Ripples 6/1/23

As we rejoice at the onset of summer with the next wave of blooming fruit trees and flower beds bursting to life, we think about how good it is to live here.  We enjoy the beautiful Lake bordered by lots of green landscape with flowers as frosting on the cake.  Some of us are already busy looking for insects among all that, especially the pollinators like butterflies and bumblebees. 
 
Last time I talked about the early blooming plants which sustain bumble and other bees just after they emerge from their winter dormancy – the willows and weeds that bloom as soon as it starts to warm. I think we’ve all heard of “No Mow May” as a way of helping provide flowery resources for pollinators, but I wonder how many people actually don’t mow for the entire month.  I’m not able to get past the middle of the month, lest my lawn become an absolute hayfield, un-mowable with my little lawn tractor.  Last year, my uncle next door had a mower break down and I mowed his lawn in late May and it was a disaster – actually took several mowings and put a lot of strain on equipment.
 
So I would like to propose an alternative to No Mow May, which would require no additional effort on the homeowner’s part.  It would have three components:
 
1. Set your mower to its highest height.  Even the highest setting on most mowers is about 3 inches or so, not terribly high compared to native grasslands.
 
2. Don’t use herbicides or insecticides on your lawn, except if you choose to save an ash tree in your yard.  Although treating ash trees would be toxic to insects which feed on ash in addition to the ash borers, as ash disappear they would lose that food source anyway.  Avoiding lawn herbicides requires us to be tolerant of non-grass plants- in my lawn are creeping charlie, dandelions, white clover, common and narrow-leaved plantains, and other plants.  They adapt to grow low, and survive mowing, providing flower resources for bees and others all summer.  Minnesota Vikings or Two Rivers Raiders fans will appreciate the splash of purple and yellow in the yard.  Yes, they are non-native plants, and can be invasive, but your lawn is not a pristine natural area.  Turf grass is non-native and invasive, so if you’re going to have non-natives at least they should be a food resource for beneficial pollinators.  Of course, you may not want an entire lawn of creeping charlie, but better to control it in the fall after pollinators are done for the year.    
 
3. Mow a little less.  Every year I try to figure out how to make my lawn smaller.  I live on about 20 acres and could make my lawn that large if I wanted. Of course, I don’t want a large lawn, and am working to have what I consider a reasonable lawn framed by prairie and wildflower plantings.  My lawn has been getting slightly smaller each year for the last five years.  I realize that I’m fortunate to not have close neighbors which might be offended, but whatever your situation I encourage you to think about how you might “cut down” a bit on mowing.  The benefits to nature are obvious.
 
I think the key to long-term environmental improvement and sustainability is to find ways to work with nature which are easy. Less work, less gas for mowers, and less pesticides results in a more liveable world.  And, I find happiness in walking over my yard looking for bumblebees and others which I know are struggling to survive in other places.  I hope you do too.
 

photo- a two-spotted bumblebee on creeping charlie at UW-Madison Arboretum, from their webpage

 

Ripples 5/25/23

Spring seems to be a season of enticement and denial.  Our expectations for warmth barely met, with better weather always around the corner.  At least for activities involving relaxation- if exertion is required, the cool weather we’ve experienced recently is just fine.  Trees and other plants are similarly being teased, by just enough warmth to encourage very slow growth and flowering, but not enough to move things along quickly.  Its not bad at all, as it allows us to savor the mid-spring blossom time.
 
Plants beginning to bloom represent a very important time in nature’s calendar.  The development and movement of insects which depend on pollen and nectar, and the birds which depend upon those insects, involves those flowers and is timed around their bloom.  In the last couple of weeks, some trees and other wild flowers have begun to blossom, and those first flowers are magnets for early insect pollinators.
 
