Official 2015 Twin Cities Groundhog's Day Report

The 2015 Report:

What a difference a year makes!

On Groundhog's Day 2014 we'd just pulled though yet another "Polar Vortex" and there were high snowdrifts everywhere. Here we are today and solid snow cover is hard to find anywhere in the Twin Cities.

Last year I took a new job at Lowry Nature Center in the west metro after a 12 year stint at Warner Nature Center in the east metro. This means that last year I missed out on seeing my old pal "Stuff Stanley" the groundhog of record for many of the Official Twin Cities Groundhog reports over the years. I decided this year to pay an early morning visit to Stanley to see if he saw his shadow. Did he? You'll have to watch the video to find out!

The official Twin Cities Groundhog Prediction:
Just like last year, the groundhog DID see his shadow in the Twin Cities so we have six more weeks of winter to look forward to. That's the story anyhow. Last year we had a huge warm-up right after Groundhog's day that saw us flirting with 50 degrees before plunging down again at the end of the month. This year could be a bit of the same. While the forecast calls for a few days near zero this week the longer range forecasts are looking at us going up near 40 degrees again. 

Personally I'm going to have to predict against the groundhog this year. We have very little snowfall and a warm spell in the 40s could melt what we do have away. Once the ground is exposed, the longer days and more direct sunlight we're getting are going to help warm up the ground and create  more warm days than cold days all things being the same. 

That's my personal prediction, we'll see who's right, me or a stuffed groundhog.

Background: 

What's the connection between Groundhogs, shadows and the seasons?

The connection is tenuous at best. Further south than Minnesota, male groundhogs do come out of hibernation early to scope out and check on their breeding territory. In Minnesota, February 2nd is usually too early for this to happen. Seeing the first groundhogs checking out their territory is surely a sign of spring though. Okay, but what does seeing a shadow have to do with it? The connection to shadows has to do with prevailing weather patterns. We often associate sunny days with warmth and the coming spring but sunny days in the winter aren't always warm. Clear winter days are often the result of cold Canadian air that has settled over the state. A shadow in the winter often means we're in a pattern of cold air flowing south. It can take many weeks to break that pattern and warm the area. All of the snow we have will also keep us cold longer.

Celestially, February 2nd is an important day. According to the solar calendar, it should mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

Forty-two days ago was the winter solstice, the day of the year when we have the least sunlight. From that day on, the amount of daylight increases until the day when there are equal amounts of night and day. We call this day the equinox and it falls around March 21st. February 2nd falls half way between the solstice and the equinox so in theory it should mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

Has anyone seen any crocus flowers blooming?

Obviously the winter solstice is not really mid-winter. Why do we call the solstice mid-winter if it is really more like the day winter begins? This has long been a puzzle and even caused a few arguments between astronomers and meteorologists. The answer is something we call the lag of the seasons and it affects Groundhog’s day as well. Yes, it is true that Groundhog’s day technically marks the beginning of spring from a celestial point of view but our experience tells us otherwise. Our seasons lag behind what the sun tells us in the sky.

Saying spring starts on Groundhog’s day is a little like saying a frozen dinner is ready to eat as soon as it is pulled out of the freezer. The northern hemisphere has been cooling down for months by the time the solstice arrives. Forty-two days with just less than a minute more sunlight each day is not enough to thaw out the frozen landscape into a lush vernal garden.

The established pattern of cold weather continues for many weeks after the beginning of the increase in daylight. This lag makes it seem like mid-winter actually falls on Groundhog’s day rather than the solstice. Rest assured though that on Groundhog’s day, even if it feels like the middle of winter, we are getting an hour and seven minutes more daylight today than we did just forty-two days earlier.

Groundhog’s Day may marks the beginning of spring according to the sun but it will be about forty-two more days until we feel the change enough to call it spring. It may seem like winter has a grip on the land but the sun has been working hard to reverse the trend for over a month and we’ll soon start to see those effects.

Incidentally, the legend tells us that if the groundhog sees its shadow it will be scared back into the den and we’ll have six more weeks of winter. Why six weeks? How many days are there in six weeks? Forty-two. Six weeks takes us exactly to the spring equinox.

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And so it begins...

Believe it it not, this week and next week are when we start to see our first fall colors. Some of the maple trees in the bog at work are starting to change into their fall colors.

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Monday Phenology: April 30, 2012

The sun rose this morning at 6:56 AM and set again at 7:39 PM. That should give us a lot of nice warm sun but cold winds seemed to dominate the week at least from where I was standing. Today we got 12 hours, 42 minutes and 28 seconds of sunlight. We're still gaining three minutes of daylight each day.

Here's Nature's Week in Review

Monday I went down to Lebanon Hills Regional Park for the Birds and Beers annual Woodcock Tailgate. We got nice views of the sky dance. The park is a pretty easy place to see them. They call and fly from the high hill to the north-east of the visitor center parking lots.

Tuesday it got real nice and warm. Up to the low 70s. I moved the lawn in the evening and it was overdue. Rabbits looked to be setting up shop in the grass. We had to open our windows at night to let in some cool air. Forecast called for a storm later but it was unsleepably hot in the house.

Wednesday morning at 3:30 am my wife and I were both awoken when the storm hit. The winds were very strong as the front rolled though and we had to get up and close all the windows. Rain gauge didn't show a lot of rain, about .16 inches. It got up to 73° and that was the last 70° day for the week. Incidentally, we finally crossed into 14 hours of daylight on Wednesday. We'll cross into 15 hours on May 19th. We don't make it to 16 hours. The most we get in the Twin Cities is a little more than 15 and a half hours at the solstice.

Thursday morning we installed bees in our new observation hive at work. The fact that it was so cold out kept them nice and calm. I'm curious to watch them and learn more as they are fascinating. The hive is inside the building and the bees have to go though a twisting tunnel to get outside. It took them a little time but they finally figured it out.

Friday morning I took the day off and tried to find some birds. I was woefully unsuccessful. I started at the Old Cedar Ave Bridge. Now to be fair, I did see a good number of birds. I saw Wilson's Snipe, both yellowlegs, myrtle warblers, wood ducks, teal, etc. What I didn't see or even hear was a Sora which was what I had gone to look for. I didn't see a Virginia Rail either. I see on ebird other people saw them, my timing must just be rotten. It was damn cold that morning too. I had my winter had on but I was wishing I had gloves. Maybe the birds were semi-frozen. I headed to another site after that where I had a line on some Merlins. I heard one calling briefly but it flew off before I could locate the bird. I didn't see it fly off, I just heard the call fading into the distance. So, from a target species perspective the day was a bust.


Saturday it rained and I ended up with .23 inches of rain in the gauge. I rested up for my big morning on Sunday. The sun rose at 7:00 am Saturday which was the last day of the sun rising in the 7 o'clock hour this spring.

Sunday I woke up at 4:45 in the morning and headed down to the Tiffany State Wildlife Area in Wisconsin. I was there for the Birding by Mini-Train event. There were around 60 other birders. It ended up being a nice day. I added three birds to my year list but overall I was a little disappointed in the total number of birds. I saw 38 birds, I think the group total was more like 41. Apparently last year they say 76 species. That's no small difference. We didn't see a single warbler nor a single shore bird. I think the trip was scheduled too early in the spring for maximum species.

What to look for next week:
Did I say Chimney Swifts would show up last week? Hmm, let's try that again. Chimney Swifts will show up this week. Also keep your eyes open for the first Blue-grey Gnatcatchers and Clay-colored Sparrows. On the insect front I expect to see a few swallowtail butterflies this week. If you see any of these things or something else interesting I'd love to hear about it so be sure to leave a comment. 

