Phenologist John Latimer on the dog days of summer

CATHY WURZER: It's officially the dog days of summer. And by that, I mean your dog is inside because it's too hot in the sun. But seriously, there's a lot more going on right now than just the heat. Our friend John Latimer makes it his business to observe the changes in nature as the seasons progress.

He's here today to tell us what he's been noticing outside in the Great North. John is a phenologist, heard weekly on KMOX radio in the Grand Rapids area. Hey, John. How are you?

JOHN LATIMER: Hey, Cathy, nice to hear your voice.

CATHY WURZER: Likewise.

JOHN LATIMER: It is definitely the dog days of summer. It's a day to jump in the lake with your dog.

CATHY WURZER: By the way, what's the temperature up there right now?

JOHN LATIMER: Mid-80s-- 83, 84. It's not overly hot, but the dew point has got to be, like, 79, 80. It's really muggy.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. And how are the bugs?

JOHN LATIMER: They're doing really well.

CATHY WURZER: I bet they are. I bet they are.

JOHN LATIMER: Actually, when it's hot like this, the mosquitoes sort of disappear until later in the day when it cools off a little. But the deer flies are, they're definitely looking for a meal. And I'm offering them the opportunity to come and dine. But it comes with a risk.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. They just take a chunk out of you.

JOHN LATIMER: Oh, boy, do they.

CATHY WURZER: I saw on last week's Season Watch newsletter from KAXE that you're talking about berries to look for.

JOHN LATIMER: Oh, yes.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. What berries are out right now?

JOHN LATIMER: Oh, man. This is a perfect time. I was out this last weekend, I found blueberries. I found juneberries. I found the first ripe raspberries. And then I found another berry that you need to be aware of and approach with caution. And that's the red elderberry.

Now, blueberries are doing just fine. Everybody knows the blueberries. The juneberries are a little bit different. Not everybody knows the juneberries, but they are delicious.

And this year, we're having a bumper crop. We're just having a huge crop. So there are more than enough for all of the robins, and the white-throated sparrows, and all the other birds that enjoy them-- and the bears, and everybody. The interesting thing about juneberries is that--

CATHY WURZER: Oh, hang on, John. We got a little technical problem there.

JOHN LATIMER: Every flower is open. But the berries ripen sort of asynchronously. So you'll have ripe berries next to berries that are half ripe next to berries that are still green. And so it's not like picking blueberries where you can just rake them off.

You kind of have to pick this one, and that one, and that one over there. The problem in a year when there aren't so many of them is that the Robins are looking at them every couple of hours. And when that berry gets ripe, they eat it. And that berry over there, oh, that one's almost ripe. I'm going to eat that one next.

CATHY WURZER: They have more time to wait on this one, obviously.

JOHN LATIMER: Yes, they do. But the raspberry is sort of the opposite of the juneberry. The raspberry-- I found ripe raspberries this weekend, and I also found raspberries in bloom. So they are asynchronously flowering and asynchronously fruiting. And they're just delightful.

CATHY WURZER: They are so good. Are there any berries you need to really watch out for that you might not want to partake in or just do it just very lightly?

JOHN LATIMER: Yeah. The red elderberry, sambucus racemosa if you want to look it up, cyanogenic glycoside is the active ingredient in there. And it is most concentrated in the seeds. The fruit is not edible raw.

It can be cooked. And you can get rid of that cyanide that's in there. And they're quite palatable in pies, and jellies, and wines. You never would want to make a jam out of them.

And if you're making a pie, you need to separate the seeds from the rest of it, because the seeds are where the cyanide is. Now, the berries themselves are full of antioxidants. They're filled with anthocyanins, which are those red and blue colors that we see in nature. And so there are lots of antioxidants in there. They're great that way.

They are really nutritious for animals. But a study of the red elderberry on Ile Royale indicated that the moose preferred not to eat them. If they could find something else to eat, they would rather eat something else because of the bitter presence of the cyanide in there.

So elderberries, big clusters of bright red, lipstick-red berries right now, and big clusters of them-- sort of cone-shaped, probably 4 or 5 inches long, and maybe 50 or 60 medium-sized berries, like small blueberry-sized. And if you picked one and opened it, you'd see that the meat inside is white, the outside is red, the inside is white.

