Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Trailcam reveals coyote, deer, beaver and even snow.

Posted by Kirk
Here's a collection of recent trailcam shots. These are just the highlights. There were many more. First up is this daytime shot of a coyote from back on November 24th at 2:47 in the afternoon.


Later that night at 8:09 pm another coyote, possibly the same one, took the same trail back.


Not too surprisingly there were lots of deer on the camera. It was placed on a narrow strip of land between two lakes where wildlife is squeezed into a bottleneck. There is a whispy cloud in this photo near the deer's head (click to see it larger.) I'm really curious if this is a wisp of ground fog moving between the two lakes or fine clouds forming from the warm breath of the deer on the cold night. There was another photo with a cloud very near the ground by the camera and a deer looking into the camera.




This last photo is cool for a couple of reasons. That large wet lump on the right hand side is the back end of a beaver. The beaver is the real reason we had the camera up in the first place. This photo tells me that we had the camera too close to the beaver trail and also that they are really quick when they scamper from one lake to the other. We caught the back end of the beaver going in both directions that night. The other cool thing the camera piked up was the snow. November 26th was one of the first snows of the year and we never would have known it had we not captured photos that night. There was no trace of the snow by morning but it appears to have snowed for about an hour from 2:30 to 3:30 am.





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Monday Phenology: December 5, 2011

Posted by Kirk
Those of you listening to the podcast get to hear me refer to "the fall" as a "month" instead of a season. I must be tired. Enjoy. 





Wake up people. Just because the sun rose at 7:35 AM this morning and was already set by 4:31 PM giving us only 8 hours 56 minutes and 39 seconds of sunlight is no reason to hibernate. Well maybe it is but remember these two key points if you decide to enter a state of hibernation over the next few months:

1) In some species, up to 60% of the population dies while hibernating
2) If you don't survive the process, we get all your chocolate. 

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday was a nice day. This unseasonably warm fall has been nice though I know farmers are hoping for some precipitation. Long range forecasts at this point look scant for snow. 

Tuesday I saw a few gulls hanging out at Har Mar mall during my morning commute. I found myself wondering when I would see the last of them. Certainly their numbers are lower already. At work we reviewed motion activated camera shots of raccoons defecating on our deck steps. Make no mistake, raccoons are what we in the business like to call "proud poopers." They drop scat as a signal and they love to do it on top of fallen logs or for some reason, the back steps to the nature center. What we found really fascinating though was that in between the shots of the raccoons were a bunch of empty photos of the steps. Why did the camera go off? Closer examination revealed a mouse coming by to eat seeds out of the raccoon scat. Lovely. I know all love coprophagy (the eating of poo) and want to see this so I'll try to post up the photos as soon as I can this week.

Wednesday, swans were flying in the morning and lakes were frozen over at work in the morning. High predicted was 38 but only got to about 36 at least out at the nature center. The ice stayed on the lakes so we're calling official "Ice On." There are still larger area lakes open though. I measured an inch of ice off the dock on Terrapin Lake.

Thursday I woke up to very light snow on the ground. So cool to see all the animal tracks again after so many months. You forget how active all the animals are at night. I saw a gull fly over Hwy 36 so they are still around. In all fairness, some will stick around for a long time after all the others have left.

Friday I took the day off from work and headed out of town with my wife and son for two days of waterslides in brainerd, Minnesota. I would have recorded some phenology but I was too busy giggling with delight as I sped though dark tunnels on waves, stood under thunderous crashing torrents of water and soaked in the hot tub. Phenology? What phenology?

Saturday you surely all felt the shorter day right? Saturday was a big day ironically due to how short it was. On Saturday we only got 8 hours, 59 minutes and 19 seconds of sunlight which was the first time we'd had fewer than 9 hours of sunlight in a long time. We won't get back to 9 hours until January 10th. I spent the day driving home from Brainerd, Minnesota. While smaller lakes were completely frozen over there were still ducks and geese on the larger lakes that had some openings. The Mississippi River is still largely ice free as well.