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Monday Phenology: April 23, 2012

Special note: If you subscribe via email and are only reading Monday Phenology you are missing out on the audio podcast. These are the show notes for the podcast which sometimes includes extra information you may be missing out on. You can listen right from the webpage or subscribe via iTunes. The is also a link a the bottom of each email that contains the mp3 audio file for the show.

The sun rose this Monday morning at 5:35 AM and set at 8:44 PM which gave us a whopping 15 hours 9 minutes and 8 seconds of daylight. I'm loving it. While we're still gaining daylight the pace is slowing. Starting this week we are now gaining less than 2 minutes per day. What was going on in all that daylight?

Here's Nature's Week in Review:

Monday morning the predictions were correct and there were snow flurries. It was incredible to look outside in the morning and see it coming down. It looked like a fast dense snow fall but it was so warm out the flakes melted instantly upon touching the ground. In northern Minnesota they got up to a foot of snow!

Tuesday I was back at work and got to go on a long overdue hike. I noticed the pusseytoes were in full bloom, especially along the mowed trails through the old meadows. Painted lady butterflies were out in good numbers. The really impressive thing to see were the large numbers of myrtle (yellow-rumped) warblers. The trees seemed to be full of them. From what I could see they were feeding primarily on small clouds of midges. Dark-eyed Juncos were still around. We approached a small pond and I saw my first Blue-winged Teal of the year as a pair flew off. While looking at the pond I spotted a pair of Green Darner Dragonflies mating and laying eggs. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers were actively doing territorial drumming in the woods. I'd seen the first of the year sapsucker last Saturday and had heard them in the woods a few days before that. Their drumming is distinct in that it starts out rapid and decreases in frequency. Da-da-da--daa---daaa----daaaa-----daah. Late Tuesday evening a thunderstorm kicked though. My co-worker Paul spotted the first of the year Belted Kingfisher on the property.

Wednesday morning the rain gauge showed .36 inches of rain. That was one of the highest readings in all of the metro. We had the first sighting of Red-bellied Snakes out at work.

Thursday I headed down to the Old Cedar Bridge to check out a sighting of a White-faced Ibis people have been reporting. I was with my mother as we had just come from her brother's funeral. It was nice to get out and celebrate life by looking for some beautiful birds. I saw a number of first of the year birds such as Belted Kingfisher, Wilson's Snipe, Green-winged Teal and Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. There were also Canada Geese, Northern Shoveler, Blue-winged Teal, American Coots, Swamp Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, and Bald Eagles. We were able to see the Ibis. It was beautiful and a lifer for both of us.

Friday I headed out for a hike at work to set up some trail cameras and maintain some bird houses. Both Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds were quite busy at the bird houses. Some of the bluebird houses had eggs. I got a good look at a Krider's Red-tailed Hawk as it was harassed by a pair of Common Ravens. A flock of 55 American White Pelicans gracefully migrated overhead as well.

Saturday morning there was just a tiny amount of rain in the rain gauge. We had 0.2 inches. The Eastern Phoebe at work laid the first egg of the spring. It started to rain late in the evening and got fairly heavy. I also received reports of a Sedge Wren and Palm Warbler in Northern Washington County.

Sunday morning there was an additional .38 inches of rain in the gauge.

The week ahead:

Predicting what comes next has been a challenge during this crazy mixed up spring. My money is on Chimney Swifts arriving in the Twin Cities at some point during the week. We might also see Black-and-white Warblers, Northern Waterthrush and Orange-crowned Warbler. Most of the other warblers are still too far south to show up soon in any real numbers.

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Monday Phenology: April 16, 2012

Special note: If you subscribe via email and are only reading Monday Phenology you are missing out on the audio podcast. These are the show notes for the podcast which sometimes includes extra information you may be missing out on. You can listen right from the webpage or subscribe via iTunes. The is also a link a the bottom of each email that contains the mp3 audio file for the show.

This one's going to be short. I didn't have much time to note phenology this week. I skipped out of recording the podcast last week and hinted at a family emergency. I'm sad to say my uncle went into the hospital on Monday morning and passed away on Tuesday evening. The week has been a bit of a blur.


The (abridged) week in review:

Wednesday morning I was delighted to step out my back door and smell lilacs. While they aren't in full bloom yet, there are enough open to smell them from across the yard and they smell marvelous.  People have begin to report seeing Osprey return to the Twin Cities.


Thursday I noticed blood root blooming at work. I looked for evidence of orchids coming up but so far nothing. Not surprising, I wasn't really expecting them to have poked up yet but this year anything seems possible.



Friday I checked the list serves and noted that people around the metro have already seen Northern Waterthrush, Brown Thrashers and Eastern Towhee. I'm hoping to see those all soon. I did spot my first Common Loon of the year on the way to a school for an outreach program. That was my 91st bird species of the year.


Saturday I lead back-to-back girl scout programs at work that were basically guided hikes. We found lots of wood ticks, saw blooming rue anemone and wood violets. The ferns in the forest were well on their way, some were six to eight inches high. The highlight of the day was setting up a spotting scope at our final hiking destination and seeing an active bald eagle nest. One of the parent eagles caught a fish and then flew up to the nest to feed the two young eaglets. We could see right into the nest and watch the fuzzy young being fed. It started to rain late Saturday night. I woke up at 2:40 at night to a pretty heavy down pour.

Sunday morning I checked the rain gauge and we'd gotten .92 inches of rain over night. That's a pretty respectable amount. Some light thunderstorms headed though on Sunday evening as well and while I thought the totals would be higher we only got an additional .52 inches of rain. The storm moved though pretty fast.

The week ahead:

I'm afraid we my stressful week I don't have a lot to tell people to watch for next week. My previous year's data is pretty useless this year! Watch for new birds arriving, we're getting a couple new species every week now. Keep an eye out for shorebirds such as marbled godwits, black-necked stilts and Hudsonian godwits. There should be the very first Magnolia Warblers and Orange-crowned Warblers showing up soon too. Will today really bring April snow like they are predicting. We'll have to wait to see.

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Monday Phenology: April 9, 2012

I was sure this week I would return to the audio recording of Monday Phenology. Alas, a family emergency has prevented me from sitting down to record the podcast. So, here's my written phenology notes for the week. Thanks for reading. I hope everyone is well and enjoy.

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday our site manager came into work and said he'd seen a Blanding's Turtle in the prairie. I headed out and it was still there. The turtle was one of the turtles we've been tracking since the 1970s. I could tell by distinctive marks on the shell that this was a female we call Hera. She still had a radio transmitter on her shell from two summers ago. I removed the transmitter but did not have the epoxy with me to attach a new one. Hopefully she'll stick around where we can find her so we can attach a new transmitter. While in the prairie I also say my first of the year Northern (yellow-shafted) Flicker. My rain gauge showed .34 inches in St. Paul. It sounds like some parts of the metro actually saw hail and thunder. I missed that! Then again I was sick and went to bed early.

Tuesday night the planet Venus in the sky was brighter than any time I can ever remember seeing it. I've heard people say that the planet is sometimes confused for a UFO. That always seemed like such nonsense. I get it now though. It was so bright I had to really watch it for a while to make sure it wasn't an airplane. I looked online and Venus was at magnitude –4.5 which is quite bright. When I came home from work I took a close look at my lilac bushes. They are covered with a profusion of purple flower buds. A couple of them had opened into blooming flowers so we officially have blooming lilacs in the Twin Cities on April 3. I heard from Beth in Highland Park that she spotted the first of the year Syrphid fly hanging out in her garden. Syrphids are very cool flies that mimic wasps and bees. Beth also reports that she saw a Red Admiral butterfly last week, March 27th.

Wednesday it got cold over night and especially when I got north of the cities up near Marine on St. Croix there was some frost on the ground in low-lying areas and northern facing slopes of hills. We put the docks in the lakes at work. That was about two weeks earlier than last year. While we put them in, large migratory Green Darner dragonflies were patrolling the edges of the lakes. It was the first I'd seen them this year though I hear they first arrived earlier in the week.