I read a short piece by a woman who actually was curious about the effect of the plant. And she ate 1/4 cup of dried elderberries and she said her stomach got a little upset. And then after three hours and about 10 minutes, she started to vomit. And at about 3 and 1/2 hours, she started diarrhea. And this went on for about 36 hours.

CATHY WURZER: OK.

JOHN LATIMER: You don't want to eat them raw.

CATHY WURZER: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's the last thing we're taking away today.

JOHN LATIMER: Yeah. Don't eat them raw.

CATHY WURZER: Now, for folks tuning in, you work with classrooms, youth groups around Minnesota teaching young folks how to observe nature as seasons change. And I love hearing the report. So we have a report today from Lucy and Jalen and a painted turtle at the Big Sandy Water Institute.

SUBJECT 1: I am Lucy.

SUBJECT 2: And Jalen. And Bubbles the painted turtle. From Big Sandy Water Institute, as a part of McGregor community education, the big news from the week is that Long Lakes resident loons finally [INAUDIBLE] chick. It's the first successful nesting in a number of years. We hope the eagles leave it alone and it reaches its maturity.

During our hikes through the woods, one of our groups almost stepped on a fawn. It was nested down hiding and didn't move until we were right on top of it. It was pretty big and ran back. We also got very close to a hen turkey and five or six poults.

SUBJECT 1: Our group found the season's first right blueberries and raspberries. Lastly, the slugs are out and about, and the wood frogs we found in the trailside pond. It's a great time to explore the world, and we want to remind everyone to unplug and get outside and to--

[TOGETHER]

Live connected.

CATHY WURZER: Good idea. Yep, good advice. Live connected.

JOHN LATIMER: Yep. And those kids, they had a great experience. They got to see a lot of different animals. It's so exciting to hear their voices and to hear what they're seeing.

And any of us can do that. You just have to get outside, live connected with nature, and it's all out there to check out. There's some amazing things out there right now.

CATHY WURZER: Amazing things. Now, I am a huge fan of fireflies. In fact, this morning, at about-- what time was it when I got out-- really, really early. There was one, a lone firefly-- I hope he or she-- I think it's a he-- I hope he found his mate early this morning. Are they gone? Are they all done in your neck of the woods?

JOHN LATIMER: No. I saw some this past weekend. There are fewer than there were in mid-June, but they're still out there. Typically, what happens is the female alights somewhere and sets off a signal. And the males fly around. So if you see one in flight flashing, it's probably a male.

If it's flashing from the same location all the time, it's probably a female. And they are attracting one another and getting it done. We talked about deer flies earlier-- the egg from the firefly gets laid in the same area that the egg from the deer fly gets laid in. And the little maggot of the firefly searches out and eats the maggot of the deer fly.

CATHY WURZER: Good.

JOHN LATIMER: Yes.

CATHY WURZER: Yes. I can't stand deer flies.

JOHN LATIMER: Oh man. They're the worst.

CATHY WURZER: Before you go, got a minute left-- what are you looking forward to as we ease into August?

JOHN LATIMER: I'm going to be watching for monarchs. We're starting to see some more monarchs coming around. This will be the last generation before the generation that migrates. Mourning cloak butterflies and comma butterflies are coming out, and those will be the generation that will overwinter, and they will be the first ones that we will see again next spring.

So I'll be watching to see them. Always got an eye out for dragonflies, because they're so beautiful and so colorful.

CATHY WURZER: I love them.

JOHN LATIMER: The tall plants-- this is the season we're going to start seeing woodland sunflowers. We're going to start seeing southistle, and blue lettuce, and some of these 6, 8, 10-foot tall flowering plants that have spent this much of summer just getting up high enough to get above all the competition so that they can flower. And they'll be spectacular.

CATHY WURZER: Love it. John Latimer, always appreciate the conversation. Thank you.

JOHN LATIMER: Cathy, it's always a pleasure. I look forward to more.

CATHY WURZER: I do too. John is a retired postal worker from Grand Rapids, full-time phenologist who works with teachers and kids across the state to notice what's happening in nature. He has a regular show on KAXE, the community radio station in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.