November phenology

By Sylvia Marek

Flock of mallard ducks

Phenology is the science of recording plant and animal activities from year to year and their relationship to season and climate. November events can vary when the month is warmer or cooler, wetter or dryer than average. The following Madison area observations are from notes I have kept over the years.

November Phenology for Holy Wisdom

“Let’s just wander here and there like floating leaves in the autumn air and look
at little things….From the winds we’ll catch a bit of that feeling, that wondrous
feeling that comes not from seeing, but from being part of nature.”
–Author unknown

November is the month when late autumn ends and early winter begins. Days are shorter. They can be sunny and warm, cloudy and cold, calm or windy, or sparkling with dew, hoarfrost, or snow. Nights are long and chilly, stars twinkle, and owls call. The parade of beautiful autumn colors is over. The last dull red, orange, and yellow leaves fall and carpet the earth. Brown leaves cling to some oaks. November is a quiet month except for the wind rustling leaves and bare branches, and an occasional soft tapping of woodpeckers, chip notes of little songbirds, the chirping of a cricket or two, and the sound of your footsteps on crisp or wet leaves.

The following Holy Wisdom and Madison area observations are from notes I have kept over the years. I have noticed events can vary when the month is warmer or cooler, or wetter or dryer than average. How will the changing climate (since 2012) affect when things occur? I encourage you to visit Holy Wisdom often. May your observations be many and memorable.

Resident Birds

• Birds that can be found year round include: cardinal, chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, tufted titmouse, goldfinch, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, blue jay, downy, hairy, and red-bellied woodpeckers, flicker, cedar waxwing, crow, turkey and red-tailed and Cooper’s hawk.
• Territorial calls of great horned, barred, and screech owls can be heard especially at dusk and dawn.

Winter Visitors

• Brown creeper, and flocks of dark-eyed juncos and American tree sparrows arrive
  from the north and spend every winter here.
• Others that I have seen include: pine siskin, red-breasted nuthatch, purple finch,
  golden-crowned kinglet, a few white-throated and white-crowned sparrows, and an
  occasional winter wren, hermit thrush, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped
  warbler, northern shrike, northern harrier, and rough-legged hawk.
• Owls that breed in the far north such as snowy, long-eared, short-eared, and saw-
  whet arrive in southern Wisconsin in late November and December. Snowy and
  short-eared owls hunt over prairies and grasslands often during the day. Long-
  eared and saw-whet owls hunt at night.
• If you find an owl roosting in a conifer or tangle of shrubs, observe from a distance
  and do nothing to disturb it. PLEASE do not play recordings or playbacks!!

Other Birds to Look and Listen for

• Flocks of robins and bluebirds depart for the southern U.S. Some spend the winter here. Look for robins, bluebirds, and cedar waxwings eating crabapples, sumac fruits, and blue cones on red cedar.
• Red-winged blackbirds and grackles form large flocks and depart during the month.
• Listen and look up for sandhill cranes, bald eagles, snow and Canada geese, and tundra swans.
• Waterfowl are migrating southward. Coots, bufflehead, scaup, merganser, and others depart when ice forms on lakes and ponds.

Plants

• Wildflower season is over except for a few flowers blooming in sheltered places. In early November I have seen a last flower or two on New England, frost, and calico asters, Queen Anne’s-lace, dandelion, and violet.
• Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is the latest native shrub to bloom in Wisconsin. Each yellow, star-like flower has four, delicate, curly petals decorating bare branches. Tan woody capsules open and shoot shiny black seeds up to 20 feet away.
• You do not have to identify or know the name of a plant to enjoy its beauty even in November. Following are some of the things I notice: shape of the flower heads and their seeds, leaf and branch arrangement, square or round stems, buds, and bark.

Insects

• Some insects spend the winter as adults. Others prepare for future generations in the form of eggs, larvae, or cocoons. Insects are not as abundant now. Activity increases for some on warm days.
• Woolly bear caterpillars search for places to spend the winter. In spring they pupate and later emerge as a moth.
• Red-bodied meadowhawks (Sympetrum sp.) perch and bask in the warm sunshine.
• Butterflies that overwinter as adults include: comma, red-admiral, mourning cloak, question mark, and tortoise. They are active on warm days.
• A few owlet moth species can be seen flying at night even when the temperature is near freezing.
• Black field crickets chirp.
• Listen to the soft, slow, continuous “purrrrr” of the black horned tree cricket….his sad farewell.
• Snowy tree crickets call during warm days. Count his number of chirps in 15 seconds and add 40 to find out the temperature.
• Box elder bugs overwinter as adults and often enter buildings.
• Asian lady bird beetles (Harmonia axyridis) gather in large groups and overwinter as adults. They bite!
• Sticky, white egg masses dot twigs of nannyberry and other shrubs. Eggs are deposited by the female two-marked treehopper (Enchenopa binotata). The tiny treehopper resembles a small brown thorn.
• Pupae of giant silk moths overwinter in cocoons. The cecropia cocoon hangs horizontally along a branch. It resembles a little hammock. The promethea cocoon is wrapped in a leaf and hangs from a silken stem near the end of a branch.
• Galls are odd growths found on goldenrods, oaks, and many other plants.
• There are three common kinds of galls on goldenrods. Ball gall: During the winter the gall contains the larva of a pretty, tiny fruit fly. The adult emerges in spring. Elliptical gall: The immature stage of a moth creates the gall. The moth emerges In late summer and in fall, the female lays eggs in old stems. Bunch gall: Small midge-like flies create them at the tips of the goldenrod. Galls are empty in winter. I wonder if adults overwinter?

