Restoration and rehabilitation
-- Removed most non-native woody species (Autumn Olive, Japanese Barberry, bush honeysuckles). The major infestation of Multiflora Rose is being removed both mechanically and naturally by rose rosette disease. The removal of Common Buckthorn will be on-going and never completely achieved.
-- Made good headway on removal of invasive, non-native herbaceous plants, Canada Thistle and Garlic Mustard.
-- Seeded about 1/4 acre of back lawn with prairie plant seeds. It takes at least a couple of years for a prairie restoration to gain hold, so it must be mowed to keep back weedy annuals while the native prairie plants develop deep roots. Some progress was impeded by the drought of 2012, but by the end of the 2013 growing season, we could see many planted species coming up.
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| The seeded prairie after killing the grass and overseeding, fall 2012. |
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| The seeded prairie late summer 2013. |
-- Installed a moving water feature in the back yard (fall 2012).
-- Installed gardens all around the house with primarily native plants (fall 2012 / spring 2013).
-- Installed modest foot trails looping through wooded area all the way to the rear of the property (fall/winter 2012/2013).
-- Installed 9 bird boxes in yard area (fall 2012 / spring 2013): 8 of them were occupied at some point during the breeding season. They fledged seven broods of House Wrens, one brood of Eastern Bluebirds, and one brood of Black-capped Chickadees. Four boxes were installed in the wooded area (1 owl/woodpecker, 1 Brown Creeper, 2 Prothonotary Warbler), one was used by House Wrens.
Flora and fauna
We try to identify and keep track of the species of plants and animals that occur naturally on our property. Of course, some taxa are easier than others, and due to all the work on the property, we did not devote a huge amount of time to any insects other than moths. Here are our first year totals, with some photo highlights.
Vertebrates
Birds: 144 species.
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| We especially enjoy the turkeys that roam our property. This bunch came to our water feature and were captured on the game cam. |
Mammals: 17 species.
Herps: 10 species.
Invertebrates
Butterflies: 27 species.
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| The best thing about having a woodlot full of Spicebush is that it is one of the only host plants for the Spicebush Swallowtail. Their later instar larvae wrap themselves in leaves, and deter predators with their scary eyespots. |
Moths: 206 species identified, most of them photographed.
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| The highlight of any moth list is a giant silkworm moth. This Cecropia moth emerged from a cocoon we found over winter. We released her at the edge of the woods, and found her mated with a free-flying male the next day. |
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| Chickweed Geometer. Larvae feed on chickweeds, common lawn weeds. |
Flies: 33 species. We know, most people don't find flies interesting. But many are important pollinators, and some are incredible mimics of stinging insects.
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| This is not a wasp, it is a fly, Temnostoma alternans. The larvae feed on decaying wood. |
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| And this is not a bumblebee, it is a robber fly, Laphria thoracica. The adults are carnivorous predators on other insects. Many are disguised as unthreatening insects. |
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| This is not a pair of wasps, but a mating pair of crane flies, Crane fly, Ctenophora dorsalis. They lay their eggs in rotting wood. |
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| And who says horse flies can't be beautiful? Tabanus quinquevittatus. |
Bees/wasps: 31 species.
Dragonflies and damselflies: 26 species. We wrote the book (or at least, the paper) on these insects in Wayne County. We don't have much in the way of permanent water on this property, but still managed quite a few species. Here's a blog post on our first year at our other site.
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| Citrine Forktail in our seeded prairie. This is the smallest species of Odonata in North America.We found the first state records of this species for Michigan: Craves, J. A., and D. S. O’Brien. 2002. [Citrine Forktail] Ischnura hastata Odonata: Coenagrionidae): New for Michigan. Great Lakes Entomologist 35:117-118. |
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| Swamp Darners are one of the largest dragonflies in Michigan. They lay their eggs in wet wood in forested wetlands. |
Plants
185 species growing wild (none we know or think were planted).
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| Our 1-acre wooded swamp is full of Skunk Cabbage and Marsh Marigolds in spring. Large patches of Skunk Cabbage like this can be over 100 years old! |
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| We have a few patches of Drooping Trillium, Trillium flexipes (they start out white but turn pink). Deer like trillium, so we have fenced in some of them. |
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| We have a lot of Giant Blue Cohosh, including one enormous patch. |
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| There some remnant American Hazelnut in the section of our woods that was once oak savanna. This is a fire-tolerant plant characteristic of that habitat's understory. |
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| Marsh Skullcap, Scutellaria galericulata, is a wetland obligate species we were happy to find among the more common Mad-dog Skullcap. We have only found a single plant, so we will collect the seed to propagate more. |
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| I've planted a lot of Cardinal Flower around the house, but we were thrilled to find a number of plants in open spots in our wet woods. This is a testament to the property's wet prairie heritage, and we are going to remove invasive woody species and grasses to foster this community. |
Next year things will be a little less hectic, and we can spend more time documenting plants and insects.