Thursday was a volunteer training day at work. While teaching about birds there were both Fox Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows hopping around on the ground under the bird feeders. It was the first time I'd seen a white-throat this year so that makes 91 bird species so far. Down at the lake we did some dip netting. All of the usual species were in the lake such as dragonfly larva, water boatmen, crawling water beetles, water scorpions and scuds. It was nice to see the sun again after a string of gray days.

Friday the tulips were blooming at work. We have some planted along a wall that has a nice southern exposure. The side of the building there is dark brown cinder block that really heats up and creates a microclimate.

Saturday morning I awoke to the sound of the first House Wren of the year singing outside my window.  We got .19 inches of rain in the Como Park neighborhood of St. Paul.

Sunday I visited my aunt and uncle in Eagan and their Rhododendron was in full bloom. There were two very large bumblebees working over the blossoms. Those are the first bumblebees I've seen this year. 

Sorry, I don't have any phenolgy to watch for this week due to the aforementioned emergency but I hope to have some things to watch for next week.

~Kirk

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Monday Phenology: April 2, 2012

No podcast again tonight. I'm coming down with something and I sound like Berry White. It might make for a sexy sounding podcast but I'm going to go pass out in bed instead.  Here's some rough observations for the week.

Stay Healthy.



Monday- I saw first of the year Red-breasted Merganser and Turkey Vulture. It was a cold dreary day. People talked about the other shoe dropping. No, the other shoe dropping would be a snow storm. This is just normal March weather. There were a few little pellets of frozen rain on my door mat when I let the dog out in the morning. The rest had clearly melted away but the mat must have insulated them and kept them around long enough for me to see them.

Tuesday - Brought two more new birds for the year. I saw an Eastern Meadowlark while doing a roadside clean-up and then Tree Swallows were out in the prairie in the afternoon. Painted lady butterflies are also out now. Tuesday was warmer but very windy. Branches were blowing down off trees. Very small fiddle head ferns are poking up in the woods.

Wednesday I got reports of White pelicans migrating, northern flickers, myrtle warblers and ruby-crowned kinglets in the Hugo area.

Thursday I sawsome kind of thrush on the edge of the driveway at work but didn't have time to stop. I hoped it would be around of Friday.

Friday I went for a short hike in the morning to see what was happening in the woods. I was itching to see that first myrtle warbler and they should be around. What I found instead was a woods full of American Robins. I counted 200 as they zoomed around and I figure there were easily twice as many that I could not see. Walking into the middle of the forest while this flock flew around me was surreal and very exciting. The birds were feeding mostly on buckthorn. Mixed into or drawn to the flock were blue jays, cedar waxwings and even a rusty blackbird! The blackbird teed up right in front of me and I was pretty surprised. I headed back toward the building and a thrush flew across my path. A little more snooping and I was able to get a good look. There were a couple of hermit thrushes. I even heard one do a tentative song. I headed back on the same trail in the afternoon taking some volunteers on a hike and there were still lots of robins around. A flock of blackbirds flew into a tree and while they were too far away to tell that they were more than males and females their call gave them away as Brewer's Blackbirds.


Saturday and Sunday there were reports of loons on area lakes, flower buds on my lilacs are about to open. I also found buds on clematis that were about to open.

What to watch for this week:
Watch for blooming lilacs. Early returning myrtle warbler, loons, northern flickers will become more common. That's all I can muster right now. I'm going to bed but hope to be right as rain next week and the podcast can return.

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Monday Phenology: March 26, 2012

Sorry this is a day late getting out. No podcast this week. Just the bare bones transcript. You can read along and imagine my voice in your head.


Nature's Week in Review

Monday I spotted my first American Kestrel of the year and the spring peepers were calling for the first time of the year as well. It started to rain in the evening. By morning I measured .33 inches in St. Paul by the fair grounds. I saw they got .9 inches downtown so there were widely variable rainfall totals.


Tuesday I discovered the Groundhogs are out. Unfortunately I only know this because I saw a freshly hit one twitching in death throes on the road. Not pretty. Wild Turkey's are displaying in fields.

Wednesday I saw first of the year Great Blue Heron, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and a Field Sparrow. I also spotted my first Brown Creeper. Elderberry were leafing out and I found one plant that was even starting to flower. There was a tiny trace of rain in the morning (0.02 inches.)

Thursday  morning there was an additional .04 inches of rain in the gauge and by the end of the day it was 0.27 inches. We just had a steady drizzle on and off all day. On the way home I saw my first Pied-billed Grebe of the year.

Friday at lunch I took a stroll down to the pond to listen to the Chorus, Wood Frogs and Spring Peepers and was astounded to hear the first of the year Northern Leopard Frog joining in. On a hike in the afternoon saw Red-tailed Hawk and Bald Eagles on nests. A pair of Sandhill Cranes seem to be staking out a spot to nest. First of the year Garter Snake on in the woods.

Saturday and Sunday continued our trend of beautiful weather. I spent the day prepping the garden (bizarre for March) and playing with my son at local parks. While working in the yard a bald eagle twice flew overhead and circled the neighborhood. I'm wondering if this bird is considering nesting at Lake Como. That would be very exciting. Minnesota Birdnerd saw a number of new bird arrivals on Sunday including Peregrine Falcon, Belted Kingfisher, Turkey Vulture, and Yellow-rumped (myrtle) Warbler.

What to watch for this week:
Early tree species are leafing out such as buckthorn and boxelder. Be careful if you are pulling buckthorn this time of year as young black cherry trees look similar and are also early to leaf out. Watch for painted lady butterflies and the return of tree swallows as well. 

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Monday Phenology: March 19, 2012

The sun rose this morning at 7:17 AM and set at 7:25 PM which means we've passed the equilux and there is now more daylight than darkness. Today we got 12 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds of sunlight and we're getting a little over three minutes more each day.What can I say, I love spring and this year it seems to be about two to as much as three weeks ahead of schedule. There's only one word for that. Fantastic.

Here's nature's week in review:

Monday I took a hike and was treated to phenological delights. Spring was coming on and there were signs everywhere. The snow was melting like mad and gopher mounds in the prairie were a muddy mess. Birds were singing and calling like I haven't heard in a long time. Blue Jays were doing near constant territorial calls. I saw American Robins, Eastern Bluebirds, Northern Cardinals, and Red-winged Blackbirds. I saw and heard geese migrating overhead as well as sandhill cranes and Killdeer. There was a barred owl calling in the woods. The crows were very vocal and I even heard a Common Raven. It was a lot of fun just to be outside. We fired up the Maple Syrup evaporator for the first time of the year and started to boil down the little sap we've collected from the trees.

Tuesday was beautiful. I had my window wide open all day. I could hear Common Ravens all day long and at one point got to watch four of them flying in pairs in a thermal while they called. A red-shouldred hawk flew up to join them in flight. Raptors were migrating all day long. I saw multiple bald eagles as well as red-tailed hawks. I watched a red-bellied woodpecker working on a next cavity and we boiled up more maple syrup. At the end of the day I was able to savor my first sip of 2012 syrup and it was fantastic. I saw on one of the listserves that someone saw an eastern meadowlark in Minneapolis. That's the first report I've seen. Started to hear multiple reports of both wood and deer ticks!

