Astronomy

The Moon will be full on Sunday the 7th. This full moon is sometimes called the Corn Moon, because it’s when corn is about ready for harvest, and sometimes called the Harvest Moon. On Monday the 8th watch for the Moon to rise and you’ll see the planet Saturn very close to it.

Birds

Mallard ducks and Canada geese are noisy as they form flocks and take practice flights in anticipation of migration. They will fly far enough south to find open water and feeding grounds, and continue south as necessary, generally ending up in the southern U.S. or Mexico. Geese often migrate at night, when the cooler air helps keep them from overheating. Hummingbirds are leaving about now, and most Baltimore Orioles have already left our area to start their migration. Orioles, like warblers, are sometimes called “neotropical migrants” meaning they migrate to the tropics of the new world: the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America. Ducks and Geese molted in early summer, gradually dropping their flight feathers and growing in new ones before their migration. But some migrants, including some warblers, stop partway through their migration to grow in new feathers. Their molting site is a place with plenty of food resources for them to rest up, grow new feathers, and then continue to their winter destination.

Mammals

Rabbits, squirrels, raccoons and bats are some of the mammals you might see at Afton. Rabbits and squirrels are active all year. Raccoons are semi-hibernators; they retreat to their dens on cold days but venture out when the weather is mild. Bats are true hibernators. They spend the winter in big groups in a cave or sheltered area called a hibernaculum. The white nose fungus disease afflicting bats spreads easily in the close quarters of the hibernaculum, causing the bats to wake up in the winter. The energy loss associated with waking up before spring often results in death. Please help protect our local bats by staying out of caves; you may unknowingly carry the fungus inside on your shoes or clothing. Bat researchers are making progress on various ways to help protect bats from the fungus; in the meantime it’s up to all of us to do our part by not contributing to the spread of the fungus.

Amphibians and reptiles

Frogs and toads have for the most part stopped calling in the evenings, but you may still see them out and about hunting for insects.

Insects

Butterflies have a variety of strategies to deal with winter. Monarch butterflies make a long epic migration all the way to Mexico, roosting in large groups on trees in the evenings as they travel. Painted Lady butterflies also migrate, but unlike Monarchs they don’t go to the same wintering place every year, and don’t go nearly as far. And when the time comes Mourning Cloak and Eastern Comma butterflies will burrow into leaf litter or creep under tree bark and overwinter as adults. Swallowtail butterflies overwinter in the chrysalis form; the caterpillar forms a chrysalis, then waits patiently until warm weather in spring to complete its metamorphosis into a butterfly.

Dragonflies are about the most amazing fliers on the planet. Take a few minutes this week to watch one changing direction in mid-flight as it hunts. All dragonflies are predators, and will eat anything they can catch, most often midges and mosquitoes. There are many families of dragonflies, and each contains many species. Members of the Skimmer family include the Meadowhawks, Whitefaces, Gliders, and Pennants; they all tend to “skim” through the air. Some skimmers that are still on the wing in mid-September are the White-faced Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk, Variegated Whiteface, Dot-Tailed Whiteface, Wandering Glider, and Hallowe’en Pennant.

Plants

Some of the wildflowers still blooming include Hedge Bindweed, Harebells, Partridge Pea, Sawtooth Sunflowers, and Blood Milkwort.

Others that are among the last wildflowers of we will see blooming are blooming now: Sky- blue Asters, Canada Goldenrod, and White Snakeroot. And where you saw Wild Roses earlier this year, look for their fruit, called rose hips, which many animals like to eat.

Weather observations

Here are some weather observations for this week from past years.

Friday, September 5	2024: showers early, then sunny and pleasant, near 80°; 2023: upper 90s, breezy; 2015: hazy, hot and muggy, near 90°; 2014: high in mid-60s
Saturday, September 6	2023: cool front overnight, with highs only in the 60s; 2020: warming through day, muggy and 83° by afternoon; 2015: thunderstorm, 5/8” rain
Sunday, September 7	2020: near 60° through day; 2016: humid with a high in the upper 70s
Monday, September 8	2020: Cool day starting in the 40s, rising to a high in the 50s; 2010: high 40s overnight
Tuesday, September 9	2020: high temperature of only 50° with light rain; the earliest the high has been this low ever! 2000: record rainfall of 1.79 inches
Wednesday, September 10	2020: sunny and pleasant, in the 60s
Thursday, September 11	2023: cloudy and in the 60s, with light rain in the evening; 2016: a breezy day with high temperature near 80°

Photo/Image credits

All photos copyright Nina Manzi, except:

• Jim Brandenburg, MN Conservation Volunteer
• Dudley Edmondson, MN Conservation Volunteer: Baltimore Oriole
• Jamie Olson Kinne: Eastern Comma Butterfly
• Dean Lokken: Northern Leopard Frog, Rabbit
• Deborah Rose, MN Conservation Volunteer: Bat
• Gary Sater: Full Moon