november
Explore! By Master Naturalist Pam Johnson. All photos (c) Pam Johnson/JDCF with the exception of cover photo. “Monarchs Arrivng at Winter Site” (c) USFWS.
Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos is celebrated Nov 1 & 2 as a remembrance of family and friends that have died. It has its origins with the Aztecs who viewed death as a natural part of life. Unlike the Halloween tradition which is scary, it is a joyful celebration of life lived. In Mexico the return of the Monarchs coincides with that time. To many their return represents the souls of departed returning to celebrate. In many cultures the butterfly metamorphosis represents death into life.
This year in September Michele Brueggen, a JDCF volunteer, gathered a Monarch caterpillar from local milkweed plants to watch and document the metamorphosis. She watched as it went from caterpillar to butterfly. And then released it to join the thousands arriving now in Mexico.
“On Sept 24rd the wings are showing this morning! It’s also turned dark .This is so exciting!”
“On September 25h in the afternoon she hatched out. I could do the gender ID on her wings.”
“September 26th, I released her this morning after letting her wings dry off and gain strength overnight. I waited until the sun hit 70 degrees today. I had a patch of flowers picked out to release her onto but she had other ideas! She was flapping vigorously as the sun warmed her in the container. When I opened the lid to put her onto a flower, she just took off, flying majestic and free! She flew past all the yummy flowers and landed on the garage nearby, opened her wings to the sun and rested. After watching for 15 mins, I left her there. 2 hours later she was gone, hopefully on her way to Mexico I’m kind of sad and thrilled too.” – Michele Brueggen.
Cultures memorialize the dead in different ways. Effigy mounds were built by the ancestors of the Ho-Chunk Nation and other Indigenous peoples for a variety of sacred purposes, including burial, ceremonies, and connecting with their beliefs. Effigy mounds were often constructed in the shape of animals or spirits, representing different clans and reinforcing their spiritual connection to the natural world.
Because of their location along the Mississippi, several JDCF properties have cultural history dating back thousands of years. Wapello, Casper Bluff, Keough (closed to the public), and Mąą Pįį (Good Earth) have rich histories of Native American presence. It is important to note that all Native American burial sites are protected from intrusion by State and Federal law.
Casper Bluff Land & Water Reserve boasts some of the most commanding views of the Mississippi River and its backwater sloughs. It is also an archaeologically significant site. The 170-acre property contains part of the Aiken Mound Group, named for the nearby community of Aiken The Aiken Mound Group is part of the larger Effigy Mound culture that existed between A.D. 700 and A.D. 1000 in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. November is a good time to see the outline of the Thunderbird.
In the Green Corn Ceremony, which I attended this year on Sept 25, 2025 at Portage Preserve, JDCF celebrated with the neighbors and members of the Ho-Chunk/Winnebago and Sac and Fox tribes with a meal, dancing and music and thanks to the land. The event was a celebration of the ripening of the corn crop and the official name change from Portage to Mąą Pįį (Good Earth) which recognizes the relationship between our cultures in the preservation of the land. In my mind it was also a memorial to those ancestors buried in the mounds on the property. I watched Monarchs, Sulphur, and Cabbage butterflies fly over the prairie, symbolic of rebirth.
As you visit our preserves in November all might seem quiet. I’d like to propose some things to think about and observe. I like the idea of an extended family which includes all living things, flowers, birds, insects and mammals. Fall into winter is part of the natural part of life with deathlike silence following for most living things. As the leaves fall from the trees, we see the buds that will burst into leaf in the spring. As the birds migrate to warmer climate, we know they will return. We are reminded of that when seeing an empty bird’s nest in the trees. As the insects hunker down for the winter, we know they or a new generation will awake in the spring. Discover the Apple Goldenrod Galls on the Goldenrod which provide winter homes for the Goldenrod Gall Fly larvae.
In November you can see great flocks of swans along the Mississippi. Most of what I see are Trumpeter and Tundra Swans but occasionally I will see a Mute Swan which has a pinkish bill. Notice the black bills on the Trumpeter Swan.
There are many places along the Mississippi River to see the birds migrating from Savanna to Clinton. Even along highway 20 going to Dubuque you can sometimes see White Pelicans fishing together in the backwaters. You might find a stray bird that seems out of place such as a Neotropical Cormorant (the smaller) hanging out with the Great Crested Cormorant.
You might find a stray bird that seems out of place such as a Neotropical Cormorant (the smaller) hanging out with the Great Crested Cormorant.
In honor of the season, I will take out some frozen Serviceberries from the summer to make a pie for Thanksgiving. As Robin Wall Kimmerer says in her 2024 book “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World:” “This abundance of berries feels like a pure gift from the land. I have not earned, paid for, nor labored for them. There is no mathematic of worthiness that reckons I deserve them in any way. And yet here they are –along with the sun and the air and the birds and the rain, gathering in towers of cumulonimbi, a distant storm building. You could call them natural resources or ecosystem services, but the Robins and I know them as gifts. We both sing gratitude with our mouths full.”
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Rendering of Thunderbird Effigy by W.B. Nickerson (late 1800s)
Mute Swan
Trumpeter Swan
American White Pelican
