Wild About Utah

December 8, 2025December 8, 2025

Mourning Cloaks and Witchy Skies

Nora's embellished May Swenson poem: "Unconscious Came a Beauty," as a butterfly-A means to emphasize the butterfly poem subject. Poem copyright acknowledged-Photo Courtesy Shannon Rhodes — Nora’s embellished May Swenson poem: “Unconscious Came a Beauty,” as a butterfly
A means to emphasize the butterfly poem subject.
Poem copyright acknowledged
Photo Courtesy Shannon Rhodes

I’m sitting here today with first grader Nora Baggaley and USU student teacher Ashlyn Prince. Just steps away from where we spend our days at Edith Bowen Laboratory School on the campus of Utah State University, we find Swenson Park, built on the lot where May’s childhood home once stood. She spent her elementary school days here, she was a student at Utah State Agricultural College, and she moved east to become a writer. During her lifetime May Swenson wrote her way into fame by recording memories riding her willow horse, enjoying strawberry juice dripping down her chin, and describing the relationships that develop when a baseball bat, ball, and mitt meet. Eventually she became Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. I love that she wrote shape poems about simple things like insects.

Insects? Did you say bugs? Coming into student teaching, I wasn’t too thrilled when I heard about the focus we have on bugs. From the beginning of the school year, we were already in the Logan River, digging out stonefly larva. By the second week, I was already writing a book for my students about why I do not like bugs. Here’s some of my book “Definitely NOT the Bug Girl.” I loved butterflies; they had beautiful wings. That was until I saw them closer. They looked an awful lot like grasshoppers with wings, and if you were paying attention, I hate grasshoppers! Why did I never think they were big, sticky, scary insects too? They did come from caterpillars…I should’ve known!”

Throughout the semester, from katydids flying at my head to being chased at recess with grasshoppers, I’ve grown to love the stories and discoveries the children have with bugs. Now today, I see a bug and instantly start to wonder: How did it get here? Where is it going? What would my students think about this? I could almost say I love bugs…

Mourning cloak butterfly (pinned), Courtesy & Copyright Don Rolfs 2010 — Mourning cloak butterfly (pinned)
Courtesy & Copyright Don Rolfs 2010 https://wildaboututah.org/springs-earliest-butterflies/

Well, I love bugs.

Swenson’s “Unconscious Came a Beauty” captures an encounter with a butterfly. She isn’t certain about which kind of butterfly, so she offers two choices based on her descriptors. She must have been outside writing when one landed on her hand long enough for her to notice it, know it well enough to describe it.

I like how her words are in the shape of a butterfly and the wiggly way she typed the title.

When I wrote “Definitely NOT the Bug Girl,” Nora and her classmates encouraged me to include even more chapters about different kinds of insects. They wanted chapters of how I felt about roly polys, katydids, and ladybugs. I never really had an opinion about ladybugs. They were cute but a little frightening when they would fly. Finding them at recess became not so scary to me. Did you know they start their life as black and orange larvae?

How’s this for a poem inspired by May’s shape poem?: Hungry crawls a lady bug larva
To our recess rock riddled with yellow aphids dots
And stopped our games
Orange-striped black
Alligator-wiggling on its six legs
We sat wondering, and Asher brought one to class
Where it crept out overnight as a familiar friend.

Aurora Borealis from Logan Utah
Courtesy & Copyright Shannon Rhodes, Photographer

Besides bugs, did you know May also wrote about space topics we know, like astronaut landings, gibbous moons, shadows, and her ghost moon? She called it, “the albino bowl on cloth of jet.”

In November, every student, and teacher, was given a nature journal paper to observe the full moon that night. Sadly, the sky was full of clouds and only a faint glow was visible. Amazingly enough though, we could see the northern lights a few days later! It was a beautiful sight, and made up for missing the November Beaver Moon.

Night Sky Nature Journal Entries by Ashlyn and Nora
Courtesy & Copyright Shannon Rhodes, Photographer

This is a two-voice poem we call “Witchy Sky.”: The beaver moon reminds me of cotton candy in the dark.
It reminds me of a flashlight shining through my finger.
The northern lights are Glinda and Elphaba.
I notice a lot of thick clouds.
I can’t really see the shape of the moon in the clouds but still it glows through them.
I wonder what does the moon feel like?
How bright would the sky have been if there were no clouds tonight?