Sunday my suspicions about open water were born out when I took a look at the birding listserves. There are still many good species such as gadwall and canvasback being seen on larger lakes and the Mississippi. The Old Ceder Ave bridge site seems to be turning up good species this week as the few spots of open water around the metro are causing waterfowl to converge into a few locations. There were also more reports of snowy owls across the state. We're witnessing the beginning of an irruption from Canada. I had some interesting conversations about this phenomenon this past week. Someone asked me on Twitter why Great Grey owl and Snow Owl irruptions don't happen at the same time. I think the assumption is that a hard winter makes it difficult for both species to find food. While the snow is a factor, the population dynamics of their prey species has more to do with the cycle of their irruptions. Snowy owls eat lemmings while Great Greys eat almost exclusively meadow voles. When the prey population crashes, the birds head south. This is the common story but it seems there is evidence something else is at play this year. My co-worker Paul was telling me that the reports out of Canada are that the lemming population hasn't crashed, it is at an all time high and has been for a year or so. There is so much food that the snowy owl population is booming and the younger birds are having to head south in search of territory. Indeed, many of the reports I'm seeing are of young owls. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

The week ahead:
Even the larger lakes are going to have a hard time battling the cold as we head toward lows approaching zero toward the latter half of the week. Waterfowl that remains will continue to concentrate in the existing open water making for some fun birding. Check out the MOU-Net and MN-Bird list serves for recent sightings. Watch out for more snowy owls as well. People are reporting them across the Northern United States. 
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Monday, November 28, 2011

Monday Phenology: November 28, 2011

Posted by Kirk 2 Comments
It's been nice knowing you fall. You were a good friend. I think it is time we said goodbye. A wintery sun rose this morning at 7:27 AM and set at 4:34 PM. Now it you're noticing these times are not changing as much now as they did a few months ago that's because we're approaching the solstice and the amount of light we lose each day gets smaller and smaller the closer we come. Today was only 1 minute and 44 seconds shorter than yesterday giving us 9 hours 07 minutes and 08 seconds of sunlight.




Here's your week in review:

Monday, lakes in the area were almost completely frozen over. The shallow ones certainly were and larger ones were getting close. That wouldn't last.

Tuesday, the weather warmed up and the snow from the previous Saturday (you remember the snow right) was melting like mad. In the morning I saw 20 to 30 crows flying over Snelling Ave in St. Paul. I can't be sure but I strongly suspect they were partying all night at the Minneapolis crow roost. They were flying from west to east and had this walk of shame look to them. I saw 7 more crows heading east at the 694/35E commons around 7:30 in the morning. It makes me wonder how far out the Minneapolis roost draws from. I attended Birds and Beers on Tuesday night and we talked about how many interesting birds are already showing up this year. Good numbers of snowy owls are in the twin cities and there are signs of other northern species moving in as well. This could get very interesting.

Wednesday I spent the day packing to leave town and then driving for hours on dark roads.

Thursday was Turkey Day and I spent it down near La Crosse, WI. No wild turkeys showed themselves but I did see plenty of Tufted Titmice which is always a pleasure when in across the border. I also spent a little time outside in the wonderfully warm and unseasonable weather and happened to walk out just as a mature bald eagle flew over my head. Nice. Incidentally, the state animal of Wisconsin is the Badger but, uh, they also have a state wildlife animal which is the White-tailed deer, because, um, I guess the badger isn't, you know, wildlife. What the hell Wisconsin? At least they have their act together and agreed on a state fossil. Minnesota never seems to get around to making that happen.

Friday night/Saturday morning we got the faintest dusting of snow back in Minnesota. Unless you happened to be awake at 2:30 AM Saturday morning you would have no idea it came down. The only reason I know is that the largest of the flakes set off one of our motion activated trail cameras and we found the photos the following Monday. There were also raccoons, beaver, deer and coyotes on the camera. Busy day.

The Week Ahead:

Watch for colder more seasonable weather. Lakes will start to freeze up again Monday night and ice will increase all week. Wednesday we might hit 40° which will slow down the ice but Thursday night we're heading down to 15 which will take a toll. By the end of the week I suspect even some of the deeper more wind exposed lakes will have ice on them. We may see a little more snow as well if things set up right. I think winter is finally going to catch up to us. Friday is the last day with 9 hours of sunlight. Next Saturday will only have 8 hours 59 minutes and 19 seconds.


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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The winners for the Spotting Scope Giveaway are...

Posted by Kirk
Okay everyone, here are the winners. I used a random number generator to select them from a spreadsheet with all the tweets, email subscriptions and entries.

