Phenology is the study of periodic biological phenomena: flowering, breeding, migratory events . It really is a lovely thing to connect with. Below are some old notes of mine, 1995-1997, and just above that, some websites. OK, so this is something I'm going to begin fresh this year! Keep watching.

Phenology

http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/phenology.html

Phenology for St. Olaf College, Spring 2003

http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/biology/lands/phenology_chart/index.html

Phenology 1995-1997

1995

June
6/7/95 Cecropia emerge. (+/- one week).

July

7/28/95 Picnic Bugs appear in great numbers.

August
8/14/95 Cecropia spinning cocoons. (+/© one week).
8/24/95 Green Darner Dragonflies swarming.
Ctenuchid moths thick on wildflowers.
Cicadas begin calling(???)
Underwings showing up.

September
9/1/95 Wooly Bears crossing the road!
9/2/95 Goldenrod blooming: blister beetles, soldier
beetles, assassin bugs (mating) orb weaver spiders
are mature, grasshoppers are mature, (weeks now),
True Katydids are singing (2 weeks now).
Monarchs are abundant, beginning to congregate.
Corn beginning to drop.
Soy beans turning brown.
9/4/95 News that Hawk/Raptor migration has begun.
9/7/95 Blackbirds congregating in flocks.
Coopers Hawk Migrating through.
9/8/95
First Frost (light).
Black Tiger moth caterpillars wandering.
Brown " " with long dark guard hairs wandering. (Feed on smartweed).
Light tan tiger©moth caterpillars also wandering.
First red leaf on burning bush.
Leaves lightly changing (esp. sugar maples).
9/10/95
Cicada males still calling.
Wild plums are ripe.
Grasshoppers thick, mating.
Yellow Jackets abundant.
Blackbirds aggregating.
Monarchs seem absent.
Duckweed still thick.
Crickets still calling.
Bush and True Katydids still calling.
Hummingbirds still feeding.
9/12/95
Goldenrod in peak.
9/13/95
have swifts departed???

9/14/95
Sumac changed (red).
9/22/95
Equinox
Milkweed pods opening.
heard geese at night flying overhead.
Hayfever at its worst.
9/25/95
A few true Wooly Bears wandering.
Flock of flickers congregating in woods.
9/27/95
Flock ("V") of cormorants flying South!
Worst of hayfever seems to be over.
Eastern Milksnake active at night.
Maples have been turning (1 week or more).
Straggling monarch seen.
Giant underwing seen falling under wheels of car.
October

10/1/95
Nocturnal geese flights.
Hayfever over.
Woodfrogs/ peepers/ chorus frogs wandering.
10/3/95
Robins congregating
Maples near peak of color

10/6/95
Snow Geese Flocks (southbound)
Canada Geese " "

10/8/95
Peak of True Wooly Bear Caterpillar Migration.
Peak Fall Colors

10/10/95
Corn harvest (past week)
Indian Summer (last three days).
Roadkill snakes (garter) seeking heat at night.
True Katydid still around (feeble calling).

10/21/95
Bobwhite flocks over shorn fields.
first snow flakes.
flocks of grackles, geese.

10/24/95
pair of bluebirds or buntings.
leaves gone except from oaks.
last mowing, leaves raked.

November
11/2/95
Canada Geese flying in flocks.
11/4/95
Leopard Frogs Nestled on lake bottoms.
half inch of ice on Kelley©Dudley Lake. Water 34 degrees.
open water at Fox Lake Daphnia THICK.
Predatory cladoceran.

1996

February
2/23/96
Ice Diving: leopard frogs are hibernating.
(reports of unusual levels of activity in recent years, frog being caught in minnow traps, and swimming past ice fishing holes.
Hydra thriving on tips of underwater plants.
Horned Larks flying in flocks (preparing to migrate?)

