2025 has started off with a cold snap and lots of interesting animal sightings. Enjoy our first eight reports of the year!
Little Falls Middle School
“This is Brekken and Nash reporting from Mr. Kaddatz’s class in Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of Jan. 5.
“We have had a strange stretch of warm weather over most of our break, and now the temperatures have gotten much colder, but there is still little to no snow.
“There was a group of 7 Blue Jays hanging around together and visiting a feeder.
“We did spot a red fox running across a yard one evening, and its tracks could be followed around the neighborhood as it was probably searching for mice.
“A classmate found a pseudoscorpion in her house. Although they look threatening, these small arachnids are totally harmless.
“There were small groups of swans flying overhead, and a large flock of 25-30 in a field.
“Mr. Kaddatz set up a new bird feeder with a motion sensing camera, and was surprised to see a flying squirrel eating seeds the first night.
“There are several old and rotting black mushrooms in the woods. They look like milk cap mushrooms, but we don’t recall any mushrooms this fall with the dry weather.
“The Pine Siskins have arrived and are noisy visitors to our bird feeders.
“The foggy weather did cause a lot of rime ice and frost on tree branches.
“Red-tailed Hawks and Bald Eagles are common sights, especially near open fields.
“There was a huge flock of Cedar Waxwings, possibly as many as 100, feeding on some crab apple trees.
“The warm weather around Christmas brought out a moth and leaf-legged bug, possibly fooled into coming out of hibernation.
“The fruit of the sumac trees appears a much darker shade of red, almost blackish at times.
“That is our report for this week. Until next week, keep exploring, keep discovering, and keep connecting with the great outdoors.”
Long Lake Conservation Center in Palisade
This report is brought to you by Max, Evan and the students from Oneka Elementary in Hugo.
“Two inches of snow fell during our trip with a high temperature of 21 degrees and a low of 7 below zero.
“The fresh snow allowed us to easily see animal tracks. One path looked like an animal highway. We also saw under-the-snow tunnels made by mice and voles. There were lots of deer tracks, but we also found turkey and canine tracks. The canine tracks weren’t big enough to be wolves, so we think they are most likely from a fox or a coyote.
“During our Snow Snakes Class, we heard the ice sing as it froze. The ice song was described as ‘loud and scary.’
“The squirrels were fun to watch eating the bird seed at the feeders. They slept in and allowed the birds to get a meal first. We saw Black-capped Chickadees, nuthatches and a wide variety of woodpeckers. We observed Hairy, Downy and Pileated Woodpeckers and looked at pictures to tell the males from the females. It’s interesting that the males are more colorful than the females.
“During our Lichen Class we found all three kinds of lichen on all hard surfaces around Long Lake, including rocks, trees and buildings. We found lichen of just about every color imaginable. We learned that lichen is like a fungus house for algae - two organisms living together in harmony.
“It was a great week in nature, we want to remind everyone to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”
This report is brought to you by Wakan, Shawn and the students from Migizi in Minneapolis.
“During our trip from Jan. 2-4, winter reasserted itself with a blast of sun, wind, cold and snow. The low temp was -9 degrees, and the high was 14.
“The clear skies made for good stargazing. There was a waxing crescent moon that cast very little light, meaning lots of stars were out, as well as Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn.
“After last week’s melt, the fresh dusting of snow made for easy tracking. We saw lots of mammal prints scurrying around logs in the forest.
“The lake was singing loudly last night during our night hike.
“Last week, a cottontail rabbit was spotted on campus, but the cold has made even the heartiest hunker down. We’ve spotted only a handful of squirrels, including an angry red squirrel, and a few of the usual assortment of winter birds, including nuthatches, chickadees, Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers. It’s notable that the Red-breasted Nuthatches are back. We flushed a Ruffed Grouse on our walk.
“The ice on Long Lake is now 11 inches thick.
“It’s deep winter, but there’s never a bad time to explore nature. We want to remind everyone to unplug, get outside and LIVE CONNECTED!”
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 Dec. 16, 2024. My name is Teddy, and I am your phenologist for this week!
“On Sunday, Dec. 15, it was around 35 degrees outside and we had some fog and light rain. On Monday, Dec. 16, it was pouring down rain around 5-6 at Isabel’s house. Also on Dec.16, at 8:55 am, the temperature was 33 degrees and it was raining outside at North Shore Community School. Sunday’s and Monday’s rain and warm temperatures changed Isabel’s ice skating rink into a pond of slushy water. On Thursday, Dec. 19, Ms. Urban noticed there was about an inch of slush on Schmidt Creek, and underneath was solid ice.
“On Thursday, Dec. 19, Ms. Urban saw and heard a flock of about 12 Common Redpolls in the school forest near the stream.
“Also on Thursday, Ms. Urban saw many animal tracks along the trails in the school forest, including white-tailed deer, snowshoe hare, crows, and cottontails.
“Ms. Urban saw some birch seeds that had been released onto the trail near the elbow in the school forest on Dec. 19. Paper birch trees drop their seeds throughout the fall and winter, and you may see them attached to a 3-lobed scale sitting on top of the snow.
“On Dec. 15 there was a full moon, known as the Cold Moon. The Ojibwe call it the Little Spirit Moon. It earned its name from the long, frigid nights of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Rising on Dec. 15, it appeared large and bright as it climbed above the horizon, offering a breathtaking sight for night sky watchers.
