Oak Grove Elementary School in Bloomington
Olivia: “Hi, this is Olivia, Natalie and Kylee reporting from Oak Grove Elementary in Bloomington, Minnesota.”
Kylee: “This week’s weather has been very cold, and we think this is a reason why we have seen very little animal activity. We aren’t seeing a lot of birds, not much scat, and no footprints.”
Natalie: "We set up a wildlife camera by a shed on our grounds to get pictures of the fox on our campus, but we had to move it because we weren’t seeing anything.”
Olivia: “Even in our new location it did not work. We are going to keep trying new locations until we find that fox.”
Kylee: "We are wondering if the really cold weather is making our animals act differently. Are they doing less to preserve their energy, like the birds chirping less?”
Natalie: "That’s all for today, stay tuned for the next OGE Phenology Club nature episode.”
All: “Peace out!”
Little Falls Middle School
"This is Rowan and Madelyn reporting from Mr. Kaddatz’s class in Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of Feb. 9.
“Groundhogs Day brought up a lot of conversations about different levels of hibernation, from our true hibernators like woodchucks and frozen wood frogs, to our sleepers like black bears and skunks.
“There is finally a nice blanket of snow for meadow voles to build elaborate tunnels in their subnivean world. Not only does it provide shelter from predators, but the temperatures remain around 32 degrees under the snow.
“The box elder’s double helicopter tree seeds are hanging on their branches and making them easy to identify this time of year. It is the one time of year that they are not overshadowed by their other more popular Maple family members.
“We have spotted several white-tailed bucks still holding their antlers, and also one that had freshly dropped his.
“Red-breasted Nuthatches were singing with their “yank yank” calls in the morning. Although we wouldn’t describe them as a pretty call, these have been the first bird calls we have heard this season, and are a welcome addition.
“Even though they are a common sight around here most of the year, there was a noticeable return of House Finches this week. We did not think they migrated, but they have been absent around here for most of the winter.
“One interesting note this week was that even though they are typically the most aggressive birds at the feeder, the Blue Jays would not even attempt to land on the feeder when there was a cardinal sitting there, and groups were content to feed off the ground while the cardinal was feeding at the feeder.
“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 near Palisade
This report is brought to you by Kendy, Niyah and the students from Cohasset Elementary and Josia from Bigfork Elementary. They visited LLCC from Feb. 6-7, 2025.
“The low temperature was minus 11 degrees and the high was 16 degrees. It was very windy on the first day of our trip, the powdery snow in the air allowed us to see the wind swirling and rising and then quickly falling around us. The fresh snow made it look like nobody had ever walked here before. On Friday we woke up to a nice sunny winter day with low winds.
“Sometimes phenology is as much about what you don’t see as what you do. We did not see much wildlife; just a few birds at the feeders and in the woods. Our group saw nuthatches, a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Pileated Woodpecker, a chickadee searching for food in a tree and some kind of finch we could not identify.
“We think the cold weather is keeping the squirrels in their dens. We did see deer tracks, a deer bedding spot and heard the drumming of a woodpecker. Otherwise, most of the critters stayed in bed.
“Wish you were here Mr. Latimer, see you soon! We had a great time in nature and 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 Feb. 1, 2025. My name is Maggie, and I am your phenologist for this week!
"February is known as the Sucker Moon according to the Ojibwe. It was called this due to food scarcity, but it also was the month that brought suckerfish that could be netted and speared. Sunday morning, Feb. 2, we woke up to 6-10 inches of fluffy, light snow. On Thursday, Feb. 6, we received another 4-5 inches of light snow. Students enjoyed playing in the new snowfall at recess despite the gusty wind conditions. Also on this day, the ice coverage for Lake Superior was reported at 9.68%.
“On Sunday, Feb. 2, I spotted two owls near Two Harbors High School. One was a Great Grey and the other was a Boreal. However, at the beginning of the week, Ms. Lampela has noticed fewer owls around. In January, it was very common to see 2 or more Great Greys on her drive home, but this week she hasn’t seen a single owl.
“On Monday, Feb. 3, I spotted a fox on Homestead Road. On Monday, Emery saw a bunch of people outside her house that were watching a Boreal Owl. On Tuesday, Feb. 4, Ms. Rademacher’s class saw two Pileated Woodpeckers on the telephone pole outside their classroom. On Wednesday, Feb. 5, Ms. Rollo’s class heard a Hairy Woodpecker drumming in the school forest. Marcus noticed that there was a woodpecker on the powerline outside of Mrs. Amber’s room on Wednesday, Feb. 5.
"On Sunday, Feb. 2, Jasper saw Bald Eagles eating a dead deer on the side of the road. On Monday, Feb. 3, Mr. Vieau’s class saw a deer bed in the school forest. There must have been some bedded down during the weekend storm.
“This concludes the phenology report. Have a great week, and be observant!”
Cohasset Elementary School
Cherry School near Iron Junction
“Hi, this is Lydia, Aaliyah, Jacob, and Ashdon reporting from Cherry School in Iron Junction, Minnesota on Feb. 5, 2025.
“We have been noticing that it's been getting really cold outside lately. We got a lot of snow on Saturday.
“On Feb. 2,, Ellie noticed two eagles flying in Iron.
“On Feb. 3, Ellie saw two deer on the road in Iron.
“On Feb. 1, Symphony saw a brown owl in Eveleth.
“Today during our walk in the school forest, we noticed that there were some tracks. They looked a lot like deer tracks, but we are not too sure if it was deer tracks. It was pretty cold outside but very beautiful. We all got our vitamin D in! While we were in the forest, we went snowshoeing. It was really cold and some of us wanted to go inside from all the snow. We spent the whole class outside to refresh our bodies. It felt really nice to be outside because winter is when the sun goes down fast so it's nice to go outside at this time.
“This concludes our phenology report. This has been Lydia, Aaliyah, Jacob, and Ashdon reporting from Cherry School. Nature Rules!”
North Star Elementary School in Virginia
“This is Camden, Lily, Gwendolyn, Sam, Autumn reporting from North Star Elementary in Virginia, Minnesota. Today is Feb. 6, 2025.
“This is Camden. Last week, I was walking by Silver Lake in Virginia and noticed that there is some open water by the power plant and there were 4 or 5 geese hanging out there. Some were walking on the ice and some were swimming.
“Gavin has been ice fishing on that same lake and toward the middle of it, he measured over two feet of ice!
“This is Gwendolyn. I was on the lake where I live, skating, and I heard a bunch of big booms and cracks. I knew ice made noise when it formed, but I didn’t know it made crackling noises. It scared me at first, but my dad told me the lake was just freezing more and I was safe.
“This is Sam. I measured that we got about a foot of new snow at my house over last weekend.
“Dallyce has noticed it doesn’t get dark as early these days. My weather app says we have a total of 9 hours and 48 minutes of daylight today.
“This is Autumn. I've been seeing buck with no antlers. I know they are buck because the regular deer are smaller.
“This has been a report from North Star Elementary in Virginia. Keep exploring the great outdoors!”
Aurora Waasakone Community of Learners in Bemidji
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).
