Rain and frost hit Northern Minnesota

Aurora Waasakone Community of Learners in Bemidji

“Hi, I'm Maisie, I'm Eo, and I'm Inez from Aurora Wassakone Community of Learners. Today's date is Nov. 4, 2026.
“Over the last week, we have experienced damp weather and cloudy days. Because of that, we've noticed mushrooms growing, worms coming out of the ground and one student even saw a salamander.
“Some of the birds we've noticed have been eagles, snowy, swans, junko, grouse, nuthatches. and even an owl. We suspect due to daylight saving time, more deer are ending up as roadkill, which serves as a great meal for the birds.
“Thanks for listening. This was AWCL. Keep your eyes on nature and watch for the changes.”

Cohasset Elementary School

East Rapids Elementary in Grand Rapids

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 Oct. 31, 2026. My name is Arthur, and I am your phenologist for this week!

“On Monday, Nov. 2, Duluth had 1.68 inches of rainfall. This rainfall shattered the previous daily rainfall record for Nov. 2 in Duluth. The previous record was 1.22 inches, which was set 65 years ago in 1961. Mr. Otten’s class checked their rain gauge on Thursday morning. They last checked it last Friday, so between Friday and Thursday they had 4.33 inches of rain. Wow!

“On Monday, Nov. 2, Ms. Urban noticed that some flowers were still blooming outside the school by the chickadee mural. There are purple asters, and white pearly-everlasting that both still have blooms.

“On Saturday, Oct. 31, Nora saw 4 wolves on the side of the road. One of the wolves had a tan and brown coat, different from the other three. Soren also saw two raccoons and a Turkey Culture near the Lismore road. Unfortunately, they all had died due to being hit by cars.

“On Saturday, Oct. 31, Ms. Urban saw 2 shrikes fly through her yard, she also saw 2 American Tree Sparrows. On Sunday, Nov. 1, Ms. Urban saw lots of ducks at Park Point including Mallards, American Black Ducks, Redhead, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye and 7 Surf Scoters. At Stoney Point she saw a Common Loon. On Tuesday, Nov, 3, Rowan saw 6 Wild Turkeys while he was on the bus. Also on Tuesday, Ms. Urban saw a Mourning Dove at the birdfeeders at school- the first time she had ever seen one at school. Then on Wednesday, she saw 2! Also on Wednesday, Rain saw an estimate of 25 geese migrating on the way to her bus stop.

“On Sunday, Nov. 1, Ms. Urban saw a meadowhawk dragonfly. On Wednesday, Nov. 4, Melanie saw many small gnat-like bugs in the school forest. Also on Nov. 4, Asher found an aspen leaf and noticed something wriggling on it- it was a leaf miner!

“On Wednesday, Nov. 4, Ms. Jeske’s class saw a bright yellow mushroom in the school forest called a golden waxy cap. Also on Wednesday, Ms. Rolfe's class noticed because of all the rain this week Schmidt Creek’s water level was super high! It was all the way up to the bridge and had completely flooded the banks of the creek.

“This concludes the phenology report. Have a great week and be observant!”

Long Lake Conservation Center near Palisade

This report is brought to you by Andy, Kalea, Maggie and the students from Northern Lights Community School in Warba.

Little Falls Middle School

“This is Katherine and Ady reporting from Little Falls Middle School. This is our phenology report for the week of Nov. 8.
“Our sidewalks and driveways are still covered with earthworms after the rain we received this week.
“One unique find this week was the wolf’s milk slime mold. It was growing on an old log, and the dark brown bodies looked like rabbit droppings.
“We have had several woolly bear caterpillar sightings, but a classmate also found a giant leopard moth caterpillar.
“Our most exciting observation this week was the return of the Cedar Waxwings outside of our classroom on Nov. 4 during 3rd hour. We have been watching and waiting for them, and found it interesting that they arrived exactly one month later than they have the past 7 years.
“This week we have had sightings of sowbugs, harvestmen, millipedes and wooly alder aphids around the leaf litter.
“We are hoping that we will spot some Brown Creepers while sitting in our deer stands this weekend, as that is typically when they are spotted.
“There are still big flocks of blackbirds, and we also saw a large group of 25-30 crows coming out of a pine stand.
“Mr. Kaddatz heard a lone Trumpeter Swan in the morning of Nov. 5, and a student reported seeing a group of 6 swans in a field by his house.
“Mrs. Nieman reported the return of a Pileated Woodpecker to her house and also spotted a Bald Eagle feeding on a roadkill deer.
“There were reports of 3 different large whitetail bucks hit by cars this week around Little Falls. This could be a sign that they are moving around more due to the rut.
“British soldier lichen is easier to find this time of year, as its red color stands out against the drabber colors on the ground.
“That is our report for this week, until next week, keep exploring, keep discovering, and keep connecting with the great outdoors.”

