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 September 14, 2024. My name is Annabell, and I am your phenologist for this week!
“On Monday, September 16, Duluth surpassed the high temperature of 84 degrees and reached a record of 89 degrees. It has been unseasonably warm this week for this time of year.
“Moon watchers got a special treat this week: September's full "harvest" moon was also a supermoon, meaning it's slightly bigger and brighter than an average moon. The full moon was Tuesday night, September 17. Unlike other moon names, the Harvest Moon is not associated with a specific month but rather occurs each year around the time of the autumnal equinox, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.
“On Monday, September 16, Merrik saw several tree leaves starting to turn yellow, red and orange at his house. On Sunday, September 15, Chance noticed one of the trees in his yard had all of its leaves turn bright red. It is the first of the trees in his yard to change color. On Monday, September 16, Ms. Markon’s class went to the school orchard to pick apples. The apples were ready and came off the trees easily. On Wednesday, September 18, Ms. Urban noticed the Sarsaparilla plants are turning yellow in the school forest, and many have yellow spots on them.
“On Sunday, September 15, Chance saw four Blue Jays in a tree in his yard. Mrs. Rolfe has also noticed a lot more Blue Jays in her apple trees in the past week than she has seen all summer. On Tuesday, September 17, Ms. Young’s class saw a flock of 9 grackles stop in an aspen tree, then fly south.
“On Wednesday, September 18, Ms. Rollo’s class saw a Hairy Woodpecker and a flock of chickadees at the bird feeders at Chickadee Landing. The chickadees are probably caching the seeds to get ready for winter. On Sunday, September 22, Penelope saw lots of geese heading south for the winter.
“On Saturday, September 14, Kammi spotted a squirrel in her yard dropping acorns on the ground from a tree. It is storing up food for the winter. Also on Saturday, Chance spied a wolf, for the first time, by his grass line stalking his chickens in his yard. Lastly on Saturday, Magdalene spotted a chipmunk gathering tree nuts and running up and down the tree bringing nuts to its nest getting ready for winter. On Monday, September 16, Noah noticed a wolf hunting a deer on the road while he was biking by the train tracks.
“On Saturday, September 14, Ms. Jackson noticed that pesky flies squeezed through her window frame and screen and got into her house.
On Saturday, September 21, Magdalene saw a water bug sitting on a log while she was swimming.
“On Sunday, September 15, Magdalene found a snake trying to catch a mouse near her house. On Wednesday, September 17, Ms. Urban saw a garter snake in the school orchard.
“This concludes the phenology report. Have a great week and be observant!”
Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade
This report is brought to you by Grace and the students from DaVinci Academy of Arts and Science in Ham Lake who visited Long Lake Sept. 18-20, 2024.
“Our group experienced ‘September summer’ with a high temperature of 82 degrees and a low of 56.
“Leaves are starting to turn, but only a few. We saw lots and lots of wooly bear caterpillars, and one group found a baby snapping turtle that was about the size of a quarter. We helped it find the water.
“At night, everyone got to see Dill Prickles, the famous porcupine. He walked right up the path and was also seen in the compost pile. It’s the first sighting of Dill in a few weeks.
“There were some interesting snake sightings. Our group found a baby red-bellied snake in the woods, and a pair of canoers encountered a garter snake IN THE CANOE. It was hiding under the front and slithered out during the canoe ride. The students stayed calm, returned to shore, tipped over the canoe and let the snake escape into the tall grass.
“Our group also saw lots of slugs in the forest. Early bird teachers took canoeing adventures each morning and were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise on Friday. They reported seeing three swans on the far east side of Long Lake.
“Nature didn’t stop when the sun went down; the first night we heard lots of thunder rumbling, and the second night we heard the coyotes howling and yipping.
“It was a great time in nature, and we want everyone to remember to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”
Little Falls Middle School
“This is Bjorn and Ryker reporting from Mr. Kaddatz’s class in Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of September 22.
“The unusually hot weather has continued this week, and we are guessing it is having an impact on our phenology schedules.
“Barred Owls with their ‘Who cooks for you’ call have been heard hooting at night.
“Some leaves are starting to fall, and some fall colors are appearing. Our lilac trees are completely leafless.
“Hummingbirds are still hanging around some feeders.
“It has been too dry for our normal mushroom growth, typically we have milk cap mushrooms covering our wooded areas, but there are none to be found right now.
“The sunflowers in fields are black and facing downward, and a lot of our goldenrods have already formed their seeds.
“For some reason, there have been an unusually large number of skunks either seen on roads or smelled near roadways.
“A few wooly bear caterpillars have been spotted. They should be a common sight for the next month or two.
“There have been sightings of young snapping turtles headed towards lakes and ponds, and a classmate found a blue spotted salamander.
“There are large groups of insects swarming in open areas, the most obvious ones are the gnats.
“There was a group of 15-20 Blue Jays sighted, and some smaller groups of crows gathering together.
“The most exciting observation this week was a steady stream of monarchs, one after another, flying directly south at a height of about 50 feet.
“That is our report for this week, until next week, keep exploring, keep discovering, and keep connecting with the great outdoors.”
Prairie Creek Community School in Northfield, Minnesota
Silas: "Hi, this is Silas...”
Ann: "...And this is Ann, and we’re from Prairie Creek Community School way down south in Northfield, Minnesota.”
Silas: "This week, all of the fourth- and fifth-graders in our school went to Afton State Park and then we slept overnight in tents at our school.”
Ann: "We saw a lot of wildlife at Afton, including many egrets on the St. Croix River and a dragonfly swarm over the trout stream.”
Silas: "We saw vultures kettling and found a lot of macroinvertebrates in the stream.”
Ann: "My favorite was the mayfly larvae, but a lot of our class liked the water scorpion we saw the most. We saw a ton of water striders and giant American waterbugs.”
Silas: "One interesting observation we saw was ‘rainbow water.’ It was along the creek where things were decaying in the mud.”
Silas: "When we were ‘sleeping’ at night, we heard coyotes and a lot of crickets and tree frogs.”
Ann: "Other sightings this week include turkeys walking down the sidewalk - thanks, Sophie, for that report.”
Silas: "There were a lot of deer sightings and the robins have been in big flocks.”
Ann: "Leo reported ‘Vees’ of geese flying in opposite directions - this seems strange to us because it seems like they should be flying south.”
Silas: "We are very sad to report that as of today, the box elder bugs are back in our classroom.”
Ann: "We’re still seeing both male and female hummingbirds.”
Silas: "Henry saw a dead beaver.”
Ann: "Maysoon saw a lot of squirrels in the evening.”
Silas: "But the pile of walnuts I made in my yard is strangely untouched.”
Ann: "We’re seeing a lot of Bald Eagles, including two in a tree together.”
Silas: "Caroline saw an eagle eating a deer carcass.”
Ann: "We’re still seeing cranes and herons. In fact, Wyatt reported seeing a group of five herons.”
Silas: "Both Michelle and Maysoon reported tons of monarchs flying through town on Saturday. Michelle counted 60 in just a few minutes. She’s never seen that many.”
Ann: "The sumac is turning red...”
Silas: "...and the weather is finally cooling off.”
Ann: "Thanks for the information about lilac fungus, John. That was super interesting. We wonder if that’s what’s wrong with our crabapple, too.”
Silas: "This has been Prairie Creek...”
Ann: "...One more step along the phenology journey.”
Susan reports on lilacs
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).