March
3/3/96 28 inches of ice on Fox Lake!
diving reveals a huge bloom of Daphnia, water fleas, and
hydra have multiple, long buds (three per polyp!) Could
the lake be actually more productive in winter?

3/9/96 Weather finally seems to be breaking from subzero.

3/10-3/11
Two Bald Eagles flying North one over Burnsville other over Faribault.

3/12/96
American Widgeon in flock of Mallards in Flooded Field Flock of Grackles
Flock of Robins.

3/15/96
Ice Broke free over Cannon River! Water is open.

April
4/12
Ducks on recently freed gravel-pond (HWY 246). Include Coots,
Mallards, Lesser Scaup, WoodDucks, Blue-Winged Teal, (Swallow??)
(Green Wing Teal, Greater Scaup, Shovelers Buffleheads on Skoglund).

4/14/96 Flock of 10 Northern Snipe feeding pathetically probing the mud of a roadside ditch for insects. 3-4 inches of late©spring snow. One Winter Wren.

4/15/96
First Turkey Vulture over Manitou! Wooly bear caterpillars emerged and walking!

4/18/96
First warm-spring rain. Drove to Cannon City Lake. Amphibian caravan over the highway: all moving away from the large lake (to find breeding puddles?) Collected Tiger salamanders, Leopard frogs (mostly males) and American Toads.

4/19/96¡
Mourning Cloak Butterflies along Norway Valley wood.

4/21/96
Collected Wood frog eggs (early and late gastrulae) from a tiny, grass covered Ox-bow lake in Nerstrand Woods. Wood-frogs calling (since 4/15 at least Sibley Marsh). Kinglets in the trees. Hepatica in full bloom! Trout lilly on its way up. Volvox colonies in full bloom (vernal ponds). Chaoborus larvae!

4/22/96
First Tree swallows. Others earlier, less frequent. First female redwings!

May
5/4/96
First American Toads Calling!!!
Blood-root blooming.
Chipping sparrows calling wildly.
Elderberry budding to bloom.

5/6/96
First Swifts flying over Manitou!

5/6 - 5/10
Warblers arrived.

5/11/96
Wild-flowers In riot at Nerstrand Big Woods. Trout Lillies, Wood Anemones, Dutchman's britches, hepatica and bloodroot blooming, Early Meadow Rue, false rue anemone, sprouting, marsh mallow, bellwort blooming, virginia waterleaf was up, black cohosh was up, trees in bloom (which next year!)

5/12/96
SCUBA Square Lake: Large white egg masses (Fish?) First Peewees.

5/13-5/17
Warblers thick! Redstarts, audubons, yellows...also orioles have arrived.

5/16/96
Mallard in tree on Manitou ducklings hatched and lept from tree! Goslings hatched.

5/17/96
First Nighthawks "buzzing" over Manitou. Gray Tree Frogs Began Calling, Toads calling incessantly.

June
6/1/96
Milkweed plants emerge.

6/8/96
Yellow umbellifera flowering on roadside ditches. Cottonwoods seeding.

6/18/96
First Lightning beetles in Nerstrand. Woodfrogs metamorphose in greenhouse.

6/21/96
Cecropia finally emerged!
Black moth with white spots?
Last years greenfrog tadpoles metamorphosed in greenhouse.

July
7/ 5/96
Milkweed is in bloom. Goldenrod is tall, not yet in bloom.
First Little grasshoppers in our garden.

7/14-16
Adolescent racoons wandering on the roadside.
Basswood (Linden) in bloom (SWEET!)
Blackbirds migrate NW at dusk?
7/16/96
First Cicada calling
Fireflies still busy.
Cecropia caterpillars moulting to second instar.

7/20/96 First long-horn grasshoppers calling (Chickchickchickchick). Green with brown wing-ribs and yellow, short cerci. One inch long.
Catfish fry in shallows of Fox Lk. Lakes are green.
Toad juveniles in garden.
Crow juveniles chasing parents, calling.
First major brood of Minnesota reared Monarchs.
Large, yellow mayfly hatch in Faribault.
"Picnic" bugs appearing. Wood©nymphs flying.