Wednesday I took a day off from work to go birding with my mom. I've made a deal with myself to go birding more this year at places other then my work and I'm planning to take some PTO to make that happen. Our first stop was the Bass ponds in Bloomington. There was virtually nothing in the ponds themselves but waterfowl was present out on long meadow lake. Unfortunately when we were there in the morning the sun was back lighting all of the birds which made ID more difficult. Still we raked in a good number of birds. We saw:

Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Wood Duck
Mallard 
Canvasback 
Redhead 
Ring-necked Duck 
Lesser Scaup 
Bufflehead 
Bald Eagle 
American Coot 
Killdeer
gull sp. 
Downy Woodpecker
American Crow 
Black-capped Chickadee 
American Robin 
Fox Sparrow (Red) 
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird 

After an hour we packed up the scope and headed down to Cannon Falls to Lake Byllesby. I had never been there before and it was tricky to find a spot to actually view the birds. We did see a pretty good list though.

Greater White-fronted Goose 
Snow Goose 
Canada Goose 
Gadwall 
American Wigeon 
Mallard 
Northern Shoveler 
Northern Pintail 
Canvasback 
Ring-necked Duck 
Lesser Scaup 
Common Merganser 
Bald Eagle 
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer 
Horned Lark 
Eastern Bluebird 

Combined with a few odd birds I saw here and there that was 30 different species of birds for the day and 15 of them were new for the year. I was hoping to see Cackling Geese and Ross's Geese as well but the views were not good enough to tell for sure.

Thursday was colder which seemed to put a damper on migration. There was virtually no sap running in the sugar bush and any prospects for a sap run were disappearing. We emptied maybe 5 gallons of sap out of 50 trees. Not very impressive. All told this season we've collected only 6% of our usual harvest. Stock up on Maple Syrup while you can. The price is about to jump. We're essentially looking at a total crop failure at this point.

Friday was gorgeous again and I saw first of the year Fox Sparrow hanging out under the feeders at work. He was accompanied by the first eastern chipmunk I've seen as well.

Saturday I taught Maple Syruping classes and for the first time in my decade long career teaching about the process I did so in shorts and a t-shirt. Some of the Maple Trees had already started to bloom. Needless to say the trees were not running. I was, however, delighted to hear the first of the year Eastern Phoebe immediately upon opening my car door in the morning. I was decidedly less enthusiastic about the first deer tick I found on my leg at the end of the day. Western Chorus Frogs were calling enthusiastically.

Sunday I drove around my neighborhood a bit to check out what was happening with the onslaught of spring. I headed down to Lake Como to look for waterfowl and enjoy a Belgian waffle. There's really no finer way to start the day. I was surprised to find there was absolutely no trace of ice on Como. When I left the nature center on Saturday the ice on area lakes all looked black and rotten but it still covered something like 98% of the surface. The ice seemed to disappear overnight. I also stopped in at Lake Josephine and McCarrons and they were completely ice free as well.

The Week Ahead:
Stop by your local pond to listen for western chorus frogs. They sound like someone running their fingernail down a comb. They should also be joined this week by Wood Frogs, which sound like a bunch of funny ducks quacking and spring peepers that simply let out a deafening peep quite disproportionate to their size. Watch for all kinds of plant activity this week as well. Lawns will green up substantially, magnolias will bloom and many garden plants will be peeking up from the soil.

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Monday Phenology: March 12, 2012

Time for my rant about Daylight Saving Time. It doesn't save anything. All it does is shift everything earlier so it feels like the sun stays up later. If you have little kids it is awful as you have to convince them to go to bed at 8:00 at night even though their body tells them it is only 7:00. You then have to wake them up at what their body tells them is 5:00 am. This is a no win situation. Now the little extra light at the end of the day is kinda nice but come summer it is ridiculous when the sun is still up at 10:00 pm. Maybe down south it isn't such a big deal but I tell you up here in Minnesota we're half way to the North pole at the 45th parallel. It feels like the sun never sets in the summer. That's great f you love the sun, and you know I do, but getting the aforementioned preschooler to go to bed at 8:00 when the sun won't set for another two hours requires some form of demonic magic.

Speaking of the sun! Here's your stats. The sun rose this morning at 7:30 AM (6:30 in reality) and set again at 7:15 PM (6:15 in reality) That gave us 11 hours 45 minutes and 42 seconds of sunlight. We're gaining over three minutes a day now. Astute readers/listeners will no doubt remember that it was exactly 14 days ago that we crossed into an 11 hour day. We're now very close to 12 hours of daylight which is of course the equilux. Wait, wha? The Equilux? For those of you that learned that the Equinox is the day of equal light and darkness I'm afraid you were mislead. The day of equal day and night is the equilux. The equinox is actually the day the earth's axis is tinted neither toward nor away from the sun. The equilux will be March 17th this year while the equinox will not be until March 20th. 

Here's your week in review:

Monday it was cold out but chickadees were singing with more enthusiasm. It may be my imagination but they seemed to be more ardent about actually setting up territory. I counted at least 20 trumpeter swans in a farm field near work. I'd seen as many as a dozen all winter but this was a larger number. I had to wonder if some migratory birds might have joined them? Jim Fitzpatrick, the director down at Carpenter Nature Center at the southern end of Washington County sent me a note to say that the Blue Jays were doing their territorial "pump handle" call. Someone at Birds and Beers in the evening told me he'd seen canvasback.
Tuesday Birdchick reported robins, cardinals, house finches & red-winged blackbirds singing territory songs at Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary in St. Paul. I heard woodpeckers doing territorial drumming in the woods at work and when we went out to tap all of our maple trees we heard the first Red-shouldered Hawk of the year calling as it soared overhead. We tend to hear them every year when we go out to tap. In the morning my son spotted Canada Geese flying overhead as we got into the car. They started to honk as they flew north. I was surprised to realize they were the first ones of the year I'd seen. White-breasted nuthatches were doing their nasal whe, whe, whe territory call as well.

Wednesday on the way to work I pulled off the road to take in the beauty of the first Eastern Bluebird of the year sitting on a telephone wire. I had gotten reports earlier in the year of a flock of bluebirds hanging out in the forest near work but this was a male that seemed to be on territory. Was it a bird that stayed or a migrant? No way to know. There were also a couple of migrating groups of Canada Geese flying overhead. When I arrived at work the American Robins in the woods were tentatively singing their spring song. It wasn't loud and full force yet but it was a start. A barred owl showed up outside the classroom window at work and was still hanging around when I left at the end of the day. I was able to get some nice shots with my new camera. There was a report on one of the list serves that an American Woodcock was singing on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota just after the sun set. Go woodcock! Jim Fitzpatrick, the director down at Carpenter Nature Center reported that a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds had shown up down there.

Thursday I was surprised when I let the dog out and opened the door to a beautiful light snow. It coated the ice covered ground and made for a delightfully slippery morning. I taught a weather class which seemed appropriate.

Saturday the day began with a new year bird. A male and female pair of House Finches were at my bird feeders. The house finch was bird number 52 for me this year. It is funny it took this long to see one. They aren't exactly rare. I think it is because I decided to stop using cheap bird food in my feeders. I pretty much only use black oil sunflower seeds now because so much millet was just being wasted on the ground. I recently put out some hulled sunflower seeds and the finches were able to eat those so they finally came around. Elizabeth in Hugo sent me an email about a Northern Harrier and Blackbirds near her home.

Sunday morning was so beautiful I fired up the moped and cruised around Lake Como. There were some small spots of open water near the shore but I only saw Canada Geese. Elizabeth in Hugo heard Sandhill Cranes and Killdeer as well. Migration is really picking up. I haven't heard either of these yet but expect to soon.

What to expect this week:

Migration and warm weather. This is going to be an incredible week. The forecasted LOW temperature for the week is 43°. Large numbers of early migrants will be coming though. There have already been reports of large migrating flocks of snow geese, greater white fronted geese and Canada geese moving into the area and they will greatly increase in numbers during the week. Winds look to be coming generally out of the south all week which should help speed up migration even more. Watch for killdeer in open fields and listen for early woodcocks peenting in the evenings. Enjoy the Equilux on Saturday.