May Swenson remembered classmates folding paper airplanes and releasing them in the classroom when their teachers’ backs were turned. In a clip from a 1969 recording “Poetry Is Alive and Well and Living in America,” she says, “My poems sail away like that, I don’t know who picks them up, who may be reading them. It’s lovely to think that people are reading my things, especially that they are being stimulated to write their own poems.”

Don’t worry, May. We are inspired by your Mourning Cloak, Ashlyn’s aphid-eaters, Nora’s night sky auroras, and students, young adult and age 6, immersed in words every day.

This is Nora Baggaley, Ashlyn Prince, and Shannon Rhodes, and we are Wild About Utah, May Swenson, night sky poetry, and of course, bugs.
Well, maybe bugs.

Nora, Shannon & Ashlyn in the Studio
Courtesy & Copyright Stu Baggaley, Photographer

Credits:

Images: Classroom art Courtesy & Copyright Shannon Rhodes, Photographer
Mourning cloak butterfly (pinned), Courtesy & Copyright Don Rolfs
Nora, Shannon and Ashley in the UPR Studio, Courtesy & Copyright Stu Baggaley
Audio: Courtesy & © Friend Weller, https://upr.org/
Text & Voice: Shannon Rhodes, Nora Baggaley, and Ashlyn Prince, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Shannon Rhodes

Additional Reading:

BEETLES Project, The Regents of the University of California, https://beetlesproject.org/resources/for-field-instructors/notice-wonder-reminds/

Hellstern, Ron. June Fireflies, Wild About Utah, June 19, 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/june-fireflies/

Ross, Fran, 1969. Poetry is Alive and Well and Living in America. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaKRjiqGizQ&t=1s

Spencer, Sophia with Margaret McNamara. Bug Girl: A True Story. https://www.amazon.com/Bug-Girl-True-Story/dp/0525645934

Strand, Holly. May Swenson, Wild About Utah, April 14, 2009, https://wildaboututah.org/may-swenson-a-utah-poet-and-observer-of-nature/

Swenson, May. Unconscious Came a Beauty. Poets Speak, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6LSVzBTKs&t=6s

Tevela, Irina. May Swenson in Space, Washington University in St. Louis, July 19, 2019, https://library.washu.edu/news/may-swenson-in-space/

December 1, 2025November 30, 2025

The Christmas Bird Count is a Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Downy Woodpecker Male at Feeder, Courtesy & © Hilary Shughart, Photographer — Downy Woodpecker Male at Feeder
Courtesy & © Hilary Shughart, Photographer

Downy Woodpecker Using Tools?
Courtesy & © Hilary Shughart, Photographer

Downy Woodpecker Using Tools? Courtesy & © Hilary Shughart, Photographer — Downy Woodpecker Male at Feeder
Courtesy & © Hilary Shughart, Photographer

Downy Woodpecker Using Tools?
Courtesy & © Hilary Shughart, Photographer

When the winter chill sets in, that’s my cue to start filling the suet feeders, plug in the heated bird bath, and keep the Black Oil Sunflower Seed in stock for the grand variety of birds which visit my home through the Winter. I feed the birds because I know that my visitors will have better success in raising their families next Spring, but also because they are such fun to watch! Just yesterday I was mesmerized by a Downy Woodpecker taking black oil sunflower seeds one by one from the hanging squirrel-proof bird feeder, flying onto the deck railing, and hopping along about six feet to place the seed in a knothole serving as a mortar to the beak pestle, thus gaining access to the tasty seed inside the hard shell. I immediately wondered if this behavior might qualify as tool use, but suspected it would not meet a strict definition. Sure enough, this clever problem-solving activity is not considered to be tool use, but it is no less fascinating!

This is a great time to discover the joy of bird watching and contributing to community science. The annual National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count is hosted by many organizations in many locations, with a single day selected between December 14th through January 5th. The Christmas Bird Count database was established by Frank Chapman in 1900, when holiday shooting parties were replaced with counting parties as a proactive response to the noticeable decline bird numbers.

The Bridgerland Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count is always hosted on the first Saturday on or following December 14th, and we have been contributing Cache Valley, Utah data to the National Audubon database since 1956. You can watch from home if you live within the 15-mile diameter watch circle area centered at Main Street and Hyde Park Lane – that is if you live within 7.5 miles of the intersection of Hwy 91 & 3600 N, which includes all or part of Amalga, Smithfield, North Logan, Hyde Park, Logan, Logan Canyon, River Heights, Providence, Mendon, Benson, and unincorporated Cache County. Check the interactive map on our website to determine if your home is inside the watch circle. There’s limited space available with the wandering watch groups, too.