7/23/96 Long-horn grasshoppers (early short species) abundant.
Ragweed not yet in bloom. Monarchs mating.

7/26/96 Milkweed fruiting. Thistles beginning to bloom. Bush
Katydids calling (Kachink). Bushes and hedgerows full
of blackbird juveniles. Picnic bugs are thick! Corn is
tasseling. Maple seeds beginning to brown. Tiger
swallowtail pupated.

7/31/96 Bush katydids thick. True katydids???

August
8/5/96 Milkweed pods thickening
Field Crickets have begun.
Black-eyed susans thickly blooming.

8/8/96 My first hayfever.
Ragweed buds on stalk.
(No goldenrod blooms yet).

8/16-23
Northern Minnesota (Lake of the Woods).
Goldenrod in full bloom (Hayfever). Turkey Vultures abundant. Gray
tree frogs calling from high up in treetops! Far from lakes!!?? (8/22 crayfish were out congregating on shore at night! breeding? (delicious).
Females have ripe eggs.
Wood frog and american toads juveniles abundant on roads. Sphinx and Saturnid caterpillars migrating. Catocola emerging! Beautiful black and whites emerged after strong rains: 8/22. Midges flying in singing swarms. (Entire woods is whining with their song). Change pitch in unison!
Pelicans flying in long ropes and V's. Darner-Dragonflies thick.

8/24/96
Monarchs are aggregating!

8/ 27/96 First leaves (stressed Maples) turning colors.
Crickets and Cicada calls are thick!

September
9/3/96 Nighthawks swarming in the hundreds over the highways and towns.
Below them, swallows, below them, Green Darner Dragonflies are
swarming. A dozen cricket and grasshopper species calling at night. Cicadas at their loudest during the day.

9/10/96 Nighthawks, swallows and swifts are gone! Wooly bears are crossing the
roads. Flies invading indoor locations. (Few swallows still about).

9/13/96 First Frost. Goldenrod thick, sumac red.

9/15/96 Canada Geese staging on the Cannon River. Male polistes wasps out.

9/19/96 Swifts are gone, wooly bears marching across highways. Giant ichneumon
wasps out.

9/20/96 Brown Lacewings abundant.

October
10/1/96 Soy beans harvested in a cloud of dust (terrible allergies).

10/6/96 Nerstrand colors peaked.

10/9/96 Corn Harvest.

10/10/11 First Leaf Dump.

10/14/96 Tiger salamanders crossing campus.

10/16/96 Strong wind/ storms, Second Leaf dump.

10/22/96 Snow Geese Flying.

10/ 24/96 Robins and cedar waxwings flying through in groups, eating berries.

10/31/96 First flocks of horned larks.

November
11/11/96 Ice over neighboring pond.

11/12/96 Ice over the Cannon (Thawed a bit later in week and refroze and thawed).

11/18/96 First Snow bunting flock.
11/20/96 First Snowfall (about five inches).

11/21/96 Flock after flock of Geese flying in the morning. (Canadians).

December

1997

January

February

2/15/97 Chickadees duet.
Cardinals began calling.

2/21/97 Skunk tracks reported.

March

3/8/97 Bluejays Piping. Skunk awake from hibernation and roaming in late
afternoon.

3/9/97/97 2 Robins (roadkill alley).
Adult Bald Eagle soaring over Northfield

3/11/97 3 Redwing Blackbirds! Polistes Wasps emerged (from pupal cases?) all
over campus.

************************************************************************
August 1, 1997

Mud-dauber wasps with leaf-cutter bees and Torymid wasps!
Music Building.

August 15, 1997
Monarch Butterflies amassing in the trees on the Hill.

Tiger Salamanders Crossing the Highways.

August 29.
Robins aggregating! Also starlings, and crows.