First place, the Vortex Skyline 80 spotting scope goes to @ArdeaAbe who also happened to be the first person to tweet about the contest. That was a fun coincidence. His tweet on November 16th at 10:23 am was the winner.

Second place (the birding DVDs) goes to @Blobbybirdman who's tweet on November 14th at 4:46 pm won.


Third place didn't go to a tweet at all. @dliljegren wins the binocular harness because she signed up for the email subscription. About 125 other people signed up that way as well so thanks!  

I'll be contacting everyone about how to get their prizes. I wish I had something for everyone! It was a lot of fun. Stay tuned, who knows I may do another giveaway again. 

What's next?

Thanks to everyone for following on Twitter and Email. I've been promoting my weekly podcast more lately and want to get the word out that it can now be found on iTunes.  You can subscribe directly in the iTunes application by searching the iTunes store for "Monday Phenology."

Thanks for playing!

~Kirk
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Monday, November 21, 2011

Monday Phenology: November 21, 2011

Posted by Kirk 2 Comments



Hello Snow! We've got some talking to do this week. The sun rose today at 7:18 AM and set again at a depressing 4:39 PM. I don't know about you but I'm turning extra lights on in the office to fight off a little seasonal affective disorder. It be dark out people. There were only 9 hours, 20 minutes and 31 seconds of daylight today, to put that into perspective, that's an hour and 20 minutes LESS light than we have on February 21st. We're a month from the solstice. Ouch.

Here's your week in review:

Monday I walked around outside and noticed that even the buckthorn is looking tired. This hardy invasive is the last to lose leaves in the Fall but after recent below-freezing temperatures even it is having trouble holding onto leaves. Monday was also the day I marked 10 years of being a naturalist at the Lee & Rose Warner Nature Center. I've been a naturalist other places but for some crazy reason I've been there for a decade now. I've seen a lot of changes in that time. When I started, you had to really search to find buckthorn. Now you can't avoid the stuff. That's all I'm going to say about it because it is incredibly depressing. I did enjoy seeing a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers drinking together from the edge of a still open pond on Monday, that was cool. I'd never seen that before and it just goes to show ten years isn't nearly enough time to see everything in one spot.

Tuesday was far nicer out than I expected. I was loving that sunshine. It still has the power to warm. The birds were crazy active at the feeders all day and I noted on my drive home that the beavers in local lakes have stored up huge caches of food for the winter. If you see a beaver lodge look just in front of it for a large pile of small twigs. This is a winter food cache. It will become frozen in the ice and they'll nibble off it all winter long.

Wednesday it was an icy cold morning. The small pond where I watched the red-bellied woodpeckers drink on Monday was completely frozen in the morning. I cracked though and measured 6mm of ice. Area shallow ponds were nearly all frozen though not any lakes. I noticed lots of Canada Geese on the move on Wednesday. It was possibly just because the corn harvest is still on and they're searching fields for spilled food.

Thursday the temps held around 20° all day. This sounds cold but it was surprisingly nice out due to the almost complete lack of wind. I measured the ice on the small pond near our bird feeders again and in 24 hours it went from 6mm to 22 mm. That's 16mm of ice growth in one day. This was the same day we finally all headed down to the lake at work to remove the docks. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. They were already iced in with a thin sheet of ice but the truck pulled them out just fine. It was very interesting to examine the ice forming on the lake. The thickness went from about an inch near shore to paper thin about 30 feet out. The shallower lake on the property was nearly iced over in both of the shallow southern bays. We took some time to throw small rocks out on the ice to listen to the incredible noises it makes.

Friday in the morning I quickly pulled off the road when I noticed swans on West Boot Lake which is on my commute. It thought there were about four but when I pulled over and looked with my binoculars I saw there were a bunch of gray young that were hard to see originally. There were probably 7 swans total. On the way home I looked over again and to my surprise I quickly counted 30 adult swans on the same lake. Knowing I could only see and count the adults at that distance I figured there must have been more than 30 total. Given the larger size of the flock they were almost certainly Tundra Swans.