Even if you only see the occasional American Robin or Magpie, please do consider participating in a Christmas Bird Count near you. We welcome newcomers and beginners, and hope that you will enjoy contributing to the longest running community science program which provides data for scientists worldwide.

For identification assistance you can post photos on our Facebook group. Please don’t forget that Zero is a number – we want your final report even if you didn’t see a single bird outside your home. Consider hosting a cozy watch party, sharing hot chocolate with friends and neighbors while sharpening observation and identification skills, keeping hearts and minds full and growing in wonderful ways.

For more information check our website to register at no cost at BridgerlandAudubon.org – that’s Bridgerland Audubon A-U-D-U-B-O-N dot org.

I’m Hilary Shughart with the Bridgerland Audubon Society, and I am Wild About Utah!

Credits:
Images: Courtesy US Fish & Wildlife Service, Leah Schrodt and Brett Billings, Photographers
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver & Friend Weller, https://www.upr.org/people/friend-weller
Text: Hilary Shughart, President, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading: Hilary Shughart and Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional ReadingSupplemental food and water are important ways we can reduce stress for backyard birds
WildAboutUtah pieces by Hilary Shughart, https://wildaboututah.org/author/hilary-shughart/

ChristmasBirdCount.org which forwards to the following National Audubon page: https://www.audubon.org/community-science/christmas-bird-count

Christmas Bird Count on the National Audubon website: https://www.audubon.org/community-science/christmas-bird-count/join-christmas-bird-count

Regional Christmas Bird Counts found on UtahBirds.org: http://www.utahbirds.org/cbc/cbc.html

Bridgerland Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/cbc/

November 24, 2025November 24, 2025

Sugar Beets and German POWs in Cache Valley

Abandoned Sugar Beet Factory, Weston near Franklin, ID
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

When I started teaching at Preston High School, one of the first books my English class read was The Diary of Anne Frank. I remember asking the class if they had any family stories of their own to share about those war years. A young woman raised her hand and said her grandparents had a painting on their wall that had been given to them by a German Prisoner of War. This POW had worked on their Cache Valley sugar beet farm in 1945. He’d signed the painting, and had written a few words of thanks on the back for the kind treatment he had received

I was astounded. German POW’s in Cache Valley? This led me to ask more questions.

I found out in 1945 there were close to 400 German POWs living in tents in a work camp at the Cache Valley Fairgrounds. Local farmers contracted with the US Government to hire the POWs to work in the fields for 80 cents a day.

Each morning the prisoners would get loaded into trucks and driven to a sugar beet field. The work day didn’t end until 8 pm when the prisoners returned to the Fairgrounds, damp and chilled, from the ride in the open bed trucks.

Sugar Beet Knives
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

In 1945, sugar beets were a profitable crop, but labor intensive. In the Spring, the beets needed to be thinned and weeded. This work was done by a short handled hoe. In the Fall, the beets needed to be pulled out of the ground. This was done by a special beet knife with a big fish hook on the end. Once pulled out of the ground, the top leaves were sliced off and the beets tossed into a pile bound for the sugar factory.

At the peak of sugar beet farming in and around Cache Valley, there were 5 sugar factories operating. But by 1945 the factories were down to two – one located in Lewiston, and the other in Whitney, near Preston.

Native Americans came from Arizona to work the beets and set up their colorful teepees in downtown Lewiston. High school students were let out of school for 2-3 weeks in the Fall to work during what were called “Harvest Vacations.”

A friend of mine in Preston told me about a young man who went off the college in the Fall of 1945, but came home after a week. His father handed him a sugar beet knife and told him if he wasn’t going to go to college, he was going to work in the fields.

Everyone I met who once worked in the sugar beet fields told me all the work of thinning and harvesting needed to be done while bent over, and the resulting back pain was terrible.

Of all the stories I heard, my favorite was one of a Logan beet farmer who took his 3-year-old daughter with him to check on the work being done by the POWs he had hired. One day, he looked up and saw one of the German POWs holding his little girl in his arms. The farmer took his little girl by the hand, but the POW didn’t let go. A guard came running over. But both men stopped when they saw the tears running down the POW’s face. Somewhere, many miles away, they realized this German POW had a little girl of his own that he may or may not ever see again.

Today, all the POWs have long gone, as well as the local sugar beet farms. But if you drive north on Highway 89, just before you get to Preston, you can see the remains of the Whitney sugar beet factory. These huge crumbling buildings stand as a reminder that sugar beets were once king in Cache Valley.

