Prairie Creek Community School in Northfield
This piebald robin was mentioned in Prairie Creek's last report.
Maysoon: “Hi, this is Maysoon-”
Anna: “And this is Anna-”
Maysoon: "And we’re from Prairie Creek Community School, way down south in Northfield, Minnesota.”
Anna: “There are a lot of birds to report.”
Maysoon: “Our favorite right now is the piebald robin. We see it every day and it has also been doing some courting behaviors. Maybe we’ll have a lot of little piebald robins!”
Anna: “When we were outside on Wednesday, we saw and heard a big flock of starlings.”
Maysoon: “There have also been groups of juncos, Blue Jays and chickadees.”
Anna: “We have seen and heard many Sandhill Cranes.”
Maysoon: “As of March 12, the vultures are officially back - we’ve seen tons of them.”
Anna: “The first Red-winged Blackbird came back on March 12, too. Overnight there were Red-winged Blackbirds everywhere. That’s about the same time as last year.”
Maysoon: “Odin and Ellen both saw hawks and many of us saw eagles.”
Anna: “Amelie heard woodpeckers drumming.”
Maysoon: "Silas, who has a thing for counting, counted a flock of 121 geese, another of 97 geese and another of 53 geese.”
Anna: “We’ve been seeing and hearing a lot of cardinals.”
Maysoon: “Whew! With the warm weather, we have also seen our first bugs including flies and mosquitoes.”
Anna: “One of us even got our first mosquito bite!”
Maysoon: “We finished up our syruping and got more than a pint out of three gallons of sap. Our refractometer measured 5% sugar content in our sap, and they weren’t even sugar maples. We’re wondering what caused such a high amount of sugar this year.”
Anna: “The elderberry is just blooming and a few of the maples are in bloom.”
Maysoon: “There have been a lot of deer sightings.”
Anna: "Silas has been hearing frogs at night out in the country, but we aren’t hearing them in town.”
Maysoon: “Which is maybe okay since we’re going to get more snow this week.”
Anna: “Can you believe it?! It was 70 on Friday!”
Maysoon: “This has been Prairie Creek-”
Anna: “One more step along the phenology journey.”
Little Falls Middle School
“This is Rowan and Raegan reporting from Mr. Kaddatz’s class in Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of March 16.
“The raccoons and skunks are out in search of food, and are frequently spotted near roadways.
“Small sugar ants suddenly appeared in large numbers in some of our homes.
“We are still hearing Barred and Great Horned Owls calling.
“We are seeing frequent robins, but with the large numbers of them that were around here this year, it is hard to know if any migrants have arrived yet.
“We had a reporting of a Barn Swallow sighting, although it is very early in the year for them to be back.
“Small groups of geese and swans seem to be continuously moving around our area.
“It has been amazing how many Bald Eagles we are seeing each day.
“The cardinals, robins, and chickadees are singing loudly in the mornings.
“We spotted our first Sandhill Cranes and Eastern Bluebirds on the March 13.
“The juncos and siskins are still around. We were wondering if they leave on their own or are moved along as other migrants return.
“A classmate was able to identify deer, raccoon, and coyote tracks in mud.
“We had our first thunder and lightning on the evening of March 14.
“We had reports of an American Tree Sparrow, Hooded Merganser and Red-winged Blackbirds this past weekend.
“The crows seem to be in larger and larger groups each day, and they are very noisy in the morning and evening as they are near their roosting sites.
“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
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 March 8, 2025. My name is Blake, and I am your phenologist for this week!
“On Sunday, March 9, there was a record high of 57 degrees in Duluth. The previous record was 55 degrees in 2021. On Monday, March 10, the recorded temperature in Duluth was 62 degrees which beat the record of 58 degrees in 2015. Usually, we experience these temperatures at the beginning of May! On Tuesday, March 11, Ms. Jackson’s class noticed that there were only few patches of ice on the playground. However, when they walked on the school nature trail in the forest, the forest floor was covered with thick ice. The ice and snow had not melted even with the warm temperatures due to the tree cover. Schmidt Creek was flowing and open, but there is still a thick layer of ice layering the bottom of the creek. The water level is just below the bridge.
