While kids at Sugar Lake Lodge were catching frogs and learning about spiders, the Long Lake Conservation Center crew was out studying bumblebees. Listen in and enjoy the two reports!
Sugar Lake Lodge near Grand Rapids
“Hi, my name is Sam. I'm eight years old and I am from Maple Grove, Minnesota. Today what I enjoyed at the nature hike was that I got to capture frogs and I caught a lot of frogs.
“And, what I thought was disgusting was that a spider looked dead in the pool when I was in the lake, when it was actually a spider that knows how to swim. I also like the exploding seeds.”
“Hi, my name is Maya. I'm eleven years old and I'm from Maple Grove, Minnesota. Something that we did today that was cool is: We went and caught spiders and frogs in the pond and I caught a bunch of frogs and a spider.
“Something I thought that was interesting was that when we caught the frogs, they were really calm and they didn't - well, one fought to get loose, but otherwise they were really calm.
“Something I thought that was kind of disgusting is when our nature tour [guide, John Latimer,] ate some ants and said they were good and sour.
“And my favorite part about the nature hike was. Probably when I caught a spider that had an egg sack and she had four eyes on the top of her head and four eyes down close to the bottom of her head and it was kind of creepy.”
Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade
“The first formal bumblebee survey was conducted at Long Lake on Aug. 8. We had a very successful survey and captured around 40 bees in 45 minutes. No bees were harmed and were handled by trained professionals.
“The method for documentation was capturing the bee, cooling it down so it stops moving, photographing, and then letting them warm up again to release it. That is why the bees are positioned the way that they are in the pictures. They curl up when their bodies cool down.
“During our survey, we photographed many different species. Our most common find was the brown-belted bumblebee. Most of the bees were on the wild bergamot, but a few were on blazing star flowers and goldenrod.
“Nine of the bees we found had visible mites on them. These mites do not harm the bee, but use them as transport to get to new nests where they eat things like the wax from the hive.
“We will be conducting a survey like this twice a summer to help scientists gather more accurate information about bumblebees. This is a citizen science project through the Xerces Society Bumble Bee Watch Program.
“Thank you to the students and leaders from Migizi in Minneapolis for your help with the survey. It was a great day to be among the wildflowers. 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).