Saturday we got our first significant snowfall of the year. We can scarcely count those few stray flakes last week. I'm sure we'd all forgotten about those by now. Here's a riddle for you, how much snow on the ground does it take for people to turn into stupid drivers? If you answered "any amount" you are correct. I saw a couple of cars in the ditch and at some schmuck in a huge pick-up truck skidded through an entire intersection on a red light while I watched. Never mind that I have a tiny car with bald tires and was able to somehow stop in the centimeter of snow. What is it about snow that makes people drive stupid? On a hike with a group of high school students I noted that there are only a few buckthorn leaves still on the trees and even those drop off if you touch them. We've seen our last green for a while.

Sunday I heard from my co-worker Paul that he drove past Big Carnelian lake in Washington County and he saw a couple hundred Tundra Swans staging there. Pretty cool. This is just south of the lake where I saw them on Friday. There were also reports of a Snowy Owl in North St. Paul this weekend. Very cool.

The week ahead:

Things look pretty nice if the forecast is to be believed. I even heard a high of 60° thrown out there for Turkey Day but I'll believe it when I see it. I'm all for the warmer weather. I still need time to put the de-icing cables on my roof. I intended to do it in the summer but come on, how can you think about ice dams when it is 90° out?
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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Leonid Meteor Shower Visible Tonight

Posted by Kirk
The Leonid Meteor Shower will be visible tonight in the Twin Cities (the rest of the world as well.)

The debris that burns up in a meteor shower is from dust trails left by passing comets. The trail for the Leonids was laid down by comet Tempel-Tuttle. When we encounter thick lanes of dust there can be a meteor storm such as depicted in the drawing on the left from 1833. Tonight's show is not expected to be a storm though the Leonids are know for occasional bright fireball meteors.

There is some suggestion that there may be a peak around 6:00 AM CST so perhaps your best bet is to watch for meteors early in the morning.  Typically, after midnight is usually best for meteors. It looks like there will be clear skies in the Twin Cities tonight though there will also be a very bright moon which will obscure most meteors.

People have asked me where the best place is to view meteor showers in the twin cities metro area. That's a tough question. It all depends on how many you want to see. I've seen plenty of meteors from my light polluted St. Paul back yard. Shield your eyes from any stray light such as street lamps and turn the lights off in your house. Most of all, let your eyes adjust to the dark. Fifteen to thirty minutes of letting your eyes adjust to the dark will let you see many many more meteors.

Suppose you want to drive a little though to get a good view? Check out the Minnesota Astronomical Society website. They have a really cool light pollution map created by Craig Cotner. If you look at the map, you can see light pollution is pretty bad anywhere near the metro. What direction to travel depends a little on where in the metro you live. Heading out to an area in the yellow zone on the map will at least give you somewhat darker skies. You need a minimum of a two hour drive to get to a truly dark site and likely it will take even longer. Think boundary waters for true darkness! At any rate, you can most likely easily see a few good "shooting stars." from your own back yard.

If you can't see any tonight you might be able to listen to them on Space Weather Radio. If I get a chance I'll listen in and try to record some meteors. You can read about listening to meteors and hear some of my audio samples on my Listening to the Leonids article. 

~Kirk
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Pond Ice Thickness, one day later

Posted by Kirk
Today the ice on the pond was 22 mm thick, yesterday it was 6. That's 16mm of new ice in one day. If you look closely at the photo, the old ice is on the right and the new ice on the left. The two hve a slightly different quality and bend the light differently. The new ice forms on the bottom of the old ice so my thumb is touching the bottom of the ice sheet and my pinky is on the top of the ice.


Below is yesterday's ice from the same spot for comparison.


That's pretty impressive growth. It has only been about 19° or so all day so we're making plenty of ice out there. Tomorrow is supposed to be above freezing.

~Kirk
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Incredible Video of Earth and Aurora from Space

Posted by Kirk
In case you haven't caught this video from NASA, be sure to check it out. It was shot from the International Space Station with a low light high definition camera to capture the Northern Lights, Southern lights and City Lights below. Watch carefully at 20 seconds and you can see the light pollution from Chicago actually illuminates the solar panels of the space station some 350 km above.





Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Measuring Pond Ice

Posted by Kirk
It's getting cold out there, no doubt about it now. Especially at night things are freezing up. Just before lunch today I went out to fill the bird feeders at work. I noticed that our small pond for the birds had frozen over. I cracked it open around the edges so birds could get a drink and I noticed that this wasn't just a paper thin layer. I took a chunk inside and measured 6 mm of ice. When it doesn't melt away during the day and then freezes more at night it will slowly get thicker and thicker.

