Although the summer was somewhat dry again, we had a wet spring too. Here is the first and most recent images of our seeded prairie (see 2018 for the intermediate years):
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| The seeded prairie after killing the grass and overseeding, fall 2012. |
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| The seeded prairie in July 2019. |
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| This sand prairie planting (August 4th) is covering part of the septic tank and field. (view from the north) |
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| ...another view from the west with some annotations |
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| Sedge and grass bed. |
We'll get more shots of the planted prairie, which in the backyard, next year. But it's beginning to be showy in Year 2:
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| Pollinator plants (Late Boneset and New England Aster) in our planted prairie. |
Here are the updates and totals, with some photo highlights.
Birds: 176 species. Additions to the bird list in 2019 were Cackling Goose, Caspian Tern, Greater Yellowlegs, Alder Flycatcher, and Eastern Whip-poor-will.
Nesting: no new species found nesting in 2019.
A cumulative list of breeding birds on our property can be found here.
Once again, we did little banding in 2019. We only banded 8 new birds of 4 species this year. Our banding totals can be viewed here.
Mammals: 21+ species.
The weasel on our list is likely #22, but we don't have a definitive ID of Short-tailed Weasel (Mustela erminea). We knew we had flying squirrels on the property, and were happy to finally get a photo with the game cam. We placed it on this log because it grows a lot of fall oyster mushrooms (Panellus serotinus) and we know these are a favorite food of this species. We got the shot below.
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| Southern flying squirrel eating fungi (look for the eyeshine above "04"). |
Invertebrates
Butterflies: 49 species. New species in 2019 was Mulberry Wing (Poanes massasoit).
We participate in Monarch Watch, including tagging Monarchs that we have raised from eggs/larvae. In 2019, we tagged 25 Monarchs on the property, which was all the tags we ordered. Migratory adults were far more numerous than in previous years.
Moths: We added 32 species in 2019, bringing our property total to 529. We did not manage to do any baiting or late-night lighting, so essentially all new moths were from the porch lights or just noticing them on the property.
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| Bilobed Looper (Megalographa biloba) on 5/21/19. |
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| Phyllocnistis magnoliella leaf mines. Our magnolia was wildly infested with huge magnolia scale insects, and we had to prune it severely. That's when we found these interesting moth mines. |
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| Caloptilia hypericella in Shrubby St John's Wort (Hypericum prolificum), another leaf-mining moth. |
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| White-streaked Looper (Plusia venusta) on 9/20/19. |
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| Epalpus signifer landed on my leg. |
Bees/wasps: 95 species, up from 86. We have been lax through the years in looking at the smaller wasps and ants. We need to take a look in the coming years.
Other beetles, bugs, and other insects: Now 242 species.
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| The Partridge Bug - Scolops sulcipes |
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| Metallica Wood Boring Beetle - Dicerca sp. |
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| male Flat-faced Longhorn Beetle - Graphisurus fasciatus |
We gained a net of 8 news species to the property list. Some species were brand new, and some species replaced four species that were misidentified or unable to be relocated.
We had two really nice additions. First was Winterberry or Michigan Holly, Ilex verticilata. We have planted these around our pond and at the edge of our wetland (the latter are too small to set fruit). They grow wild a couple miles away and we know birds bring them to the property in their poop. This particular shrub was shoulder height and we have walked past it or stood next to it dozens of times, but this is apparently the first year it set fruit. We were thrilled to find it.
The nicest wildflower was Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis. This species seems more common in somewhat drier, clay-based soils than we have here, so it was a nice find and we hope the patch we found expands. Several species were sedges, and a couple were weedy species both native and introduced.
Two species originated from plants we or the previous owners planted in the yard that have now volunteered elsewhere. We've debated when to count species that have escaped cultivation and are just making judgements as they occur. The two species that made the list this year are Redbud (Cercis canadensis) and Late Boneset (Eupatorium serotinum).
Our biggest misidentification was from last year; what we thought was the native dogwood Cornus rugosa was really the introduced Viburnum plicatum.
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| Our modest Bloodroot patch. |
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| Winterberry shrub hiding in plain sight. |
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| This was what we thought last year was Cornus rugosa... |
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| ...until it bloomed this year. |
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| The squirrels left us 6 hazelnuts! |
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| We found this peculiar oak leaf this fall. It is likely a bur oak or bur oak x swamp white oak hybrid. |
Our new FQA (Floristic Quality Assessment) stats follow:
- Whole property: 338 species (66% native), overall/adjusted FQI* 42.3 / 28.4
- Woods: 206 species (85% native), FQI 47.4 / 35.8
- Woods + old field: 265 species (77% native), FQI 45.6 / 31.5
*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 greater than 35 are considered important floristically while most undeveloped land scores less than 20.
Fungi: It was another good year for identifiying fungi. A better list was kept. So far, 154 distinct kinds have been found, with 133 of them identified close to species with a fair degree of confidence. Here are a few favorites from this year.
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| Rhodotus palmatus |
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| Witches Cap, Hygrocybe conica |
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| Cortinarius distans |
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| Flammulina velutipes, Velvet Foot. This is the same species cultivated and sold as enoki. The squirrels eat them almost immediately. |
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| Poison Pax, Paxillus involutus. |
