Discover the hidden world of UV

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 Jan. 10, 2026. My name is Cora and I am your phenologist for this week!
“On Monday, Jan. 12, Mrs. Rolfe noticed that the snow was melting due to the warm weather and that the sidewalk at school was covered in puddles of water. It reached 40 degrees on Monday. On Tuesday, Jan. 13, a school bus was late due to rain the night before, which led to icy roads when the temperature dropped causing everything to freeze. Also on this day, Ms. Jackson’s class reported that the snow on the nature trail was the perfect consistency for building snow people. Even though the temperature had been above freezing for several days, the ice on Schmidt Creek was still completely frozen. On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Solvei noticed that it got up to 48 degrees at her house. We almost beat the record high of 48 degrees which was set in 1987! On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Gavin noticed that about 3 inches of the ice on his ice rink had melted due to warm weather. Also on Jan. 13, Ian noticed that due to warm weather the skating rinks were closed. We have gained 12 minutes of daylight from Jan. 10 to Jan. 17!
“On Monday, Jan. 12, Cora saw a group of Bald Eagles feeding off a dead deer on the side of the road on her way home from school. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the preschoolers saw evidence of recent woodpecker activity at their phenology spots. They saw fresh woodchips on the ground beneath the holes. They are going to keep watching to see how the holes change over time. On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Ms. Urban saw that the mouse the third-graders found last week was still in the tree! Whatever animal stashed it there hasn’t come back for it- yet.
“On Sunday, Jan. 11, Miss Robin viewed otter tracks and its body slide at Lake County Demonstration Forest. Also on Sunday, Mrs. Rolfe saw a deer antler by her home on one of her trails. White-tailed bucks begin shedding their antlers in December and others won’t lose their antlers until March. On Monday, Jan. 12, Julia and her mom spotted fox tracks at their house. On this same day, Lars encountered several wolf tracks as he was cross country skiing. On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Ms. Jackson’s class noticed rabbit and deer tracks on the school nature trail. Also on that day, the preschoolers noticed bite marks on a shrub at their phenology spot. They think a deer had recently been eating there. On Jan. 14, Rozalyn, Iljia, and Sadie noticed that there were fresh deer tracks by Schmidt Creek.
"On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Zander noticed at his Sit Spot that a stump next to him had mushrooms on it still from the fall. He hadn’t noticed this the last time the class was out making observations, because before the entire stump had been covered in snow, but with the warm temperatures and the snow melting, he could now see the stump and the mushrooms.
“This concludes the phenology report. Have a great week and be observant!”

Little Falls Middle School

“This is Mattia, Cora, and Olivia reporting from Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of Jan. 18.
“With the warmer temperatures, more and more vole tunnels are being exposed in our yards.
We have had multiple Red Fox sightings this week, all during the day, so we are guessing that mating season must be starting.
“Two different people spotted wooly bear caterpillars this week, and we are puzzled by that one.
“We did get to start exploring with a UV flashlight that we got from Charlie Mitchell. We looked at some lichen and are excited to see what other discoveries we will make this year with this new way of seeing things.
“We had an observation of 4 chickadees chasing each other around aggressively on a tree.
“Speaking of chickadees, we learned that the number of ‘dees’ in the ‘Chickadee-dee-dee' call indicates the level of danger they are feeling.
“An easy sighting this time of year are the trails left on old trees by bark beetles. They remind us of carvings or hieroglyphics.
“There were 6 Bald Eagles spotted in a field, but we noticed it was close to a chicken barn, so there might be carcasses dumped there.
“A classmate brought in an owl pellet that she found at her house. We pulled it apart and found it full of vole bones and hair.
“We had another opossum sighting this week, as one was up a tree grabbing apples.
“There are Goldeneye ducks hanging out on an open stretch of the Mississippi River here in town. It is a rare chance to see diving ducks around Little Falls.
“That is our report for this week. Until next week, keep exploring, keep discovering, and keep connecting with the great outdoors.”

Linwood Elementary School

"Greetings from the fourth-grade Phenology Team in the Linwood School Forest. This is Lydia, Elizabeth, and Brody reporting on our observations from the week ending Jan. 19.
“This week we observed that we lost much of our snow cover because of the above freezing temperatures. The playground melted and refroze, making it VERY icy!
“We also observed that our pagoda dogwood tree’s branches change color the farther away from the trunk they get. They start as brown, then change to red and then yellow at the ends.
“We also saw it snowed little frozen pellets on Thursday. It did not feel like regular snowflakes, but felt like hard frozen balls. We wonder, ‘What is happening in the clouds to cause this?’
“In the forest, we saw a Blue Jay that kept moving from tree to tree as we got closer to it. We think it was telling us to ‘GO AWAY!’.
“That is all from the Linwood School Forest, and remember: There is no place like Linwood!”

Listener and host comments

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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).