~Kirk

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Monday, November 14, 2011

Monday Phenology: November 14th, 2011

Posted by Kirk
Welcome to another edition of Monday Phenology. You can either read on or listen to the Podcast version.







Let's look at the daily march toward darkness. The sun rose today at 7:09 AM which still sounds nice but sunset is coming earlier and earlier. Today it set at 4:45 PM. I'll just leave that without comment and not point out how painfully early that already is. We're losing two minutes and 25 seconds per day now. This week I attended the annual conference for the National Association for Interpretation conference in St. Paul. It meant I was locked in conference rooms all day and didn't get out much. Monday and Tuesday were a blur but here's how the rest of the week shaped up.

The (partial) week in review:

Wednesday I was still locked in conferences all day learning to hone my natural history interpretive skills but I did get set free early enough to note that it was very windy in the evening with winds out of the northwest. It was a good night for migrating waterfowl like tundra swans. They seem a little behind schedule this fall, then again, everything seems behind schedule this fall.

Thursday I had to laugh because my wife Chelsey is getting into birds in spite of her insistence she's not a birder. She went on a hike at lunch and couldn't help noticing all these bird calls in the trees and spent a good part of the walk staring into the trees trying to identify what was making the sound. She never did see the bird but was intrigued. I played her the call of a brown creeper and she exclaimed, "That's it!" This is how it begins hon. Only a matter of time now. In other news,  I have an ongoing love-hate relationship with the smoke detectors in my house. I love that they keep me from being slow roasted like a crispy chicken breast but I hate that they always seem to run low on batteries in the middle of the night. When I test the batteries they always seem fresh so I guess they are battery snobs and want only the freshest of the fresh and maybe they just think beeping at night is funnier than during the day. Wednesday night/Thursday morning one of them decided to start beeping at 4:00 in the morning. My normally completely chill dog is completely unnerved by the sporadic chirping of the alarms and it was more his pacing around the bedroom that woke me up. I guess I should feel good that my dog tries to wake me up at night when something seems wrong but I was still a little grumpy. I let him out to go to the bathroom and I was sorely tempted to chuck the smoke detector out there as well. The point of this story is that when I poked my head outside at 4:15 in the morning there wasn't any snow. When I woke up again a few hours later and headed out to work at 7:00 there were flakes in the air. There wasn't any accumulation of any sort, just the occasional stray flake. I guess this counts as the first snow of the season but I've seen heavier flakes off a person's head than what we got on Thursday.

Friday was a beautiful warm day. It was also the field day for the National Association for Interpretation's conference. I opted to go on a birding trip driving along the Mississippi River. Our first stop was the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN.  Eagles congregate there in large numbers in the winter due to the confluence of the Chippewa and Mississippi rivers. The turbidity keeps the river open for fishing. We saw a few eagles on the river along the way but nothing like the hundreds that will be there during the winter. The highlight of the trip for me was a stop at Weaver Bottoms in Weaver Minnesota. This has become a spot for Tundra swans to congregate. It was hard to get a count of the swans, probably several hundred were there. They apparently recently showed up. Maybe that wind on Wednesday night helped? There were other species there as well. I saw Canada Geese, Wood Ducks, American Wigeon, American Black Ducks, Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, and American Coots. There were probably Gadwall and Scaup present as well but we couldn't stick around long enough to confirm those. There were fly-overs from a pair of Sandhill Cranes, 3 Red-winged Blackbirds and a Bald Eagle. It is a very cool place to check out this time of year.

Saturday I spent most of my time in conference sessions but did have an opportunity to eat lunch outside. The power of the sun was still impressive and it was nice and warm. Not too many days left like that this year, in fact, looking at the forecast, there might not be any days like that left this year. 

Sunday was a mad dash to get our house ready for guests as we celebrated my son turning 4. While cleaning up the back entryway, I cleaned up my bird feeding supplies and then headed out to fill the feeders outside the kitchen window. I could see my wife standing in the window putting the finishing touches on a Clifford the Big Red Dog cake and my suspicions were confirmed later when I was told she exclaimed, "We've got company coming any time now and THAT's what he thinks is important?" In my defense, it was the birthday boy who wanted me to fill the feeders so, yes. The English house sparrows were on the feeder within 30 seconds of my leaving.