“The winter solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere on Saturday, Dec. 21. This celestial event happens when the Earth's axial tilt positions the Northern Hemisphere at its farthest point from the sun, resulting in the least amount of daylight for the year. At 4:20 am ET, the solstice will take place, marking "the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere". After the winter solstice, every day will have a little more sunlight than the one before. By the time we reach the summer solstice on June 20, 2025, it will be the longest day of the year. So, even though Dec. 21 feels dark, it's actually the turning point toward brighter days.
“This concludes the phenology report. Have a great week and be observant!”
Cherry School near Iron Junction
“Hi, this is Jourdyn, Trey, and Rudy reporting from Cherry School in Iron Junction on Dec. 19, 2024.
“This is Trey. We have been noticing on the class observation logs that students have been seeing groups of 9-10 deer. We are also noticing that lakes are freezing, and people are starting to go ice fishing. The snow is about 6 inches deep. We measured it with a stick today. The temperatures have dropped below zero and it's getting very cold.
“This is Jourdyn. On Dec. 16, Rudy and his brothers heard coyotes yipping in the woods and then they saw them later in a field. I wonder why coyotes sound like my friend laughing. [laugh]
“On Dec. 13, Ellie noticed a squirrel in the trees when she was walking home.
“On Dec. 15, Ms. Jen saw a fox on the side of the road in the snowbank in Zim.
“On Dec. 14, Ellie saw an eagle fly across the ground and land on a tree when she was snowmobiling in Iron.
“This is Rudy. Yesterday during our walk in the school forest, we noticed deer have been digging for food. We saw a bunch of deer tracks going into the school forest.
“We also saw feathers in a trail and turkey tracks, and then the tracks stopped. We think that they flew away. Also, we saw many snowshoe hare tracks.
“This is Trey. This concludes our phenology report. This has been Jourdyn, Trey, and Rudy reporting from Cherry School. Nature rules!”
North Star Elementary School in Virginia
“This is Avaya, Braylon, Rees, Bryn, Gwendolyn, Cora, and Cole reporting from North Star Elementary in Virginia, Minnesota on Dec. 11, 2024.
“Hi, I’m Avaya, and I noticed that the temperature was 0 degrees this morning in Virginia. Now, as we write this, it’s down to –6 degrees. It’s getting colder as the day goes on. We seem to have some cold air moving in!
“This is Braylon. We will have only 8 hours and 30 minutes of daylight today. Days will continue to get a little shorter for 10 more days until the solstice.
“This is Rees. Here at North Star Elementary, we took some measurements of snow depth. Since the wind has moved some snow around, we took three measurements and averaged them to find that we have about 11.8 centimeters of snow. That’s a little over 4 ½ inches.
“This is Bryn. The wolves have been really active around my grandparents’ house near Half Moon Lake south of Eveleth. We hear them howling when we get out of the sauna in the evenings.
“Hi, I’m Gwendolyn, and I noticed an eagle looking down at a frozen lake on Friday, Dec. 6. I wonder if it was waiting for a human to bring some fish out of the lake for its dinner.
“Hi, this is Cora. On Dec. 7, my family noticed three moose crossing a trail near our hunting shack near Orr. We learned that baby moose stay with their mothers for a year before becoming independent. That must have been a mama with this year’s twin babies.
“This is Cole. I have noticed flocks of Snow Buntings all down the road and in the field in my backyard in Embarrass. I estimate there are about 30 traveling together.
“This has been a report from North Star Elementary in Virginia. Keep exploring the great outdoors!”
We heard some good news from our phenology teacher at North Star Elementary, Lindsay Engel. She is starting a phenology club and sent out a Google form to guage student interest. She had hoped for a core group of 7-8 students, and was pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming interest - she’s heard from about 30 students so far!
Great Expectations School in Grand Marais
“Hi this is Lydia and Kiera reporting from Great Expectations School in Grand Marais on Dec. 17. We missed last weeks report because we got a snow day. Last Monday, December 9, we received 5.5 inches of snow in town. Other places in Cook County received more. This snow was really good for snowmen. On Dec. 11 and 12, temperatures ran below zero, but came back up to 40 degrees yesterday--and it even rained. Today, the high was only 26 degrees, freezing all that snowmelt and creating a layer of ice all over.
“Various students have seen a Bald Eagle flying around during recess, and one of our subs reported seeing a Golden Eagle flying along the shore of Lake Superior. When we went for a walk in the backwoods, we found lots of deer tracks and scat. We spotted 3 deer beds as well.
“The creek in the back woods had a thin layer of ice in certain areas but was still running underneath. It was not cold at all, but the snow was so wet and melty it was perfect snowball snow.
“Friday was a full moon, and the nights lately have been very bright. This weekend was also the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. We discovered that meteor showers are named after constellations that they appear to radiate from. The Geminids are named after the Gemini Twin constellation. The meteors don’t actually come from this constellation but rather an asteroid named 3200 Phaethon.
“This has been Lydia and Kiera reporting from Great Expectations School in Grand Marais MN.”
Prairie Creek Community School in Northfield
“The Herons are not at school today, but I wanted to share that on solstice morning I heard both the fee-bee song of the chickadee and the pumphandle of the Blue Jay. I'm away from the phenology recording book at school, but that seems very early for both.”
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).
