It must really be fall - we received double-digit reports this week! Kick back and enjoy listening to the students' outdoor investigations.
Great Expectations School in Grand Marais
North Star Elementary in Virginia
"Lucy saw two Blue Jays at her bird feeder at her house. They have been the only birds going to the feeder lately.
"Adam saw a doe and its fawn just standing by the side of the road near Akeley, Minnesota. Orion also saw a pair in Makinen, and Fletcher saw some in Embarrass.
"Silas saw a grouse eating berries while he was hunting.
"Genevieve and Orion have both noticed Bald Eagles this week.
"Stella saw about six turkeys just walking around, some deer tracks on a dirt road behind her house, and found a ton of chicken of the woods mushrooms.
"Brook and Stella are still seeing painted turtles.
"Griffin is seeing 8-15 turkeys around his house just walking around.
"He’s also seeing a lot of grouse. The 3 year old needles on the pine trees at his house are turning brown.
"Eloise noticed that the leaves are falling and a hummingbird is still visiting her yard.
"Abel has seen a lot of birds still at his apple tree.
"Skyler has seen a lot of geese migrating.
"Noah and Adelynn saw a huge flock of monarchs feeding in a patch of flowers.
"Stella also saw a few monarchs.
"Stella and Eloise are still seeing robins in their yards.
"We all noticed that this week has really cooled down, especially at night, and we’ve had some really foggy mornings. Mabel noticed the ponds near her house are especially foggy.
"Ms. Kay saw a bear take her trash can, drag it a block, and then rip it open. Also two skunks are digging under her garage."
Cohasset Elementary School
East Rapids Elementary in Grand Rapids
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 21, 2024. My name is Elayna, and I am your phenologist for this week!
“On Saturday, September 21, we had 12 hours and 12 minutes of daylight. The autumn equinox was on Sunday, September 22. From this day on, we will be experiencing less daylight length. The first frost advisory for our area was early morning Monday, September 23.
“On September 22, Nash tasted his apples on his apple trees and they were part sour and part sweet. On September 24, Samantha noticed the colorful maple leaves are starting to fall sooner than the birch trees at her house.
“On Friday, September 20, Mr. Otten’s class was astounded to watch hundreds of migrating birds, many of which were Broad-winged Hawks. There were so many that the class couldn’t keep track of them, but Hawk Ridge saw over 15,000! Mr. Otten’s class also spotted Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks and Turkey Vultures.
“On Saturday, September 21, Jack shot two partridges. When he cleaned them, there were mountain ash berries in their stomachs.
“Ms. Jackson had a hummingbird on her zinnias on Wednesday evening, September 25. On September 26, Samatha spotted a Red-tailed Hawk during EE class. Red-tailed Hawks are currently migrating.
“On September 23, Nash saw a black bear walking around his yard eating apples by his apple tree. On September 23, Samantha saw three red foxes prowling around in her backyard searching for something to eat.
“On Monday, September 23, Ms. Markon’s class saw lots of dragonflies flying around the grassy area by the playground.
“Wednesday, September 25, Mrs. Rolfe saw a monarch butterfly in the school playground area. It is the first monarch she has seen in a while. Monarch butterflies that breed east of the Rocky Mountains migrate to Mexico for the winter. They use a combination of air currents and thermals to navigate, and some can fly as far as 3,000 miles. They roost in the forests of southwestern Mexico, where they can be found in the tens of thousands.
“Ms. Jackson has two tree frogs living on her outside window ledge. That area gets a lot of sun and flies like to buzz around the window. Likely, the frogs are enjoying the flies as a tasty feast.
“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 Mady, Tobin, Foster, Harper, Levi and the students from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Alexandria reporting from Long Lake Conservation Center for September 23-25.
“Our weather was a mix of summer and autumn with a high temperature of 79 degrees and a low of 43.
“Our group spotted a wide variety of plants, and animals - especially insects. We spotted Bluebirds, lots of VERY active chipmunks and squirrels. A person in our group named one “larger” squirrel Fatso.
“We also observed frogs, Canada Geese, swans, wasps, and monarch butterflies. We suspect that these will be the last butterflies of the season. One student noted that the lake water is getting cold, and another student saw scat that looked like beans. That was most likely deer scat.
“During our Insect Investigations class, we found many insects and invertebrates. We learned how to safely catch, examine and release insects with a net. We found 13 dragonflies of different types, seven rolly-pollys, 11 worms, one tussock moth caterpillar, nine centipedes, three wooly bear caterpillars, 12 slugs, one blue-spotted salamander, one crane fly, one brown-belted bumblebee, two moths, three ants, one wasp, two snails, one Japanese beetle, one leopard and two wood Frogs, four daddy longlegs, one fly, one drone fly, one gnat, one firefly, one grasshopper and one we couldn’t identify.
