![Canada geese fly in formation for aerodynamic benefits. [Photo by Jim Williams]](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/QODBUVHAR7JOUW4M5RPE3Z2NVY.jpg?&w=1080)
Look for the first Canada geese to fly again.
The adults have been flightless since about mid-June or a bit later while they molted their wing feathers. The young that hatched this spring also test their new flight feathers, so whole family groups can be seen airborne. Mallards and other ducks also are starting to fly again after their molt.
Juvenile purple martins make their first flights at this time. One brood of young is raised each summer by martins here in the Upper Midwest. After the nesting season has ended each summer, martins gather into assembly groups before leaving the area. The early migration of martins comes to a peak in the second half of August in Minnesota. The birds leave for their winter home in Brazil. While there they feed on insects in the air, as usual, but they do not nest. Their homing instincts are strong and a good share will return to the same Minnesota nesting spots in the spring of 2023.
During hot afternoons it's not unusual to see American robins or other birds perched quietly in the shade with their bills wide open, panting. Birds have no sweat glands so this is their way to get ride of excess body heat.
Deer flies have hit their population peak and should be gone, or nearly gone, by the end of July. For now they continue to bother people, dogs and a few wild animals. Deer head for lakes to get some relief from these pests.
Some other observations:
- On dewy mornings, orb spider webs are showy in the sunlight.
- In southern Minnesota, soybean fields are blooming, oats and wheat maturing, and much of the field corn is pollinating. We see the tassels on tops of plants containing the pollen, and silks a few feet below out from the stem to receive pollen grains. The most interesting part of this pollination process to me is that there is one silk for each kernel of corn produced on a cob. On a well-developed ear of corn there are 750 to 1,000 potential kernels arranged in an even number of rows around the cob.
- Many of us eagerly await the time when the first locally grown sweet corn will be available. Mike and Colleen Klingelhutz are Waconia area growers and shared their first meal of sweet corn with family July 15, and began selling corn from their stand at Colony Plaza this past weekend.
- In northern Minnesota, chipping sparrows, white-throated sparrows and red-breasted nuthatches are busy feeding their young.
- Campers in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are on the hunt for ripe blueberries.
Jim Gilbert has taught and worked as a naturalist for more than 50 years.