My uncle attended the party and informed me that his neighbor saw a large white owl in his back yard. No way to be certain but it sure sounded like a Snowy Owl. He lives in Eagan which is across the river from their preferred hang out at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport so it is very possible they have started to show up.

The week ahead:
I feel kind of bad about last week. I strongly suggested we'd have snow and at least all we got here in the Twin Cities was a few stray flakes. If you happened to blink you would have missed them. There's another chance for snow this weekend but frankly this time of year a forecast that far out is about like throwing darts blindfolded so if you're curious what the weather will be like on Saturday your best bet is to wait until Saturday.  Waterfowl is congregating in great numbers this week on large lakes and rivers. Try to get out to see what's there. Your best bet is to bring a spotting scope. What? You don't have one? Then I guess you had better enter my contest to win one. The contest ends next Monday and there are plenty of chances to win. Good Luck!
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Win a Spotting Scope and More!

Posted by Kirk
It's time for a contest and there are three great prizes to increase your birding success.


First Prize:Vortex Skyline 80 Spotting Scope with 20 to 60 zoom eyepiece
                    Retail Value $750

Spotting scopes let you get closer to the action and make the critical ID to either add to your life list or simply enjoy the incredible detail of birds. It is tough, easy to focus and offers great views. 


Second Prize: DVD Set Watching Waders, Watching Sparrows and Watching Warblers by Judy Fieth and Michael Male                        
                        Retail Value $90 
Refine your identification skills and enjoyment of birding with these three DVDs. Watching sparrows take you up close and personal with every North American sparrow. Watching Waders brings you inside the lives of beautiful and majestic wading birds. Watching Warblers rounds out the set with a close up look at these colorful creatures. All the DVDs are great, all three together is even better.




Third Prize: Vortex Binocular Harness
                        Retail Value $28
Anyone who's carried binoculars around long enough knows that no matter how comfortable a neck strap you have and no matter how light your bins, eventually your neck will feel the strain. A binocular harness transfers the weight to your shoulders and can also keep your binoculars closer to your eyes and ready for action.




You don't need to hunt for birds all across the net or answer any trivia, there are simply three ways to enter. Winners will be chosen by random drawing from all entries. 

1) Follow @tcnaturalist on twitter.
Following on twitter will earn you one entry to the contest. If you're already a follower, Thanks! Send a message on twitter that says "I follow @tcnaturalist for nature updates" and I'll count that as an entry. There's no need to unfollow and then re-follow.


2) Click to tweet: Win a free spotting scope from @tcnaturalist! http://bit.ly/BirdingContest 
Clicking on the link above and tweeting about the contest will give you another entry. You can earn multiple entries into the contest with this method. Each day is a new opportunity to enter by tweeting. I will accept up to three tweeted entries per person, per day. You can modify the tweet but it must contain @tcnaturalist so I see it and it must contain the link to the contest.

 
Subscribe via email to Twin Cities Naturalist to get regular news updates right in your inbox.


By subscribing to Twin Cities Naturalist via email you will automatically by updated about the contest as well as receive the feed from the website directly to your inbox. Be sure to check your spam filter for the confirmation email.

All entries will be entered into a database and randomly selected at the end of the contest. Good Luck!








The Fine Print: Twin Cities Naturalist/Kirk Mona is not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, incomplete, or inaccurate entries.  If your twitter account or email address is selected as a winner you must provide a mailing address within one week of the end of the contest or a new winner will be drawn. Prizes may change or be substituted at any time. Photos are just examples and may differ slightly but you get the idea. I can't believe you are reading all this.
Eligibility:  Contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States. In other words, sorry, I'm not shipping prizes around the world. Some of you are not eligible. You know who you are.
The Drawing:  Winners will be selected in a random drawing from among all eligible entries received by midnight CST November 21, 2011 by Twin Cities Naturalist staff which is to say, Kirk. All decisions are final no matter how much you beg. Winner will be notified via e-mail or twitter. 
The Mail: Twin Cities Naturalist/Kirk Mona cannot be held responsible for lost, misdirected or damaged mail. 

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Monday, November 7, 2011

Monday Phenology: Nature's Week in Review: Nov. 7, 2011

Posted by Kirk
Here's your Monday Phenology Podcast. You can now subscribe to the podcast in iTunes as well. Search for Monday Phenology in the iTunes store. The subscription is free. Why not leave a rating while you are there?