Arachnids

• Deer and black-legged ticks are active and can transmit Lyme and other diseases. Females are the size of a sesame seed and are looking for a blood meal. Stay on trails and check after your walk.

Spiders

• On warm days look for “ballooning” spiders floating on thin strands of silk.
• A few kinds of spiders spend the winter as adults. Some species spend the winter in egg sacs as eggs or hundreds of very tiny spiders.
• Frost-covered webs of orb-weavers sparkle in the sunlight.

Mammals

• November is the “rutting” or mating season for white-tailed deer. Male deer polish their antlers on small trees. Look for “buck rub” on trees and “scrapes” on the ground. Do not approach bucks. They can be dangerous.
• Squirrels and chipmunks continue their frantic gathering and storing of nuts.
• White-footed and deer mice gather and store seeds. Some move into abandoned bird nests and nest boxes.
• Field mice and shrews are active.
• Raccoon and opossum prowl the land during the hours of darkness.
• Fox and coyote bark and howl at night. Look for scat as you walk the trails.

Fall Leaf Color

• The parade of brilliant autumn leaf color is over. A few leaves remain on some trees. Brown and russet leaves cling to some of the oaks.
• Older needles of white pine and Arborvitae turn brown and fall.
• Tamarack (larch) needles turn “smoky gold” (Leopold) and drop.
• Invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle hang on to their green leaves most of November.
• Red blackberry leaves seem to glow. Aldo Leopold called them “red lanterns.”
• Leaves carpet the earth. Breathe deeply and savor the rich earthy smell.

Fruit and Seed Color

• Flowers, grasses, vines, shrubs, and trees produced a rainbow of colorful fruits and seeds. Most have been consumed by birds and mammals. A few of the following remain:
• Red and orange: rose hips and red clusters of fuzzy sumac fruits, American bittersweet has orange fruit in clusters at the tip of the vine. Oriental bittersweet has yellow-orange fruits scattered along the vine.
• Blue: berry-like cones on red cedar.
• Bluish-purple to black: a few hackberry, nannyberry, Virginia creeper, grape, and the black fruits on female buckthorn.
• White: most dogwood fruits have been consumed in October. Some poison ivy fruits remain.
• Brown: acorns, hazelnuts, bladdernut pods, witch hazel capsules, and box elder keys (samaras).

Seeds

• All sizes and shapes of tan, white, brown, gray, and black seeds provide sustenance for seed eaters and for future generations of plants.
• Plants scatter their seeds in different ways.
• Some seeds use the wind. Brown milkweed seeds float away on fluffy parachutes. Tiny goldenrod and aster seeds are attached to very small bits of white fluff and they drift away in the wind.
• Some seeds are hitchhikers armed with hooks, barbs, spikes, or spines. They cling to people and furry animals.
• Some use birds. Goldfinches and sparrows eat thistle seeds. Plucked seeds that are not consumed float away on white thistledown. Birds peck at grass, sunflower, and coneflower seeds. Many are consumed, but many fall to the ground and will become plants if not eaten by mice.
• Prairie grasses fade in November. Their seeds are usually brown.

Other Favorite Observations

• Nearly all leaves have fallen and cover the earth.
• November is a good month to look at the beautiful silhouettes of trees against a blue or gray sky.
• Bird nests are visible now. How many can you find?
• Notice the contours of the landscape and the shape of things around you.
• -Several kinds of mushrooms can be found during warm, wet days. Look for shaggy mane, puffball, meadow, oyster, bolete, and pinwheel.
• Many of the following bracket fungi can be found year-round: artist’s bracket, lacquered and birch polypore, and sulphur shelf (chicken of the woods).
• Fruiting bodies of slime molds can be quite lovely. They are not fungi.
• Most amphibians and reptiles are hibernating by the end of November.
• Sparkling hoarfrost and killing frosts are frequent.
• Indian summer usually comes after a cold period and hard frosts. It can occur in October or November. Days are calm, sunny, and unseasonably warm.
• Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular.
• Listen for owls and look up for Orion, Cassiopeia, the North Star, Little Dipper, and possibly meteor showers or Northern Lights.
• A few first snowy days of the season follow:
  • November 9, 2018
  • November 24, 2021
  • October 19, 2006
  • November 6, 2019
  • November 12, 2022
  • November 8, 2020

My hope is that you will visit often and take time to look, listen and breathe deeply.Let us be thankful for the sisters (and others) who preserved this land and for those who lovingly care for it. I am grateful for this “listening point”. May it also be yours.

“I named this place Listening Point because only when one comes to listen, only when one is aware and still, can things be seen and heard. Everyone has a listening-point somewhere. It does not have to be in the north or close to the wilderness, but some place of quiet where the universe can be contemplated with awe.”
–From “Listening Point” by Sigurd Olson

Sylvia Marek

Sylvia Marek is a highly trained and experienced naturalist. She works for the University of Wisconsin Arboretum and is a first rate birder.

Please share the biological events you notice while at Holy Wisdom Monastery below (remember to include what you see, where and when).