“Autumn is here. It’s a great time in nature and we want everyone to remember to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”
This report is brought to you by Kallie, Astrid and the students from Braham Area School reporting from Long Lake Conservation Center for September 26 and 27.
“’September Summer’” continued with a record-setting high temperature of 82 degrees and a low of 52.
“The frogs seemed to enjoy the abnormally warm weather. We spotted both wood and leopard frogs still in the lake.
“The lake was abuzz with insect activity, and gaggles of Canada Geese flew overhead.
“Ezekiel and others saw a total of four garter snakes.
“It was fun to watch the chipmunks and red- and gray squirrels lunge acrobatically to try to get to the seeds in the bird feeders. They are pretty funny.
“With the clear, warm nights, Kalea saw the Big Dipper.
“Our group enjoyed the bonus summer weather, and we want everyone to remember to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”
This report is brought to you by Alexis, Alaina and the students from Pequot Lakes Middle School reporting from Long Lake Conservation Center for September 25 and 26.
“Our weather was full ‘September Summer’ with a record-tying high temperature of 81 degrees and a low of 52.
“During our trip, we saw a Blue Jay, a caterpillar, a squirrel running into a tree, a chickadee, a deer, a frog jumping in the water, a one-inch garter snake and a kingfisher snatching an insect off the surface of the water.
“During our phenology hike around the lake, we saw lots and lots of wooly bear caterpillars and observed that the frogs are still very active.
“Our group found chicken of the woods. We noted that the cattails are turning brown, swans are still on the lake, more maple trees are turning color, the water levels have dropped quite a bit, and winterberries are turning red.
“No matter the weather, it’s always a great time to explore nature. We want everyone to remember to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”
Little Falls Middle School
“This is Trey and Madelyn reporting from Mr. Kaddatz’s class in Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of September 29.”
“The wild grapes that are growing from vines on our trees are ripe in their clusters.”
There was a large flock of white pelicans flying overhead, starting their journey south for the winter.”
“Our first sightings of milkweed seeds has occurred this week.”
“There are a lot of spider sightings, and the wasps and hornets are still persistent.”
“A new sighting for us this week was a pink-spotted lady beetle. Alayna reported seeing a pink lady bug, and we were pretty skeptical, but she brought in pictures later that you can see on our Instagram page.”
“There has been an uptick in the number of mice that are showing up in our houses. Even though the weather is still hot, they are starting to move indoors.”
“Asian beetles and box elder bugs are starting to appear on the sides of our houses and garages.”
“An easy find when you are out in nature is to look for leaf miner trails on leaves from almost every plant.”
“We are still seeing monarchs and orange and clouded sulphur butterflies.”
“We are checking our yard lights and parking lots for giant water bugs that were distracted by the lights during their nighttime migrations from our small ponds.”
“Northern Flickers are still around, and we have noticed they do have a different sounding call this time of year. It is very similar to a hawk or eagle.”
“Turkeys and geese seem to be moving around much more, possibly due to the start of hunting seasons.”
“We did have a couple of reports of lilacs re-flowering this week, but it is not related to any treatments the trees have received.”
“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
Amelie: “Hi, this is Amelie...”
Ruby: “...and this is Ruby...”
Amelie: “...and we’re from Prairie Creek Community School, way down south in Northfield, Minnesota.”
Ruby: “Just a quick check-in for you this week, folks.”
Amelie: “We are still seeing some monarchs, herons, dragonflies, toads, treefrogs, and wasps.”
Ruby: “We are still hearing cicadas. There are definitely fewer, though.”
Amelie: “On the other hand, we have been seeing a ton of geese, moths and Asian beetles.”
Ruby: “...And don’t even get us started on box elder bugs. The soybeans near our school are dry and the harvest has begun so the box elder bugs are EVERYWHERE in our classroom.”
Amelie: “We did not see any cranes or hummingbirds this week. We’ll watch for another week, but we think they might have finished the migration.”
Ruby: “We also did not see any juncos yet.”
Amelie: “In other news: Sophie saw three fawns and a buck. She also saw two Bald Eagles chasing each other.”
Ruby: “Anna also reported a Bald Eagle. And both Henry and Wyatt saw foxes.”
Amelie: “Sahil saw a deer eating in the Carleton Arb. It stared at him for a long time.”
Ruby: “And finally, several people saw skunks...”
Amelie: “...Pee-yew!”
Ruby: “It’s been quite warm here.”
Amelie: “The leaves are taking their time changing.”
Ruby: “We estimate that only 15 percent of the leaves have turned so far.”
Amelie: “This has been Prairie Creek...”
Ruby: “...One more step along the phenology journey.”
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, <b>subscribe</b> 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).