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:

Images Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
Featured Audio:
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Mary Heers & Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah, Mary Heers’ Postings

Powell, Allan Kent, Splinters of a Nation: German Prisoners of War in Utah (UTAH CENTENNIAL SERIES), University of Utah Press, January 1, 1990, https://www.amazon.com/Splinters-Nation-German-Prisoners-CENTENNIAL/dp/0874803306/ref=sr_1_1

Radford, Alexandria, The Old Sugar Beet Factory, Medium, Oct 7, 2021, https://medium.com/mind-talk/the-old-sugar-beet-factory-2e4b26f906d6

Arrington, Leonard J, Beet Sugar in the West A History of the Utah Idaho Sugar Company 1891-1966 University of Washington, 1966, https://www.amazon.com/-/he/Leonard-J-Arrington/dp/029574037X

November 17, 2025November 14, 2025

Leaves have fallen and are falling- it’s Fall!!

Fallen Leaves
Courtesy Pixabay, Ivabalk, Contributor

Leaves have fallen and are falling- it’s Fall!! Their beauty, crunchiness, and odors excite my senses.

Consider the leaf, these lovely little solar collectors! How can any device imagined by the human brain collect light energy from the sun and convert it to food and oxygen while sequestering carbon? A tall order, even with AI! Yet, the humble leaf does it all! By capturing photons of light and utilizing the photosynthetic process, magic occurs!

In brief terms, the light excites electrons in the leaf’s chlorophyll which move through the electron transport chain producing needed energy to build glucose (food) from carbon dioxide and water absorbed from earth’s atmosphere. The glucose molecules along with phosphates, nitrates, and other chemicals are used to build infinite numbers of other molecules, essential for life to occur. Hope that was brief enough!

Yes, I have fallen in love with leaves- from waving grasses to majestic tree leaves. While raking leaves in my yard, I’m smitten by their beauty and functionality, and hope not to strain my back! Leaves from our Freemont cottonwood tree offer pyramids of gold with undulating leaf margins- exquisite! One can easily make a teepee from them, or other possibilities depending on where your imagination takes you. Our aspen trees sprinkle gold coins in between.

Aspen leaves have a special designed petiole, or leaf stem. Rather than the usual round shape, it is flattened which allows it to flip upside down when struck by wind. This makes it doubly efficient at capturing sunlight with both top a bottom receiving light. Chlorophyll is also found in the bark, hidden behind the white dust covering. Wet the bark and the green chlorophyll become visible.

We have many conifers in our yard, whose specialized leaves in the form of needles perform the same function. Their tiny surface area and wax-like coating are excellent adaptations for reducing transpiration (plant evaporation). This allows them to maintain their leaves through the extreme drought of winter’s cold temperatures and frozen ground, whereas broadleaved trees would soon dehydrate if their leaves were not dropped.

We have many other broadleaved trees on our landscape- box elder, green ash, rocky mountain maple, cherry, and river birch. Thus, we are blessed with a myriad of leaf shapes, colors, and texture. I enjoy all varieties- an artist’s delight! One we’re missing is Gamble oak, which was abundant in our N. Ogden backyard. These are a subspecies of the eastern white oak, as the Rocky Mountain bigtoothed maple is a subspecies of the eastern sugar Maple.

Utilitarian uses of leaves add more to the enjoyment, excellent mulch, compost, and piles for the grandkids to frisk in! Leaving some of them on the lawn in a shredded (mowed) condition is good nourishment for the grasses.

A healthy medium sized maple tree has around 100,000 leaves. That’s a lot of solar collectors! How many blades of grass in the average lawn? I leave that one up to you dear Listener!

Jack Greene for Bridgerland Audubon Society, I’m wild about every leaf I know- even poison ivy!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy Pixabay, ivabalk, contributor, https://pixabay.com/photos/autumn-fallen-leaves-the-fallen-2882733/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Friend Weller, https://upr.org/ and Anderson, Howe, Wakeman.
Text: Jack Greene, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading Links: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading:

Wild About Utah Pieces by Jack Greene, https://wildaboututah.org/author/jack/

Hicks-Hamblin, Kristina, Composting Autumn Leaves: How to Use Leaves for Compost and Mulch, Gardener’s Path, Ask the Experts LLC., August 30, 2020, https://gardenerspath.com/how-to/composting/leaves/

Yard & Garden Updates, USU Extension, https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/updates/