Discovering the Minnesota #Phenology Network

It's nineteen days until the March 1 beginning of meteorological Spring. The weather forecast for the next ten days has daytime highs above freezing for 9 of those days. I hereby concede both Phil and I were wrong about six more weeks of Winter in the southern half of Minnesota. (The way this year has been going, I now am likely to have to apologize for a slew of "unseasonable" blizzards and ice storms during the first six weeks of Spring.)

Eastern Bluebird

Photo by J. Harrington

If you don't mind, I'm going to use this space off and on over the next week or so to explore the intricacies of becoming an observer in/for the Minnesota Phenology Network, which is affiliated or partners with the USA Phenology Network. It may be past time to bring a little more rigor and structure to my phenological observations. Who knows, it may even lead me to turn over a new leaf and, perhaps, even look under some rocks in a local trout stream.

The Minnesota Phenology Network is interested particularly in these seven species:

• Red Maple (Acer rubrum)


• Monarch (Danaus plexippus)


• Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)


• Common Loon (Gavia immer)


• Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)


• Common Lilac (Syringa vulgaris)


• Tamarack (Larix larcina)

Ruby-Throated hummingbird, male

Photo by J. Harrington

Common loons are heard around here only very rarely; monarchs are occasionally seen on our milkweed; ruby-throated hummingbirds often arrive at our feeders; red maples grow on the property and bluebirds use our nesting box. Common lilac and tamarack grow in profusion nearby. That seems to leave us in pretty good shape for species of interest.

Next time we'll explore participating in Nature's Notebook, a project of the USA  Phenology Network. I'm a little nervous about this because, since I joined a herpetology network to report seeing a rare snake, I've not seen many snakes or turtles around here.

The Bluebird

Charles Bukowski

there's a bluebird in my heart that

wants to get out

but I'm too tough for him,

I say, stay in there, I'm not going

to let anybody see

you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that

wants to get out

but I pour whiskey on him and inhale

cigarette smoke

and the whores and the bartenders

and the grocery clerks

never know that

he's

in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that .

wants to get out.

but I'm too tough for him,.

I say,.

stay down, do you want to mess.

me up?

you want to screw up the.

works?

you want to blow my book sales in .

Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that.

wants to get out

but I'm too clever, I only let him out.

at night sometimes.

when everybody's asleep..

I say, I know that you're there,.

so don't be

sad.

then I put him back,

but he's singing a little

in there, I haven't quite let him

die

and we sleep together like

that

with our

secret pact

and it's nice enough to

make a man

weep, but I don't

weep, do

you?

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