We’re excited to see pussy willows start to bloom in March, when, other than skunk cabbage, little is blooming.  Now, their catkins droop on the branches, covered with pollen.  This is one of the first food resources available to insects, and their presence might ensure survival of early emerging bumblebees.  For this reason, flowers we consider pests such as creeping charlie and dandelion may be important foods for a variety of native insects like bumblebees, fresh out of their winter burrows.  In my yard, where both grow unabated (fortunately I’m separated from neighbor’s lawns), many of the lawn flowers have various bees, wasps, flies, and even ants visiting them and distributing pollen.  My lawn management strategy is to avoid pesticide treatment, and mow as high as the mower allows.  
The first tree to flower in my yard was a Nanking cherry- a foreign plant but not invasive.  Unfortunately, it also has not borne fruit either, but it produces large numbers of flowers which were again covered with hundreds of pollinators, including honeybees from a hive at an unknown location.  In addition to the bees, wasps and flies, four species of butterflies were already active- mourning cloaks and question marks, which can overwinter in sheltered places as adults, and migratory cabbage whites and painted ladies, fresh from someplace a little warmer.  The energetic interactions between hundreds of insects and thousands of flowers on one tree was remarkable, and made me pause my yard work.  They were working much harder than I, and this miraculous spring emergence was joyful to watch.
Its fine by me if the blossoms hang on the trees a little longer as we wait for serious warmth in the air.  Early flowers, and all that go with them, will keep my interest for a long time.
 
Photo- Question Mark butterfly taken by Derek Ramsey from Wikipedia

Ripples 5/17/23

Ripples by Nancy Nabak, Communications Coordinator

Last night I dreamt my birding friend said he’d found a “Level-headed-arrow-back” duck. What in the world? Truly, such a duck does not exist. I’m pretty sure it came from the fact that I had just completed a 24-hour birdathon a couple of days prior and birds were still flying around in my head as I went to sleep.

On Friday and Saturday, I participated in a friendly competition to raise money for bird conservation and awareness. We had 24 hours to find as many species as possible. I belonged to the team “No Egrets” and we tied for 4th place with 152 bird species identified. This brilliant Pine warbler (photo) was one of them. Teams could bird anywhere in the state of Wisconsin, but I ran into many who were here, scouring for birds at Woodland Dunes.

Now that spring migration is in full swing, our singing warblers, thrushes, and vireos are back. Unfortunately, many will only be here for a short while before moving further north to their nesting grounds. So, while they’re here, let’s get out and enjoy them! You can count them, listen to them sing, watch them in flight, or just admire the fact that they’re back again and winter has finally lost its grip.

The bright lemon yellow, orange and black, and blue and gold neotropical migrants are fascinating to the eye. This is the time to witness the artist’s paintbrush on these birds. Take a hike on Willow Trail and see what brilliant-colored treasures you might find. Take your time and move slowly. These little guys like to hop and bounce around in the treetops, so be prepared to watch for movement first, then look for their bright colors and markings.

This Saturday, Woodland Dunes will be celebrating World Migratory Bird Day and our 81st Bird Breakfast tradition. Celebrating birds? You bet. They give us song. They give us entertainment, and they give us hope. The world could use a little more of these three things.

And no, we don’t eat birds for breakfast, not even eggs come to think of it. Initially, Bird Breakfast began by a local birder and librarian, Merle Picket. After a friendly Saturday morning bird challenge was complete, she offered a pancake breakfast in her home. Eventually it grew so large that people were grilling their breakfasts in public parks. Then, the event came to Woodland Dunes.

Over 100 people will celebrate this Saturday morning by eating a ham and pancake breakfast not in the parks, but in the comforts of our Nature Center. Free guided bird hikes and children’s activities will also be offered. This tradition has lasted for 81 years, that tells us something. Birds are a reason to celebrate!

photo: Pine warbler by Nancy Nabak

Ripples 5/11/23

Ripples from the Dunes by Kennedy Zittel, Naturalist

The other week some of our staff went out to part of our preserve to spread some culver’s root seeds in a prairie where the rusty-patched bumble bee has been spotted.

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining with the occasional fluffy white cumulus clouds floating by. Goldfinches called from the treetops while the occasional turkey vulture soared seemingly in the clouds above. Frogs were heard calling from the nearby forest’s creek, a wonderful sound of spring. Rabbits hopped across the path while a woodchuck ran off to seek shelter from the people invading its peaceful day. 

Besides being a reason to be outside in such beautiful weather, we were out there spreading Culver’s root seeds for an even more important reason… Culver’s root is one of the federally endangered rusty-patched bumble bee’s favorite flowers! And who can blame them? Culver’s root is great! Besides looking beautiful, Culver’s root is a very important native pollinator plant. 

Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum) is a flowering plant that is a member of the plantain family (Plantaginaceae). An unbranched stem with whorled deep green-colored leaves leads up to beautiful white flower clusters that are described to resemble candelabra. The plant can grow anywhere from 2-6 feet tall. They prefer sunny areas with semi-wet soil, so they do very well in the prairies here at Woodland Dunes. 

