Astronomy
The planet Venus moves steadily lower in the eastern sky each morning. Get up early to see it before it disappears in mid-November! Wednesday, November 5th is the Full Beaver Moon. At this time of year beavers are active preparing their winter lodges and stocking food supplies.
Hallowe’en is on Friday the 31st. Hallowe’en is near the cross-quarter day, half-way between the Fall Solstice and the Winter Equinox. The actual halfway point is on November 7th, but the holidays that correspond to the cross-quarter days don’t always exactly match up. Hallowe’en also marks the anniversary of the 1991 Hallowe’en blizzard, with 26.7” of snow falling over the course of two days, and overnight lows dropping into the single digits and even below zero in the following week. Brrrrr!
Birds
White-throated Sparrows are passing through our area heading farther south for winter, still singing their “O Canada” song. Many of the birds that spend the summer at Afton have already left for points farther south, like Meadowlarks, Bobolinks, and even Turkey Vultures. But for some birds who spend the summer farther north, Afton is where they come for the winter! Look for flocks of Dark-eyed Juncos in fields and meadows; the sides of their tails are banded in white, making them easy to identify. And keep a lookout for Red-breasted Nuthatches. Some years they come south to Afton for the winter, and some years they stay farther north.
Mammals
Three species of squirrels live at Afton, and all three remain active through the winter. Gray Squirrels and the larger Fox Squirrels are both “scatter-hoarders”. They prepare for winter by gathering acorns and other hard-shelled nuts, and burying them at a variety of different locations throughout their territories. Gray squirrels are also working on building their leafy nests for winter.
Red Squirrels are much smaller than Gray or Fox Squirrels. They prefer to eat the seeds of conifers, and create a big pile of cones and seeds called a “midden” as a sort of squirrel pantry for winter feeding. If any of the three kinds of squirrels run out of food in their winter caches, they will eat the buds on trees.
Fungi
Fungi have their very own kingdom, just like plants and animals. Even though they look like plants, fungi are actually more closely related to animals! The bracket or shelf fungi are common at Afton. Look for them in the woods, often growing on dead trees. Some of the species you may see are the Artist’s Bracket, Birch Polypore, Turkey Tail, Dryad’s Saddle, Lacquered Polypore, and Chicken of the Woods.
Plants
You might not think that October is a time to look for signs of spring, but if you look in the leaf litter on the forest floor you may see bright green hepatica leaves. They are one of the first wildflowers to bloom in the spring, and get ready for it by growing their leaves in the fall. The snow will cover them up and insulate them through the winter.
Trees
This issue’s featured oak is the White Oak. Like all members of the white oak group, it has rounded lobes, and its acorns take only one season to mature. The acorns are an important food for turkeys, grouse, squirrels, and deer. Note that the terminal lobe, the lobe at the very end of the leaf, appears to have two little fingers. This distinguishes the leaf of the White Oak from that of the Bur Oak, which we’ll meet next time. The bark of the White Oak is broken into reddish-gray scales.
And perhaps the most colorful tree in the autumn woods is the Maple. There are several species at Afton, some native and some introduced. Both the Sugar Maple and the Red Maple turn orange to a brilliant red in the fall. Maples have winged seeds called “samara” that are green when they “helicopter” down from the tree and later fade to a tan color. The Silver Maple has gray furrowed bark that becomes scaly as the tree gets older.
Weather observations
Here are some weather observations for these two weeks from past years.
| Friday, October 24 | 2024: clouds in afternoon and rain in the evening; 2023: record rainfall of 1.23”; 2010: thunderstorm |
| Saturday, October 25 | 2020: Record snowfall of 0.4 inches; 2012: record rainfall of 0.75” |
| Sunday, October 26 | 2024: sunny and cool, in the 60s: 2020: cloudy with a high in the 30s; 2014: sunny and breezy, with a high of 64° |
| Monday, October 27 | 2013: frost in morning, warming to low 60s |
| Tuesday, October 28 | 2024: breezy and sunny, 70s; 2020: sunny, high near 50°; 2012: high in 40s |
| Wednesday, October 29 | 2024: record high 80°; 2019: frosty morning, high in 40s |
| Thursday, October 30 | 2024: overcast with temperature falling from the 60s into the 50s by afternoon; 2023: record snowfall 0.9”; 2012: high near 50° |
| Friday, October 31 | 2024: rain turning to snow in late morning, ending mid-afternoon; 023: rain turning to snow late, almost 3” total; 1991: record rainfall of 0.85 inches, followed by record snowfall of 8.2 inches (the start of the Hallowe’en blizzard) |
| Saturday, November 1 | 2023: gray in the 30s, much of snow melted; 1991: record snowfall of 18.5 inches, record rainfall of 1.85 inches (the continuation of the Hallowe’en blizzard) |
| Sunday, November 2 | 2022: record high 76°; 2021: cloudy day in the 40s; 2014: sunny, with a high near 60° |
| Monday, November 3 | 2023: sunny and in the 40s; 2020: record high of 75°; 1991: record low of 8° (extreme cold following the Hallowe’en blizzard ensured that the layer of ice from rain that fell before the snow lasted until spring) |
| Tuesday, November 4 | 2024: drizzly rain into early afternoon, then cloudy; 2023: sunny and in the 50s; 2020: record high of 74°; 1991: record low of minus 3° |
| Wednesday, November 5 | 2024: fog and rain through day, 40s; 2016: record high of 73° |
| Thursday, November 6 | 2020: record high of 75°; 2000: record rainfall of 1.54 inches; 1991: record low of zero |
Photo/Image credits:
- All photos copyright Nina Manzi, except:
- Marvin Dembinsky Photo/Skip Moody, MN Conservation Volunteer: Fox Squirrel
- Michael Furtman, MN Conservation Volunteer: Dark-eyed Junco
- Jamie Olson Kinne: Chicken of the Woods
- Dean Lokken: Dark-eyed Junco, third Red Squirrel
- Bill Marchel, MN Conservation Volunteer, first Red Squirrel
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