Autumn is a busy season for KAXE Staff Phenologist John Latimer! For the last 41 years, he’s been observing and recording the many seasonal patterns of autumn. His records are replete with fall phenomena, including the changes in color and leafiness of the forest canopy, the migration and behavior of birds, and the advent of frosty weather.
In those 41 years of records, the fall of 2024 has landed among the latest on record and showed some strange phenological patterns.
For instance, 2024 is the only year in John’s data that the maples and aspens reached peak color in the same week. In typical years, maples make the full transition from summer-green to winter-bare before the aspens even begin to change color. This year, the maple leaves held on until the aspens had all turned bright yellow, then dropped en masse around Oct. 16.
The quaking aspens (regionally known as trembling aspens or popples) also held on longer than usual, though not as dramatically; they dropped their leaves about a week late. Their closely related bigtooth aspens were also delayed, reaching peak color 8 days late on Oct. 22.
These are just a few of the examples John noted in his report this week – tune in to hear more (and learn about the dramatic recovery of Minnesota’s Trumpeter Swans!)
Topics
- Introduction (0:00-0:32)
- Unseasonably warm temperatures change fall colors (0:32-4:01, 7:58-8:59, 12:42-13:58)
- Flocks of birds visit fruit trees (4:01-5:46)
- First killing frost finally arrives (5:46-6:18)
- Meadowhawk dragonflies need flooding (6:18-7:58)
- Better grouse hunting conditions due to bare hazels (7:58-10:25)
- Trumpeter Swan’s magnificent recovery in Minnesota (10:25-11:48)
- Red-bellied snakes head to hibernation (11:48-12:11)
- John faces down a hungry woodpecker (12:11-12:42)
- Conclusion (13:58-14:45)
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).