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Monday Phenology, March 5th 2012

We're gaining sunlight fast and furious now. The sun came up this Monday morning at 6:43 AM and set at 6:06 PM. We've gained almost a half hour of sunlight since last Monday! Every day this week will have three minutes more sunlight than the day before.  Go ahead and snow, I don't care. There's NO way it can last with this much sunlight. On Wednesday the sun will for the first time reach 40° high in the sky and creep a little higher each day. That will be more than 10° higher than on the same date last month.

Nature's week in review

Last Monday we got 11 hours of sunlight for the first time since October 15th.

Tuesday we started out with a few flakes and they quickly died off. The giant snowstorm predicted didn't materialize in the twin cities but they had white-out conditions up on the north shore of Superior. At 3am Wednesday morning I awoke to the sound of frozen rain drops hitting the roof.

Wednesday I still made it to work. Why is that any surprise? Some people didn't. There was some very light freezing rain and about 4 inches of heavy snow in some spots but the plows did a wonderful job of clearing it all away. That is what the plows are for. When did Minnesotans become so wimpy? We used to get snow measured in feet and shrug it off. Now we get a couple of inches of snow and they cancel school. It boggles the mind. We've become Seattle only that isn't fair to Seattle. They don't have plows there to handle the snow so it is understandable when they close down the city for snow. We have plows, we're prepared for this. On a cheerful note, my new lens arrived for my camera and there was a large flock of Horned Larks on the way home so I got a little practice with it. I still need more practice.

Thursday the warm-up began and snow melted like mad. Snow fleas were once again out on top of the snow. I wasn't sure in last weeks podcast how to classify snow fleas (springtails). I was fairly sure they were not technically insects. It turns out they are hexapods, so they have six legs but they are not insects. They are a type of arthropod as I had suspected. The warmer weather also melted the last of the snow on top of my rain gauge and I was able to get an official reading on the amount of precipitation for the Tuesday/Wednesday storm. The Twin Cities Naturalist official gauge recorded 1.65 inches of precipitation. Generally snow is 10x rainfall so if all that precip had fallen as snow we would have been looking at little less than a foot and a half of snow. I'm happy we were south of the snow line on this one. The four inches or so we got was plenty. We tapped the first maple tree at work and it was indeed dripping sap. I'm getting excited for maple syrup season.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday I had were just a blur of non-phenologically related errands so nothing to report.

The week ahead:

I mentioned this last week as well but be on the lookout for the first of the season American Kestrels. We usually start seeing reports as early as this week and with our milder winter it would not surprise me to see them soon. While not widespread, we'll probably see a few reports of red-winged blackbirds singing on territory this week. Don't expect them in large numbers yet but early arrivals will start to show up soon.

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Monday Phenology: February 27, 2012

The sun rose this morning at 6:55 AM and set at 5:57 PM. That means for the first time since October 15th we finally got 11 hours of sun.  Bring on the spring.

Nature's Week in Review

Monday was beautiful in the morning with sun, it was actually warmer in the afternoon as temps hit 36 or so but by then the sun was gone and snow was on the way. Light flakes started to fall in the twin cities by dinner and by the time I went to bed the snowplows were rumbling down the street. I heard from Jim Fitzpatrick, the director of Carpenter Nature Center that he first saw Horned Larks down in the Hastings area last week. This increases my hopes that they will show up soon north of the cities.

Tuesday morning I measured snowfall both in St. Paul and out at the nature center in Marine on St. Croix. In both locations we had 3.75 inches of snow. We lost half an inch of snow by the end of the day due to melting and consolidation. I thought I caught a glimpse of a horned lark on the way home.

Wednesday the snow in rain gauge melted. Turns out the snow that fell on Monday night contained 0.4 inches of water. On the way home I got a very nice view of a horned lark.

Thursday the springtails a.k.a. snowfleas were out in great numbers.

Friday I had the day off from work so I figured, what the heck, and drove up to Duluth to look for gulls with Erik Bruhnke. Erik is great at gull ID which is an area I am woefully uneducated. I picked up my first Herring Gull and Ring-billed gulls of the year. There were also two lifers on the trip. I saw a number of Thayer's Gulls and both races of Iceland Gull. When we first arrived, Erik spotted a migrating Northern Goshawk heading north. Erik is a professional birding guide who leads personalized and affordable birding trips. He knows his stuff any anyone looking for a guide in northern Minnesota should check him out. He's especially knowledgeable about Sax-Zim Bog and is the guy to call if you are looking for boreal species. You can get more information at his website.

Saturday I headed down to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha with the volunteers from work. At the southern end of Lake Pepin I spotted my first Common Mergansers of the year. As we quickly drive by I counted around 20 but I'm sure there were many more just our of sight. Eagles were not as easy to see as in other years due to the lack of snow and ice. An official count this winter put the population numbers around Wabasha in the thousands but we counted fewer than 20 the entire trip. There is a lot of open water which means the eagles are not as concentrated together this year.

What to watch for in the week ahead. 

I've seen just a couple reports of Kestrels so far this year and more should come out this next week. Keep your eyes open for the early birds. Within the next two weeks we should see more of them. An end of the winter storm might bring snow to parts of Minnesota but it looks like rain for the Twin Cities.

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Monday Phenology: February 20, 1920

Monday will be a big day for the sun. The sun will rise at 7:06 and set giving us 5:47 PM giving us 10 hours 40 minutes and 35 seconds of sunlight. We're not quite at 11 hours yet but as of Monday we'll be gaining three minutes of sunlight per day.

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday a light snow began to fall in the afternoon. It was so light I joked that it was hardly there. I was surprised when snowplows began to run down my street by the evening. They were likely mostly out to put down sand and salt though we did get a little accumulation. At my house it appeared to be about half an inch.

Tuesday was a cold valentine's day. On the way home I spotted a flock of birds crossing the road. As I approached I could see they were all landing in a very large bare tree a few hundred feet off the road. I pulled over to watch as more and more birds flew into the tree. I pulled out my binoculars and could see they were American Robins. It was hard to get an exact count but I would put the numbers at slightly more than 100 birds. It was an impressive sight.

Wednesday sunny till noon then overcast and then snow. First a light few flakes then it really came down. In the morning I had to go outside to manually reposition our web cam we have on a bird feeder. During the night, raccoons had used it as a launching off point to raid the feeder. The camera was tipped away from the feeder and there were muddy footprints all over the lens and housing.

Thursday the first American Robins appeared on site in the morning. I would not be surprised of overwintering birds had been on site earlier in the year and we just missed them. Based on the 100+ I saw just a few miles away on Tuesday it would be very possible. Overall, Thursday was a Beautiful day with a high of 36°. The sun made it feel warmer and a quick look out the window at the wet sidewalks made it clear that we lost snow pack. There were reports online of a hermit thrush. There have been many interesting reports of lone birds this winter but it is unclear of these are migrants or birds that have stuck around during a mild winter. Birds that are sticking around are likely heading further afield than their usual winter haunts as the temps rise and there are other feeding opportunities. This movement probably causes an increase in sightings. For the second day in a row I had to reposition the web cam in the morning because of raccoons. They are out on these warm evenings as they look for food. Hopefully I've raccoon proofed the camera this time.

Friday I wasn't sure what to make when my co-worker Julie told me about her morning sighting of a Scarlet Tanager while driving to work. She got a nice look and watched it fly right in front of her car as she drove down the road. She watched it the entire time it moved from one side of the road until it disappeared on the other side. It was bright red with black wings. She went though all possibilities of what else it could be but couldn't think of anything. The only other red bird around would be the Northern Cardinal but they don't have black wings. Julie has seen Scarlet Tanagers on site many times and swears by her identification even though she finds it incredible herself. According to e-bird the state record earliest Scarlet Tanager was reported by Michael Huber on May 2, 1998 at Hyland Lake Park Reserve. This would be over two months earlier than the state record.There is, of course, the possibility that this is a bird that overwintered. The latest reported Scarlet Tanager in the state was November 10th back in 1996 but in 1987 there was a Summer Tanager reported at Carlos Avery WMA as late as December 5. If a tanager can survive well into December in Minnesota it is conceivable with the warm winter we've had that a bird could just stick it out. Do I think that's really what happened? I'm not so sure. I think there's a good chance she saw a white-winged crossbill. I checked on snow at the end of the day and there was virtually no snow anywhere but on north facing slopes in the woods. 


