It was late August and things were changing in northern Minnesota. Just like everywhere in the Humid Continental Climate, summer was turning into fall. All the animals were preparing for winter, not just in the upper midwest, but in Europe, Asia and North Korea. One of these animals was me.

Hi, I'm Jerry the snow goose. My flock just left to go south for the winter. This was going to be my first time migrating, and I'm supposed to be with them in their V formation. But, I didn't want to go. I would miss it here in Minnesota and the Humid Continental Climate.

Instead of flying with my flock, I decided to come back to the forest. It doesn't seem the same now even though I only flew with the flock for a few hours. Lots of trees are losing their leaves. These are the deciduous trees, like cherry trees and hickory trees. At least, the evergreens still look healthy. They haven't lost any needles.

Look at this cherry tree! These trees are so pretty. They get to be 30-40 feet tall! All the insects like to eat their sweet blossoms in the spring. Right now, its leaves are changing colors and

blowing away.

I started to get hungry during my trip back into the forest. I decided to look for a snack, but I couldn't find any food. Geese like us are herbivores. We like to eat plants like grasses and berries, especially Little Bluestem grass.

Little Bluestem grass is so good! It is 2-5 feet tall and birds really like to eat it. Small animals like to hide in it from predators. It makes good camouflage. Remember, it was getting colder and I couldn't seem to find any.

As I kept looking for food, I wandered into the coniferous trees. I wondered if I could build a nest. The first one I saw still looked as green as it ever did! So did the second, maybe that's why they call them evergreens.

Coniferous trees don't have leaves, they have needles. They don't lose their needles either. They get to be 20-60 feet tall. That's really tall!

While I was poking around in another

evergreen, I had quite a surprise!

Somebody else was looking back at me. It was Atz, the Moose.

Atz said " Hiya Jerry, why are you still here?" I told Atz that I didn't want to leave. Atz told me that it was about to get really cold, as he was snacking on a branch of the tree.

I asked Atz if there was any goose food around. He said" if there is it won't be for long."

Atz said" I really must go, winter will be here soon, bye Jerry."

As he went, I noticed that his antlers looked really big. Atz was still munching as he walked away. Moose eat a lot, up to 70.5 pounds every day, but they don't eat as much in the winter as they do in the summer.

Atz had a funny walk. Moose have long legs to make it easier to walk in the snow. The Native Americans called them "moswa" which means

"twig eater".

Since I didn't find any food in the evergreens, I walked back to the deciduous forest, hoping to find yummy horsetail. Horsetail is a fast growing grass that is 3-4 feet tall. It is delicious!

I walked past this tree and that, flying once in a while. I happened upon another surprise.