Linwood Elementary School in Wyoming, Minnesota

"Greetings from the fourth-grade phenology team in the Linwood School Forest. This is Ava, Keegan and Tommy reporting on our observations from the week ending Nov. 6.
“This week we observed that our cottonwood tree only has a few leaves hanging on the lower branches. We can see the green pointy buds that look like green teardrops. We wonder when these grew?
“We also observed many boxelder bugs in and around our school. We found a ‘boxelder hole’ in the sand along the outside wall. We think this is where they are getting in.
“We also saw two giant spiderweb clumps the size of footballs in our black walnut tree. We felt them and they were very sturdy!
“In the forest, we saw all our maples have lost their leaves with the sugar maple being last. We have noticed the oak trees still have many of their leaves which is nice for identifying them.
“That is all from the Linwood School Forest, and remember: There is no place like Linwood!”

Prairie Creek Community School in Northfield

Orion: “Hi, this is Orion-”
Juniper: “And this is Juniper-”
Orion: “And we’re from Prairie Creek Community School-”
Juniper: “Way down south in Northfield Minnesota.”
Orion: “There have been A LOT of seagulls down here. They seem to like the plowed fields. Michelle saw hundreds of them following a tractor.”
Juniper: “We had our first frosts on Friday and Saturday morning. Although some of us had a frost back in October.”
Orion: “Sam and I saw the albino squirrel that is in our neighborhood.”
Juniper: “We’re still seeing dandelions - we’ll see if the frost affects them.”
Orion: “Autumn saw a kestrel and many of us saw hawks.”
Juniper: “Penelope saw two Northern Harriers.”
Orion: “Anika’s dad saw a big buck out the window - maybe he was trying to get away from the hunters!”
Juniper: “In fact, many of us saw deer - mostly does but a few bucks.”
Orion: “There are mosquito larvae in my bucket, but we haven’t seen any dragonflies or monarchs this week.”
Juniper: “There are still some flying insects though.”
Orion: “Natalie’s family noticed that the animals seem very active.”
Juniper: “Letty saw an eagle right in front of her car and I saw two crows in the forest.”
Orion: “Penelope reported juncos, goldfinches, cardinals and a juvenile eagle-”
Juniper: “And we’ve all noticed a lot of migrating birds including starlings and pelicans.
Orion: “This has been Prairie Creek-”
Juniper: One more step along the phenology journey.”

Caledonia High School in Houston County

“Hi, this is Kiera, Liahna, and Connor reporting from Caledonia High School in Houston County. On Nov. 6, we noticed:
“On November 1st we ended daylight savings time. We are still adjusting. Temperatures continue being 10-15 degrees above normal for this time of year. The warmer weather has also brought a lot of rain. We have had several inches of rain this week. The night of Nov. 5 brought our second frost of the year, but temperatures only got down to 32 degrees so it was not a hard frost.
“More and more leaves have been falling off the trees. There are still a few pickets of aspen hanging on to their leaves along with the oaks. With the warmer weather there are some plants still blooming. In our yards we have seen dandelions and violets, and there even lilacs with flowers!
“The Mississippi River is filled with birds. Thousands of ducks including Mallards, pintails, teal, and Ring-necked Ducks can be seen. Mixed in are swans and pelicans. Crows and blackbirds are still being noticed in big groups…one group of crows, called a murder, included over 40 birds! One classmate also commented that he is no longer seeing wasps.
“The highlight is that the rut is in full swing. One of our classmates noticed bigger bucks chasing off the smaller ones from his field.
“This has been Kiera, Liahna, and Connor reporting from Caledonia High School. ‘Stay wild, stay curious!’”

Mike via Speak Pipe

What have you seen out there? Let us know: email us at comments@kaxe.org or text us at 218-326-1234.

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