Saturday I headed out of town for a valentine's day getaway and other than the fact that it was hot this weekend, I have nothing else to report.


What to watch for:

We'll come close to an 11 hour day but won't quite get there until next Monday. According to my records I saw Horned Larks, those bringers of spring, on February 22 last year. The 22nd is next Wednesday. Keep your eyes open along rural roadsides. There have already been reports of Horned Larks just south of the Twin Cities.

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Monday Phenology: February 13, 2012

The sun came up this morning at 7:17 AM. That's still an hour after I wake up so not a lot of joy there. We've pushed sunset back to 5:37 PM though. That gives us 10 hours, 19 minutes and 54 seconds of sunlight but who's counting right?

Here's Nature's week in Review:

Monday The cardinals singing and it was pretty nice out. It was the last warm day of the week.

Tuesday was much colder but sunny. A lone European Starling was singing a cheerful song from the top of the trees at my son's daycare in the morning. He was there every pretty much every morning for the rest of the week as well. They may be exotic species but it was nice to hear him sing.

Wednesday morning I was about to leave work when my co-worker Paul saw a bird fly past the windows behind me. We grabbed binoculars off our desks and were delighted to watch a Barred Owl perch up about one hundred feet away across a clearing. We had a beautiful view as it searched for food. The owl was my 42nd bird species for the year in Minnesota. I haven't gone chasing after gulls and such this winter so that number could be higher if I was really trying. Wednesday didn't seem nearly as cold as they were predicting but another factor is that the sun's intensity feels warmer this far from the solstice so even when the temperature is low a bright sun can feel warm.

Thursday we dipped down into colder temperatures but the bright sun made it feel not so bad. This has just been a really mild winter. We've only had three sub-zero nighttime temperatures for the entire winter which is kind of a joke. Julie in Mahtomedi tells me she has a saw-whet owl calling at night near her house. I was actually going to tell people to listen for them next week as this is when they start to call.

Friday was the coldest day of the week and it was overcast as well which meant we didn't have direct sun warming us up. In the morning there was delicate tiny snowflakes occasionally falling but they were easy to miss. It was easiest to notice when they accumulated on rooftops and then blew off in the wind.

Saturday I helped celebrate Darwin Day at the Science Museum of Minnesota. I wasn't able to get outside but it was fun to talk with folks about what a professional naturalist does and answer their natural history questions. A migraine headache and weekend long visit from the in-laws meant I didn't get out to observe any phenology on the weekend.


The week ahead:
The national weather service is predicting a dusting of snow for the twin cities today but that's it for the week. Those further south in Minnesota may get a couple of inches at the most over the next few days. Weather wise it will be partly cloudy all week. Tuesday though Thursday it should be just above freezing with 5-10 mile per hour winds so I expect that we'll see at least a little more melting of what little snow we have. Male American Goldfinches should have some yellow feathers by now. Take a look with binoculars when they visit your feeders. This Thursday one year ago we hit a high of 52°, even with our mild winter we won't get there this year. One year ago Friday I got reports of people hearing Northern Saw-whet owls calling consistently from the woods. It was fun to hear that Julie in Mahtomedi started hearing them this year at the same time.  They are setting up territory now. Head out to listen for them at night. They sound a bit like the beeping of a truck backing up, only with hoots. 

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Monday Phenology: February 6, 2012

Good evening! Jupiter is gorgeous in the sky tonight as is the moon. The sun set at 5:27 pm today which was almost exactly 10 hours after it rose at 7:27 am. Today was 2 minutes 42 seconds longer than yesterday.

Here's Nature's Week in Review:

Monday was a gorgeous day. We topped out at 44° F in the Twin Cities and the snow composition sure changed. I had tried to make a few snowballs on the weekend and the snow was so dry it wouldn't stick. The warmer weather put and end to that and it was a snowball wonderland out there.

Tuesday I heard Northern Cardinals singing in the morning. This is the second time this year. I last heard them back on January 5th. I expect their call will become more and more common in the coming weeks. Two cardinals flew across the road in front of my car as I drove to work. They really are spectacular birds. Tuesday turned out to be even warmer than Monday as our faux-winter continued. I noticed the buds on maple trees were very swollen. They looked like they do in March when we tap maple trees. I was thinking the sap might be running and sure enough out in the sugar bush the sap was running out of some of the trees. Incredible. A neighbor of the nature center called to tell me about a flock of bluebirds at her house. There were about fifteen of them drinking and bathing in melting snow from a pole barn roof. I'm thinking this may be a winter flock that has just stuck around the St. Croix River. They were seen a couple more times during the week.

Wednesday a report came across the listservs of a lone Red-winged Blackbird on the shore of Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. It was apparently just outside of the Roberts Bird Sanctuary. Is this a lone errant bird or a phenological sign of spring. Hard to say.


Thursday was groundhog's day and we started off foggy. That groundhog who shall not be named out east saw his shadow and was scared back inside meaning six more weeks of winter for those poor easterners. We midwesterners don't believe such nonsense. The stuffed groundhog I took outside on in the morning did not see his shadow and thus winter will soon be over.

Friday was an oddly quiet morning. I felt like the whole world was moving just a little slower and a little quieter. Maybe it was just the fact that we were on day two of thick fog. I kept expecting the fog to burn off Thursday but it never did. When I woke up on Friday it was still there. Chickadees were singing in the morning and it seemed to have a new vigor. Whereas it seemed tentative in the past month or so, Friday morning they were getting serious about territory and mating. There were several calling back and forth. The warm weather also stirred up a queen paper wasp and she showed up in our kitchen at work. All wasps but the queen die in the fall so any wasp you see this time of year is a queen. MSP airport reported 54 hours straight of fog on Friday.

Saturday morning was host to one of the most wonderful sights of the winter. Hoar frost had formed on nearly every exposed surface over night and it was striking in the sun. I went to an event with a friend in the morning and so I was inside for a few hours. When I came back out I expected the frost to all be gone but instead it had grown even more impressive! It was a truly spectacular sight and I'm kicking myself for not getting out with a camera. At least one eagle was present at the Keller Lake nest site as I drove home.

The Week Ahead:
Things are starting out nice on Monday but then we head back into the cold as temps dip down into the teens and 20s. There's only a crust of snow on the ground and southern exposed hillsides are even showing some brown. I don't think the mass of cold air that pushes in this week is going to be able to take hold for long. We could be coming back up to at least the mid 30s by next week. Take a look at the trees this week, while we think of leaves falling in the autumn, you'll notice the white oaks still have their leaves. They keep them all winter long and drop them in the spring. Watch bald eagle nests this week as well. Many eagles are already back at their nests sprucing them up for the spring. This week we should hear a large increase in territorial woodpecker drumming as they get serious about territories. My notes even show I found wood shavings on the snow this same week last year which could have been a sign of some very early woodpecker nest building.

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Monday Phenology: January 30, 2012

Feel that sun! The sun rose to a beautiful day this morning at 7:35 AM and set at 5:17 PM. The day was 9 hours, 41 minutes and 51 seconds long. We're gaining 2 minutes, 29 seconds per day.  

Perhaps more important than the length of daylight is the angle of the noon sun. At its highest point, the sun rises to a height of 27.4°. Compare that to the solstice when it was 21.6°. That's only a 6° difference but you can feel it. That's the same angle of sun as on November 12th. The angle will change quickly now. By the end of February we'll be at 37.1°.

