow it. It took almost 30 minutes. I could see the bulge inside of the snake afterwards.
Other sightings this week included mergansers, foxes, several monarch butterflies, but only one chrysalis. Lots of raspberries. It has been a fairly windy week and I've been out sailing. Have you, John Latimer? Bye."
Logan from Minneapolis reports from Sugar Lake near Grand Rapids
"Hi, my name is Logan and I live in Minneapolis, MN and I'm 7 1/2 years old and today we caught 2 Green frogs.
We saw a leopard frog. There was a bunch of turtles. And we caught 9 golf balls and three dragonfly."
Andrae and Navari report from Long Lake Conservation Center's Forkhorn Camp
The high temperature was 87 degrees Fahrenheit and the low was 61. A Barred Owl was heard hooting in the evening, we were able to spot it and get some good pictures before we were literally chased away. Coyotes were also heard at night and we think maybe even a wolf was heard. An unidentified Hawk was seen flying with a chipmunk in its talons.
We found deer tracks and saw a fawn at the archery field, a hummingbird also buzzed by our group as we sat on a bench. We saw a tree frog, several very tiny wood frogs, a small garter snake, a mouse and a woodpecker.
The milkweed plants have pods and the bee balm is in full bloom. A few wild raspberries are still being found, between the campers and the critters there are not many left. Not many ticks were found this week, but there are still MANY deer flies.
We saw several busy squirrels and one that was just sitting in a tree eating a pancake. Bear scat was closely inspected. We heard loons calling and saw swans on the lake a few times, usually near the beaver lodge.
We were excited to see a pair of otters in the lake with 3 baby otters!
It was a great week at camp and in nature and we want everyone to remember to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!
What have you seen out there? Let us know: email us at comments@kaxe.org or text us at 218-326-1234.
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).