Culver’s Root is an amazing pollinator plant. Their bloom period (early summer-mid summer) fills an important gap between the end of spring ephemeral blooming and the start of a lot of other prairie plants that begin to bloom mid-late summer. They are a favorite to many pollinator species, bees and butterflies alike! 

In fact, they are so popular that I often start my pollinator surveys looking at who is flying around the Culver’s root, as they are sure to have some pollinators buzzing or fluttering around. Just last summer I saw a rusty-patch buzzing around the flowers of a Culver’s root plant, showing that they really do enjoy this neat plant.  

If you would like to see what Culver’s root looks like in person, or any of the pollinators that enjoy the plant, a good place to check it out is right along Willow Trail! The white flowers stand out amongst the purples of the blazing star and bergamot, and the yellow of St. John’s Wort shrubs. They can be found growing directly next to the trail in the prairie area near Todd’s Pond. Once summer is in full swing, the weather is warmer, bees are buzzing, and flowers are blooming, head on out to the prairie area to see some of the Culver’s root for yourself, and perhaps some really neat pollinators too!

Photo- rusty-patched bumblebee on Culver’s root flower, from UW-Madison Arboretum
 

Ripples 5/4/23

photo of House wrenFor nature lovers, the recent cool spring weather is a mixed blessing. Of course, we’re all tired of windy 45 degree days, some sprinkled with rain.  The earlier week of warm weather seemed to quickly kick spring into gear, greening up the grass, budding the trees, and forcing the daffodils and magnolias suddenly. Then, the return to reality slowed everything way down.  Spring still progressed, but at a slower pace that allow us to enjoy it for a longer time. This week we began a small fencing project that brought us to a quiet little corner of the nature preserve where we were able to catch up on the outdoor world. 
 
Recently, birds returned in waves- suddenly white-throated sparrows and ruby-crowned kinglets were everywhere after the warm snap, but the cool after has caused them to linger. They don’t want to fly into a fierce headwind.  However, even when it’s 45 outside, if you find a sunny spot out of the wind, the incredibly enthusiastic songs of the kinglets are delightful, along with increasing numbers of other birds. Not quite the showy orioles and grosbeaks yet, but the more subtle (in appearance) members of their kin. Today I heard the first house wren for the year in our preserve- a song almost as energetic as the kinglet’s.  And a towhee.  And a boldly singing goldfinch, dressed in his summer yellow now. As we worked in the mud, tree swallows flew overhead, a pileated woodpecker sang from the woods, and a number of blue jays called harshly from all four directions. We were hoping to hear ravens, which may be nesting nearby, or a red-shouldered hawk which appeared to stay all winter, but they decided to be elsewhere today.
 
In the swamp, marsh marigolds are beginning to bloom. The alders are blooming too, and willows are in various stages depending on the species. As we dug for  our post installing mission, we were pleasantly surprised by the trees and shrubs slowly colonizing the old farm field in which we worked- red-osier dogwood, yellow dogwood which we planted a few years ago, different willows, birches, alders, popples, and balsam poplar, all beginning to bud. There were a couple of invasives- buckthorn and honeysuckle, which we’ll have to come back for later.  And the poor ash trees- the last to bud in spring, and even then often clipped by frost- they seem to be so sensitive.  They already show signs of woodpeckers chipping back their bark to get at the grubs of the emerald ash borer. They won’t be with us long, sadly, but we’ve planted as many trees as we can to take their place.  
 
And on the ground beneath the trees, the early greens of wild strawberries, brome grass and purple top, goldenrods, and a number of sedges, some of them in hummocks, indicating that this is indeed a wetland, and if not for the trees it would want to be a sedge meadow.
 
This May is still early spring in our part of Wisconsin, as far as nature is concerned. The fact that it isn’t moving along too quickly gives us a chance to appreciate all of the many, many parts of the natural world, and realize that they all are tied to each other. We only experience this re-awakening for a short time each year, and we’re lucky to have a little extra time to savor and marvel at it. Soon the leaves will be out and the world will be dominated by an exquisite green mantle, unfortunately obscuring the wonderful little songbirds as they arrive from the tropics. But, the leaves make us work harder to see that which we seek, also making the glimpses we are granted even more.
As winds turn south, a tide of both birds and new growth will envelop us. One doesn’t have to try to be everywhere to experience that- using one place as a quiet reference reveals amazing things about our seasons. Even if you’re just digging post holes.

photo- house wren by S. King, US NPS – [1] at US NPS, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8156486