“Friday morning, March 14, we heard the rumbling of thunder and saw lightning. Students reported quarter sized hail on their bus ride to school. Rain was forecasted with a possible rainstorm during the day. A total lunar eclipse or Blood Moon was visible Thursday, March 13 and Friday, March 14.
“On Saturday and Sunday, March 8-9, Ms. Urban noticed a big flock of Pine Siskins, redpolls, and goldfinches in her yard. The goldfinches hadn’t molted to their summer, bright yellow plumage yet. On Sunday, March 9, Ms. Urban saw a swan flying north as she was driving on Hwy 61. On Tuesday, March 11, Ms. Young’s class saw a Ruffed Grouse sitting in the branches of an aspen tree eating the buds.
“On Monday, March 10, Ms. Urban tapped some trees with her classes. One of Mr. Vieau’s class trees was damp inside the hole they drilled, but the sap wasn’t dripping out of the spile yet. The other trees that were tapped that day were not moist inside the tap hole. The daytime high on Monday at school was 62 degrees, definitely warm enough for the trees to be running. Ms. Urban hasn’t noticed any trees running this week as she has been taping. She thinks that the cold temperatures this winter, with low amounts of snow caused the frost to be very deep this year. The trees may not start to run until the ground thaws a bit more. Thursday evening, March 13, Mrs. Rolfe saw that she had patches of green grass in parts of her yard!
“This concludes the phenology report. Have a great week and be observant!”
East Rapids Elementary in Grand Rapids
Cohasset Elementary School
Cherry School near Iron Junction
“Hi, this is Greyson, Easton, Natalie, and Nevaeh reporting from Cherry School in Iron Junction, Minnesota on March 17, 2025.
“We have been noticing that the temperatures have been going above and below freezing. There has been a light snowfall, but not much on the ground. We are hearing more birds overall.
“On March 11, Ethan saw 2 Trumpeter Swans for the first time this year on a pond near Elbow Creek. He sees them every year and thinks they are the same pair.
“On March 12, Easton noticed a mountain lion walking on the train tracks near Highway 5.
“On March 13, Greyson saw 13 deer on his way to school.
“On March 13, Adam saw and heard a chickadee chirping in his neighbor’s tree.
“On March 14, Ms. Aufderheide saw about 4 Canadian Geese on Longyear Lake and a group of three Trumpeter Swans flying above Chisholm. A couple days later, on March 16, she saw a robin sitting in a tree.
“On March 12, during our walk in the school forest, we noticed there was a tiny bit of pollen on a speckled alder. The catkins turned dark red. You could flick them and there would be a tiny cloud of pollen.
“This concludes our phenology report. This has been Greyson, Easton, Natalie, and Nevaeh reporting from Cherry School. Nature Rules!”
North Star Elementary School in Virginia
“This is Camden, Skyler, Eloise, and Lucy reporting from North Star Elementary in Virginia, Minnesota. Today is March 14, 2025.”
“This is Camden, and I've noticed that on the north side of North Star Elementary, the snow isn't melting because it's not getting any direct sunlight. There are also a whole lot of buds starting to swell on the red maple trees around the school.
“This is Skyler. Today I noticed ducks and geese on Silver Lake in Virginia. They were swimming in the open water near a pipe that pours warm water out of the power plant. The water has been open all winter, so the geese stuck around. They don’t seem to mind the cold!”
“This is Eloise, and when we were walking to the lake for science class, I noticed that except for a small area near that warm water pipe, Silver Lake in Virginia is still frozen.”
“This is Lucy, and I heard a woodpecker drumming on a tree and chickadees singing their “Hey sweetie” songs in Britt. This has been a report from North Star Elementary in Virginia. Keep exploring the great outdoors!”
Aurora Waasakone Community of Learners in Bemidji
This report was recorded and emailed to us in mid-January. However, due to overzealous spam filters, it was only recently discovered languishing in email purgatory. At last, it sees the light of day!
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).