With my cold this week, I'm holding off on the podcast so you'll have to actually read this week's phenology.

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday was a beautiful snowy day and it finally started to look like winter. It wasn't a big snow, perhaps three inches at the most but it made a difference. I spent the evening at Birds and Beers hanging out with birders, meeting new people and sharing stories. An expired parking meter and an impending earache ended my evening early but it was nice to see everyone.

Tuesday the usual bird suspectes were out and so were the mammals. A fresh coat of snow is wonderful for tracking wildlife. I don't think I mentioned in the past update that I saw a least weasel last week. I've worked at the nature center for ten years and while I'd seen their tracks before, I'd never seen one in person. The cute litle guy was hiding in a wood pile. They are awesome little predators and they win my award for the cutest animal in the woods.

Wednesday I had the day off from work in preparation for Saturday's big Winter Blizzard Blast event at work. I wish I could say I was tired in the morning from staying up watching the northern lights we were predicted to see. When I recorded last week's podcast I said we had a good chance of aurora Tuesday night and the prediction was for clear skies. Alas, the clear skies didn't pan out and we were completely socked in. On the bright side, it didn't matter anyhow as the show was over by the time night fell. The CME from the sun that was to cause the aurora hit at 9:00 am CDT and the resulting geomagnetic storm had mostly subsided by the time it was dark in North America. The storm did reach a k-index of 5 which means it would have been visible in Mid-latitude states like Minnesota if it had been dark. The good news is that the sun is still very active and there are likely to be more flares and CMEs from the sun in the coming months.

While driving around on Wednesday I happened to notice the shoreview transmission towers in the distance. They are each a little over 1,400 feet tall making them some of the tallest structures in the state. They are almost twice the height of the IDS tower in downtown Minneapolis. The towers are painted in alternating bands of red and white to make them more visible. What caught my attention was that the entire upper halves of all three towers were completely white. The towers by law have to be painted with alternating red and white sections. I believe on these towers each section is 200 feet in length. The upper sections are painted so I'm assuming the all white tops were the result of  some sort of frost effect caused by a differing air layer starting around 700 feet up. Very interesting to see.

Thursday I saw my first pheasant of the year. I'd heard them much earlier. This was my 41st bird species for Minnesota this year. There have been some unusual birds around town like a Townsend's Solitaire, Varied Thrush and a number of gull species but I've been content to watch for the locals.

Friday morning there was a nice sun pillar then light snow came on in the afternoon. I didn't get out much during the day but I did see the results of the winter golden eagle survey. Volunteers counting overwintering golden eagles long the Mississippi River in Southeastern MN and Western Wisconsin counted a record 125 birds!


Saturday was our Winter Blizzard Blast at work and I spent much of my time on the lake. The ice was 14 inches thick and we put an underwater video camera in the lake to show the public what fish are down there. We felt safe on 14 inches of ice but there can be a lot of variation and I know several lakes have been closed to vehicles due to thin ice. Putting your truck through the ice is an expensive lesson to learn. According to the Minnesota DNR, you need 12-15  of ice to safely hold a full size truck. 14 inches is kind of iffy in my book if my vehicle is on the line. Shoreline springs, currents and other factors can greatly reduce thickness in lakes so now's not the time to be driving on unknown ice. You only need 4 inches of ice to support a person so lakes are generally safe to walk on but still exercise caution. With the camera and sampling methods we saw lots of activity under the ice from fish to macroinvertebrates.

The week ahead:

Black bears are giving birth in their dens this week. Owls laying eggs depending on where you are, a little earlier to the south, a week or so later in the North. I haven't seen any springtails yet (snowfleas) but with the warm weather they should be out this week.

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Monday Phenology: January 23, 2012

Our last full week of January! The sun rose this morning at 7:42 AM and set again at 5:08 PM. I'm starting to enjoy having some extra sun in the mornings. We now have 9 hours 25 minutes and 47 seconds of daylight and we're gaining a little over 2 minutes per day. While most of the time gained is at the end of the day we did start gaining light in the mornings back on January 7th. We've gained 8 minutes in the morning since the 7th so, well, you've got those 8 minutes you need in the morning now to get spectacular abs.

Your Week in Review:


Tuesday I continued to see pair flights of mallards. This is yet another positive sign that spring is coming. I started seeing this several weeks ago and mentioned it on the podcast but at the time the ducks seems to be sometimes in pairs and sometimes in groups. Now when I'm seeing them flying they seem to be almost always paired up. Pair flights are a way for the ducks to reinforce their pair bond. Think of them as duck dating.

Wednesday was cold and temps continued to drop as some of the first truly arctic air of the winter came down out of Canada. Meteorologists and weather geeks of all stripes watched the temperature inch closer and closer to zero as the clock approached midnight. If the mercury dropped to -1 before midnight, we'd tie the record for the latest in the winter sub-zero temperature reading, if it dipped below after midnight, i.e. on Thursday, we'd have a new record. Alas, the official temperature at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport hit -1 just before midnight and we tied the records of 2002. Interestingly, the 2002 temp is also a tie with 1889.

Thursday was the coldest morning of the year which is no surprise given that we dropped into the sub-zero range before midnight on Wednesday. We had our first daytime sub-zero temps of the winter which was doubly shocking. I was shocked that it took so long and then shocked by the reality of the bitter cold. We've had it easy this year. When I arrived at work it was -14° and it kept dropping from there. An hour or so later it was -17 which was the coldest reading I personally saw that day. In spite of the cold, I still heard a Black-capped Chickadee singing the spring mating song.

Friday was a beautiful snowy day.

Saturday there was a prediction of Northern Lights in the evening. They were a little delayed in arriving but that didn't really matter as it was cloudy in Minnesota anyhow. We've had bad luck seeing the aurora lately due to clouds.

The week ahead:

There was another large cornonal mass ejection (CME) from the surface of the sun on Monday??? It was also directed toward the earth. The material is expected to hit the earth on Tuesday the 24th and there is an elevated chance for aurora on Tuesday night. They may even be visible from Mid-latitude states such as Minnesota. The evening sky forecast at this point looks fairly good for clear skies on Tuesday night so we might be in luck this time around. Best estimates at this point are for up to 30% cloud cover rolling in around sunset but things will improve slightly as the evening goes on. Predictions show clear skies by 11:00 pm.

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Monday Phenology: January 16,2012

Much like the US Post Office, Monday Phenology is closed on holidays. So, with that in mind, I present a special Tuesday edition of Monday Phenology.

The sun crept up over the horizon this morning at 7:47 AM and set again at 4:58 PM. We gained about eleven and a half minutes from last Monday so we're at 9 hours 10 minutes and 57 seconds of sunlight. Spring may be coming second by second but the deep of winter is just around the corner.

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday of last week was warm and a just a prelude to Tuesday. We recorded a high of 46° but that was in the shade in the middle of the woods. I still hadn't see a Hairy Woodpecker yet in 2012 and it was starting to bug me.

Tuesday was wonderful and warm. We need days like this in the winter to help us though. There were snow craneflies flying around and a lone house fly at the windows at work. It is always cool and nothing short of incredible to see insects in the winter since they are exothermic i.e. cold blooded. The Hairy Woodpecker still eluded me. While out on a hike it felt like spring and the warm weather made it feel like warblers were just over the next hill about to come into view.

Wednesday was a sudden shock to the system after the heat wave of Tuesday. The day just got colder and colder. I took a hike with some volunteers in the afternoon. We spooked some deer but otherwise it was pretty quiet wildlife wise. We did see some coyote tracks. Still no Hairy Woodpecker.

