The icy hike was beautiful, and “snowflake birds” swirled ahead of my car all the way home. Real snowflakes chased me from behind, and soon accumulated six inches of the white stuff. Snow buntings and needle ice foretold the coming winter, and as I write this, it has arrived!

A light breeze brushed through the pollinator gardens surrounding the Museum. Happy children and singing birds filled the Museum courtyard with sound. All this noise didn’t bother me; I zoned into the pollinator garden. I was completing my weekly butterfly survey as a participant in the Wisconsin Statewide Community Science Project.   Jillian Finucane is from Madison, Wisconsin, and is currently studying Geological Engineering at University of Wisconsin – Madison. As a lover of the outdoors, she spends her summers hiking, camping, and rock climbing; she adores Wisconsin’s Northwoods. Jillian is a Summer Naturalist/Geology Intern at the Cable Natural History Museum.

It wasn’t a long message, just a note to correct a typo in an earlier text. “That should have said I love how you quote Mary Oliver! Not…I love how you Mary Oliver!” I chuckled—my brain’s own autocorrect had skipped right over the phone’s autocorrect fail. So often, even when someone’s words come out in a funny order, we still know exactly what they mean. But now I re-read the original typo and felt a little fizz of joy. Leaving out a single word had essentially turned Mary Oliver into a verb. I mulled this over. What would it mean “to mary oliver”?

Thirty second graders tumble off their big yellow bus and onto the sidewalk in front of the Museum. Hot sunshine makes it feel like summer, and after tomorrow, (their last day of school) it will be. “Welcome to the Cable Natural History Museum,” I shout over the noise of traffic and excitement. “Check out that big banner. What’s the biggest word up there?” I ask pointing to the front of the Museum. “ROCKS!” They answer as a group. Raise your hand if you like rocks…awesome! You’re invited, too!

Each spring as the northward migration takes flight, I use the CD to re-train my ears to identify the songs of the birds who have been away all winter. The robins, bless their loud hearts, are pretty helpful with this, too. There are several birds whose songs are described in comparison to the robin’s. And, I just learned, the birds themselves tune up their ears in the spring.

Monarch butterflies as I recently experienced them in Mexico—gathering by the millions in their winter sanctuaries—are intimately tied to fir trees. Abies religiosa, the oyamel fir, also known as the sacred fir due to the way their oppositely arranged twigs make the shape of a cross, are essential to monarchs’ winter survival.

“Lakes are cradles for all sorts of babies as they grow up,” I told the group. “How many of you like to play in the mud and water as you grow up wild?” The little ones—only 3 and 4 years old, grinned. One student looked up at his teacher. “I love mud best!” I chuckled in agreement. Then we all transformed ourselves into dragonfly eggs by hugging our knees. We wiggled, and grew, and hatched into crooked-legged-nymphs. The nymph stage of a dragonfly’s life is essentially their childhood.

Least weasels are the world’s smallest carnivores. With long skinny bodies, they hunt little mammals under the snow, in that magical space we call the subnivean zone. From North Africa to northern Russia, and even here in Wisconsin, these tiny predators stealthily reduce our populations of mice and voles, all while looking cute. Learn more about them from Naturalist Emily Stone in this week’s Natural Connections!

Have you been seeing swarms of delicate, mosquito-like insects around your house? Happily, instead of being a terrible species of cold hardy bloodsuckers, these are fungus gnats. Fungus gnats are tiny flies whose larvae eat mushrooms. They often appear abundantly in the fall. If you can catch one without crushing it too much, spines on their knees offer assistance with identification. Curious? Naturalist Emily Stone will share what little is known about these autumn visitors.

Does November make you feel gray? Naturalist Emily Stone makes a point of getting outside even on chilly mornings in order to notice changes in the woods and get a better night’s sleep. Autumn leaves change in color and shape while keeping their beauty. Animal tracks are pressed into soft mud. And her trail camera captures buck deer, turkeys, grouse, a blue jay, and one curious fox. How do you keep the November doldrums at bay?

Did any little bees buzz up to your porch last weekend on Halloween, looking for a sugary snack? How did you treat them? Did you smile and coo at their costumes? Wiggle your gnarled hands at them menacingly? Or did you pounce from the shadows, grab them with your strong front legs, and use your sharp beak to inject poison and then suck up their liquefied body tissues?   Not that last one? Well, you must not be a Jagged Ambush Bug. These True Bugs have several cool adaptations that make them a great addition to your pollinator garden.