From the North Shore of Little Rock Lake

JUNE  2010 WEATHER & PHENOLOGY IN REVIEW

Jim Hovda Rice, MN.  56367-0265 jhovda.rice@jetup.net

 

            First the good news.   We started the month with the days getting longer.  The bad news, by the end of the month the days were getting shorter.  It will get warmer tho. 

            June was a really good growing month for all the green things.   The lawn mower got, and is getting, a real workout.  The lawn is the best I’ve ever seen it.   By the end of the month Jan and I counted no less that twenty-two different kinds of flowers in bloom.

            Receiving rain on no less than nineteen days totaling 4.67" was more than welcome.   The weather patterns and amounts of rain varied from mile to mile.  On one occasion St. Cloud got pounded with well over an inch of rain while I only measured a few hundredths of an inch.  Then there were the tornados that caused millions of dollars damage and took three lives.  Tragedy all around but missed our little part of Central Minnesota.

            I must share with all of you a bird story.   Since placing a bowl of grape jelly out for the birds, I’ve learned that there are several species that like the jelly besides orioles.  A couple kinds of finches, the very aggressive grey catbird who usually wins all the battles to be in charge of taking jelly and most notable for me, the Red-bellied Woodpecker.    While enjoying a cup of coffee one afternoon, a large red-bellied landed next to the bowl of jelly.  After a few huge beak fulls, two more landed on the trey next to”dad?” where upon he took a beak full of jelly and promptly fed one of, what was, a couple of young ones probably just out of the nest.  After giving each several beak fulls, he made the two young birds come to the jelly and do it themselves.   Teaching by example at its best.  It was a wonderful sequence of events to be able to observe.

            June is usually the first month that I can leave the bedroom window open and awaken to the sounds of birds singing their hearts out.  The mating season brings out the best of what our feathered friends have to offer in the music department.

 

WEATHER LAST JUNE:        Cooler with, if you can believe it, more rain.  The low temps averaged three degrees cooler at 50.67 degrees compared to 53.58 this year.    Our warm temps were about the same.  We ended the month with 5.66" of rain compared to 4.67" this year.    Three of the rains nearly or exceeded one inch.  I recorded 13.36" of rain for the year. 

 

WEATHER:          No extremes for temps.   The month started out with lows in the 40's and highs in the eighties and ended about the same.   Forties at the end of June were a little much...    The coldest day occurred on the 1st with a 42.2 degree reading.  Our warmest day was on the 18th when the thermometer hit 87.4 degrees (F).  The most rain fell on the 4th when the rain gage filled to .83" of rain.    Total rainfall for the year stands at 12.39". 

 

WEATHER RECORDS:      Locally, our coldest temp was a chilly 32 degrees (F) in 1993 while our out-state record was 15 degrees (F) in Bigfork.  Our record rainfall for a June occurred in 1920 when 10.56" of rain fell.    The latest recorded SNOW fell in Mizpah (about 35 mi NE of Blackduck)  on the 4th when 1.5" covered the ground.  June also was the month in 2001 when the National Weather Service recorded no less than 38 tornadoes for the month.  On the  13th 1968 and on June 16th  1992, two F-5 tornadoes hit Tracy and Chandler respectfully.  The warmest temp ever recorded in Asia occurred in Tirat Tsvi, Israel, a reading of 129 degrees (F) on the 22nd, 1942.  I’ll bet the WWII soldiers really suffered.  Here is one to test you.   The lowest temp recorded in both the Americas’ was a -27 degrees (F) in Sarmiento, Argentina on the 1st of June in 1907.

 

PHENOLOGY:         Birds first.  On the 10th, Ma & Pa Mallard duck finally made it to the bowl of corn we leave out for the bunnies.  This year we have a big increase of Grey Catbirds.   A lot of different birds come to the feeder to eat the grape jelly along with lots’ of Northern Orioles.  The seed eaters include Red-winged Blackbirds, a variety of sparrows, some Mourning Doves,   several pairs of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and, of course, lots of hummingbirds.    Tho I don’t see them often in the late spring, a pair of Cedar Waxwings were in the garden gathering small twigs for a nest.  They reappeared on the 20th eating the green berries of a Service Berry tree. They were for a couple more days and I haven’t seen them since. 

            GROWING & OTHER THINGS - -    The late May frost took its toll late into June.  Many plants and trees still show the effects of the two days that recorded below freezing temps.    One of my White Swamp Oaks has about half of its normal leaves.   On the 13th the Hasta’s were budding and on the 19th a Pearl Crescent and White Admiral butterfly graced the garden with their presence.   On the 24th the Tiger Lilies started blooming in earnest.  From then on, it was a race for the plants to show off their ability to produce flowers. 

            SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS - - Still no bats.  Talking to others in the area, their numbers are down significantly.  The same for Monarchs, bees, wasps & yellow jackets.  Normally it is a fight to get rid of the nests that the bees build under the roof eves.  Only a couple this year.  Fewer loons and wood ducks.  The count of Purple Martins seems to be down.  I suspect that the late May frost may have killed many of these fine birds.  Generally speaking, fewer butterflies and not as many species.

 

RESIDENT OBSERVATIONS:       On the 1st, Jerome Nelson reported large numbers of crappies dead on shore.   The same report came from others.   I’m told that a brief warm-up and some algae stressed the fish and some type of bacteria was the culprit.  Ms. Irene Perske relayed more information about her issues with the finches that are really happy building nests in her hanging basket plants.  Irene told me  “a Blue Jay just hopped up to one of the nests and started eating the eggs.  I was so mad at that darn bird.”  I thought that was a very good observation on her 90th birthday.  Yes Irene, the Blue Jays will do those things.  Happy birthday Ms. Perske!!!!!  Jim Gilbert reports that House Finches just love to build nests in hanging baskets.   I suspect that the finches and Irene will have a long relationship.

 

A BIRD FACT:       Most baby wood ducks leave the nest about 8:30 A.M.  Jim Gilbert, WCCO Radio, 06 June 2010. 

             Be sure to clean your hummingbird feeders on a regular basis.