The rest of the work week was fairly uneventful except for Friday morning. I left a planning meeting early to run out to an outreach event at a school and sure enough I heard loud tapping on a nearby tree. I looked up to see my first Hairy Woodpecker of the year. This was a good sign of things to come for the weekend.

Saturday began a long holiday weekend and I spent the entire day birding. I woke up a little after 4:00 am and headed out to meet friends and head up to Sax-Zim Bog for some northern birding. We arrived on the outskirts of the bog area just as the sun rose. We spent the entire day driving to various sites looking for our target species. I had never made it up there so I was able to add a few "lifers" to my bird list. I saw my first ever Boreal Chickadee, Black-Backed Woodpecker, Black-billed Magpie and Great-Grey Owl. In addition to the lifers, I we tallied up a bunch more species. Our list for the day included, Ruffed Grouse, Wild Turkey, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Downy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Shrike, Gray Jay, Blue Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Grosbeak, White-winged Crossbill, Common Redpoll, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch and Evening Grosbeak. It was quite a day of birding.

The Week Ahead:

Winter will finally catch up to us, at least the cold part. There's some super cold air hanging out just north of the Canadian Border (super cold as in-35) and there's a good chance it will start to spill south later this week. We'll likely see our first sub-zero morning temperatures Thursday. Thursday will be a special brand of cold we've not felt since last winter. We're talking a high near zero. Where'd I put those snow pants?

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Monday Phonology: January 9th, 2012

I'm getting back into the swing of things with phenology now that the holidays are over. The sun rose Monday morning at 7:50 AM and set at 4:50 PM. I work until 4:30 so I can tell you I am really excited about those 20 minutes of sunlight in the evening. It isn't a lot but it already makes a difference. The previous Monday, sunset was at 4:42 so we gained about 8 minutes at the end of the day. Here's the interesting thing, sunrise for both of the last Mondays were only one minute apart. We're definitely gaining more at the end of the day than the beginning. Just for fun let's compare to the solstice back on December 21st. On the solstice, the sun rose at 7:34 and set at 4:34 for 8 hours, 45 minutes and 58 seconds of daylight. Monday, January 9th had 8 hours, 59 minutes and 28 seconds of daylight. We've gained about 14 minutes of daylight so far and we gain it faster and faster now. We're gaining about 1 minute and 22 seconds per day now. .

Here's your week in review:

Tuesday: I started my bird list for the year. I added the usual suspects at work but a few were missing. No hairy or pileated woodpecker, though there were downy and red-bellied. No juncos, or blue jays. These things will all show up though. I saw a flock along the side of the road I assumed were American Tree Sparrows and will check tomorrow. On the way home, five beautiful Trumpeter Swans flew right over my car, very low. It was an awesome way to add them to my year list. They circled around a farm field and stirred up a large flock of birds. I had a hunch what they were but pulled over to double check. Indeed, the flock was entirely snow buntings p, a great find for my first day out.

Wednesday on the way to work I spotted my first of the year Red-tailed hawks and first of the year Starlings. I also stopped to check on the flock I'd seen feeding on the side of the road the day before and sure enough they were American Tree Sparrows. Adding those three to my list on e-bird brings me to a whopping 14 species for the year. In the afternoon I took a hike at work looking for long-eared owls. It was a bit of a long shot and we missed. We did find a flock of at least 35 cedar waxwings, some American Tree Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays, Crows and one purple finch. We also heard pheasants but did not see them. Some people list every bird they encounter, whether it be seen or heard. Personally, I don't count birds I just hear. There is value in recording these things, for example in ebird, but for me it is all about seeing birds. I'm not too worried about not seeing a pheasant this year.

Thursday I woke up and was greeted by the predawn singing of a Northern Cardinal in my neighbor's yard. It couldn't see him but it sounded beautiful.

Friday I headed down into Marine on St. Croix to pick up some lunch and some items at the St. Croix Watershed Research Station. On the way I saw some great winter birds including first of the year Common Redpolls, Bald Eagle, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal and Dark-eyed Junco. This brought me to 25 species for the year. Not too bad considering these are just the species I have run into and haven't really put any serious effort into finding birds. The Hairy Woodpecker annoyingly eludes me.

I took the weekend off from birds and phenology and put my focus elsewhere.

The week ahead:
Things will start off with crazy heat for the winter. Temps may get into the 50s and break records. Watch for winter insects out and about with the warmth. This will be a great opportunity to see winter craneflies out and about.

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Monday Phenology: Weird Mini Edition

I'm taking the phenology a bit easy this holiday week but there were some sightings to share. Just between you and me let's call this a Mini-Midweek-Phenology-looking-at-last-week-thing. 

These are all from the week previous, not this week.

Monday I was really noticing the dark. We're so close to the solstice the days are pretty short now. The lack of snow makes it seem not as bad though, at least in my opinion.

Tuesday I saw a bald eagle fly over the nature center as I walked to the front door in the morning. After lunch, my co-worker Paul and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather to cut down some large Buckthorn seed trees. On our walk down the driveway we heard our first Black-capped Chickadee singing the spring Hey Sweetie song. An excellent early sign of spring and the solstice was still two days away.

Wednesday was a wonderful winter solstice. The sun was still below the horizon and there was a light coating of frost on the ground as I stepped outside. I was able to watch the sun rise during my long commute to work. It was a gorgeous orange globe as it rose through the trees. When I got close to work, a trio of trumpeter swans rose out of a corn field and flew across the road in front of me, heading toward the rising sun. Absolutely perfect start to the day. It turns out about a dozen swans are hanging out in a corn field near work.

Thursday I had the day off so I dropped off my son at school, swung by work to photograph th Trumpeter Swans in the corn field and then headed down to Point Douglas Park just outside of Hastings MN/Prescott WI, on the St. Croix River. There had been a report of a long-tailed duck there and I wanted to check it out. The wind coming down the river seemed bitterly cold but I've felt worse in other winters. Point Douglas Park is a popular destination for birders on new-year's day. There's usually a small group there trying to kick off their year list with a rarity. For the past few winters this has been the site of an overwintering harlequin duck. On cold winters the water just north of the park and also under the bridge to Wisconsin is some of the only open water around and all kinds of good things can be found. It is a great place to see birds but dress warmly. This year with the warmer weather it was quite challenging to find anything as the open water extends for a good distance up river from the park. Some birds were even out of range of a spotting scope. I saw hundreds and hundreds of Common Mergansers, a small flock of Canada geese and a random smattering of common goldeneyes. The goldeneyes were of particular interest as reports had it that the long-tailed duck was very loosely hanging out with them. I scanned back and forth in the cold with no sign of the duck. Before I gave up I thought I would check down by the bridge. What I saw there was disheartening. The river was open for a good distance downstream as well. There was a good chance the duck was on the other side of the road with no good safe spot to set up a scope. Before packing things in I decided to scan the water again from this other angle. Sure enough, a ghostly camouflaged bird appeared in my scope. It was the long-tailed duck and it was a lifer. I took a good look and then decided to try again from my original spot. It should have given me a much better view but alas, I could not relocate the elusive bird. Too much water, too much cold.

Friday I drove my son to school and saw something cool along highway 36. There must be open water somewhere because there is a flock of mallards that fly over the highway throughout the winter. (Incidentally, I know of at least one location with open water all year, there is a little creek behind the Mueller-Bies funeral home on Dale St. near Hwy 36. I've seen mallards there in the middle of the winter.) The mallards I saw on Friday weren't flying in a big group but rather in pairs, if the Chickadees singing at the beginning of the week was the first sign of spring, this is the second. Pair flights are an early sign of spring mating. The birds pair up with their mate and fly together as a way to strengthen the pair bond.

I'd normally tell you at this point what to watch for in the week ahead but it is already Wednesday and the week ahead is already half over. The normal podcast will resume Monday, January 2nd. Enjoy the winter!

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