Although the summer was dry (mild drought) we had a wet spring again, and the seeded prairie was dominated again by 6'+ Wild Bergamot, but we had a greater number of species showing this year. Here is the chronology of our seeded prairie:
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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. |
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| Mid-summer 2014 |
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| Early August 2015 |
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| Close-up, August 2015 |
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| Mid-July 2016. |
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| Mid-July 2017. Cup Plant dominated the far side of the seeded prairie. |
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| July 2018. |
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| Also summer 2018; much more Penstemon digitalis (beardtongue) that in past years... |
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| ...as well as Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis), especially on the shadier south side of the prairie. |
We have a variety of plants in the works in the greenhouse for further plantings around the yard:
Flora and fauna
Here are the updates and totals, with some photo highlights.
Vertebrates
Birds: 171 species
Additions to the bird list in 2018 were Greater White-fronted Goose, Ring-necked Duck, Solitary Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Yellow-throated Warbler.
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| This Yellow-throated Warbler made a quick visit during a 4/15/18 ice storm |
Nesting: first nesting locations found on the property for Pileated Woodpecker and Brown Creeper
A cumulative list of breeding birds on our property can be found here.
Busy with various work projects, we did little banding in 2018. We only banded 15 new birds of 8 species this year. Our banding totals can be viewed here.
Mammals: 19+ species.
We had noticed bark being peeled from downed basswood trees so we set up the game cam to see what was occurring. It turned out that Red Squirrels were stripping the bark and carrying it away, but we had a couple other visitors such as coyote and the weasel in the picture below.
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| 11/25/18: likely Short-tailed Weasel (Mustela erminea) |
Invertebrates
Butterflies: 48 species. No new species in 2018.
We participate in Monarch Watch, including tagging Monarchs that we have raised from eggs/larvae. In 2018, we only tagged 15 Monarchs from the property. Movement and eggs/caterpillars found were up substantially from the last few years early in the summer, but the we had many more parasitized caterpillars and unsuccessful pupae. Migratory adults seemed more numerous, but we whiffed on catching enough, after being confident we'd easily tag our quota this year.
Moths: We added 92 species in 2018, bringing our property total to 496. We added many species due to a few nights of black light and metal halide light usage. We could add more if we had energy to stay up later.
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| Harris's Three Spot (Harrisimemna trisignata) on 8/11/18 |
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| Moonseed moth (Plusiodonta compressipalpis) |
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| Spectacled Nettle Moth (Abrostola urentis) on 8/19/18 |
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| Rigid Sunflower Borer (Papaipema rigida) on 9/11/18 |
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| Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth (Anticarsia gemmatalis): late season northbound migrant on 10/6/18 |
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| Two Boneset Borers (Carmenta pyralidiformis) making more little borers. |
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| Eyed Paectes (Paectes oculatrix) at the light sheet. |
Flies: 99 species, up from 91. Several species were added due to Julie's efforts in studying leaf mines. We have pictures of the mines and some of the flies but while they are subtly distinctive, we'll skip including them here; for these purposes, if you've seen one you've seen most. Here are a few more distinctive flies on the property:
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| Female Crane Fly (Ctenophora dorsalis) |
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| Bee-like Robber Fly (Laphria thoracica) |
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| This nifty little tachinid, Cylindromyia interrupta, was new for us this year. |
Bees/wasps: 86 species, up from 79.
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| We had a lot of parasitism of Monarch larvae and chrysalids. This wasp, Pteromalus cassotis, is tiny enough to get into our rearing cages, and lays lots of eggs in the chrysalids, killing the developing butterfly. |
Dragonflies and damselflies: 42 species. Slaty Skimmer (L. incesta) was the only species added in 2018.
Other beetles, bugs, and other insects: Now 227 species. We added a fair number of new planthoppers and other tiny bugs from our light sheets.
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| Quince Treehopper: blacklighting for moths brings out a variety of bugs |
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| Northern Walkingstick |
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| Long-necked Ground Beetle (Colliuris pensylvanica) |
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| Long-necked Seed Bug (Myodocha serripes) |
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| There are a lot of red and black beetles, in various families. This is Languria angustata, one of the more uncommon ones. |
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| Horsemint Tortoise Beetle larvae (Physonota unipunctata) on ... Horsemint |
Plants
We added 10 news species to the property list, but also removed two. One swap involved two confusing species of hawthorn. The other was the discovery that what we'd thought was poison-hemlock (Conium maculatum) was really the invasive Japanese Hedge-parsely (Torilis japonica). Both these last two species were brought in on fill dirt when we had our pond created; this dirt has been a source of a number of non-native weeds, but we've easily eradicated them.
Here are our new species. Most surprising was the dogwood, a good-sized small tree near a main path in our woods. The bellflower was also in our woods and may have naturalized there from seeds carried in by us or animals from our own plantings. The rest were all found in the yard area. Only the grass, hawkweed, and goldenrod are native.
Abutilon theophrasti (Velvetleaf)
Atocion armeria (Sweet-william Catchfly, above)
Campanulastrum [Campanula] americana (Tall Bellflower)
Erodium cicutarium (Storksbill)
Hibiscus trionum (Flower-of-an-hour)
Hieracium scabrum (Rough Hawkweed)
Muhlenbergia frondosa (Common Satin Grass)
Solidago gigantea (Late Goldenrod)
Torilis japonica (Japanese Hedge-parsely)
Our new FQA stats follow (somehow, it's off a species from last year).
- Whole property: 330 species (66% native), overall/adjusted FQI* 41.8 / 28.4
- Woods: 203 species (85% native), FQI 47.0 / 35.9
- Woods + old field: 263 species (77% native), FQI 43.8 / 31.6
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*In standardized botanical assessments, each species is assigned a "C value" or Coefficient of Conservatism from 0-10, gauging its tolerance to disturbance and affinity for intact historical ecosystems. From this, an index is calculated. Abundance is not figured in (thus a huge population of a rare/specialized species "counts" the same as a single plant) and species not native to Michigan always score "0", even if they are expanding their ranges into Michigan naturally, or are not invasive or habitat specific. In Michigan FQI's of >35 are considered important floristically while most undeveloped land scores <20 .="" font="">
Fungi: 88 species identified to at least genus (this includes a few slime molds, technically not fungi). I (Julie) have never really tried to identify mushrooms, but it was a wet and spectacular fall for them, and I had just retired. With time on my hands, I went at it with gusto and surprised myself at my success. Here are some of our favorites:
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| Blewit, Clitocybe [Lepista] nuda. What's not to like about a purple mushroom? |
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| Split gill, Schizophyllum commune (underside). Not flashy or colorful, but I think my favorite mushroom of all. |
 I think this is actually the one that inspired me.  Very poisonous, very lovely.  oysters, but they were a little old for culinary experimentation.  This is delicious and in my opinion the one worth hunting for. We have reliable Hen-of-the-Woods as well, but they aren't quite as tasty and are harder to clean. |