~Kirk



(Note: If you are reading via email and can't see the embedded player, Click Here.
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Monday Phenology: November 7, 2011

Posted by Kirk
This morning was wonderful, I was so delighted that daylight saving time ended. We can all go back to regular time instead of our odd summer shifted hours. The sun rose at 6:59 am which meant it was already up when I left for work. The bright morning was fantastic. We'll see how I feel this evening. There are two sides to every coin and the evil side of this one tells us that the sun will set at 4:53 pm tonight. Not cool. I blame the axial tilt of the earth which was possibly caused by the impact of another planet early in the formation of the earth. It was possibly the same impact that created the moon out of ejected molten mantle but that's another story right? Point is, it is getting dark early now and today will only be 9 hours, 53 minutes and 57 seconds long. 

Monday I started to notice reports of common redpolls around the Twin Cities. There were some reports of people hearing redpolls mid-october but now just a few people are actually seeing them. I also didn't mention in previous phenology reports that the crows have begun to flock to downtown Minneapolis in the evenings. I saw them coming up the Mississippi on the St. Paul side crossing Marshall Ave/Lake Street around 6:30 PM last Thursday and then on Friday I drove though downtown on I 94 and saw hundreds of them crossing into downtown from the south. If you didn't see the Crowmageddon video I shot of the birds a few years back check it out. By the time winter really sets in, we have tens of thousands of crows hanging out downtown.


Tuesday there were white-tailed deer crossing the road in front of me on the drive home. The rut is on and that means deer are moving around a lot more this time of year. Drive carefully.

Wednesday there were incredible numbers of birds at the feeders in the morning. There were easily 50 or more juncos, chickadees, goldfinches, hairy, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers. It was quite an impressive sight. The juncos and goldfinches were the most numerous. The bird banders only caught five birds in the morning, three goldfinches, one nuthatch and downy woodpecker. I did see one lone white-throated sparrow under the feeders so at least a couple of them are still around. I stopped in on the banding just as a flock of hundreds of blackbirds flew right over the school group who were sitting watching the banding. It was awesome to watch the flock pass just 30 or 40 feet overhead. I was staring with my mouth wide open when I realized I should probably close it unless I wanted to ingest something less than desirable.

Thursday we took a mid-day hike down to the lakes at work There were 2 trumpeter swans, 2 Canada Geese and 1 female hooded merganser. The shallow parts of the lake were frozen over with a sheen of ice. It is getting pretty cold at night. I did notice though that there were still Bluebirds still around.

Friday I saw that Ami in Minneapolis noted the mullberry tree in her yard dropped all leaves suddenly. Mine did the same. The cold snap over night also made most of my burning bush leaves fall. Friday I also tried real hard to turn some roadside hawks into Rough-legged Hawks but they stubbornly refused and remained red-tails. People have been noting rough legged hawks around the twin cities though.

Saturday and Sunday it was very windy and cool but the sun was nice. I noted the seed pods of milkweed in my yard had dried and opened. Perfect timing with the winds.

The Week Ahead

Snow. There, I said it. There could be snow. The presence or absence of snow is very important. Keep in mind, in terms of solar energy, we're getting about the same amount now that we do in February. There are a couple of factors at play but snow cover in February reflects back the sun's heat while the same amount of sun in November is absorbed by bare ground and warms the local air mass. The longer we go without snow, and the longer they go up north without snow, the warmer we'll be.

The first chance of snow is tonight in Southern Minnesota and that chance of snow continues Tuesday and Wednesday.  We may see flakes in the Twin Cities but from what I hear most models don't show much reaching the Twin Cities. Models can be wrong though so we'll see. The Weather Service is showing 1-2 inches in the Rochester area and up to 4 in the LaCrosse area.
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Friday, November 4, 2011

Fantasic Starling Murmuration Video

Posted by Kirk
Check out this video making the rounds on the internet. This was shot in Ireland by Sophie Windsor Clive and the clouds of birds are starlings getting ready to roost for the evening. I've seen some very large flocks of blackbirds before, including a group that flew right over my head earlier this week, but nothing on this scale. Absolutely fantastic. Enjoy.


Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

~Kirk
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