Restoration and rehabilitation
This summer involved a mild drought again, but there were
significant individual rainfalls in spring. Here are the most recent images
of our seeded prairie (seeded fall of 2012):
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| The seeded prairie on June 22, 2020 |
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| The colorful seeded prairie on July 19, 2020 |
Our sand/septic plantings are coming along and next year should be even more colorful.
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| Sand prairie planting on July 29, 2020. Grass/sedge planting in the background |
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| Closeup of grass/sedge planting on August 23, 2020 |
Our planted prairie struggled this year due to Poecilocapsus lineatus - Four-lined Plant Bugs - and the damage they cause. 2021 should be better.
Our sandbox planting continues to grow.
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| Sandbox planting on August 15, 2020 |
In years past, I started moving plants to the north side of the front yard, which gives a prairie edge.
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| North yard prairie on August 6, 2020 |
Flora and fauna
Here are the updates and totals, with some photo highlights.
Birds: 180 species. Additions to the bird list in 2020 were Herring Gull, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Prairie Warbler, and Brewer's Blackbird.
The Herring Gull was an overdue species and one flew low enough over the property for ID.
A Northern Saw-whet Owl was present for weeks from late October through December. I could not locate its regular roost, but did find evidence a couple times, once in a White Spruce and once in a tangle of grape and buckthorn. I confirmed the species with playback recordings of barking and cat whine. The individual would typically respond with a cat whine after one or two broadcast calls. The owl was on our list as one of the species to show up next, as noted here.
The Prairie Warbler was unexpected on June 15th. I was watching a movie that was set in the UK. Julie heard the warbler singing and thought it was a strange sound effect for the show. After muting the TV, we discovered the male warbler working the edge of our backyard, foraging in the Silky Dogwoods and Red Oaks before moving on.
The Brewer's Blackbird was with a mixed flock of blackbirds, and not totally unexpected to show up one of these years.
Winter "finches" irrupted in great numbers for some species this fall.
- Red-breasted Nuthatches arrived in August, with greater numbers (up to 7 at a time) in September and beyond, although we did have an
individual in the yard in July.
- Pine Siskins first showed up in late September and continued in large
numbers (a few dozen at a time) until late November. We banded over 160
individuals and would only see 1 or 2 banded birds at any given time
while a couple dozen were at the feeder area.
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| Some siskins were very yellow |
- Purple Finches were present sporadically from late September through
late November, with 2-3 individuals at a time during the early portion
of that time frame.
- Evening Grosbeaks first showed up in early October, then disappeared. Finally, they returned from late-October through mid-November. Most sightings were flyovers,
but one female did visit a feeder.
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| Female Evening Grosbeak on October 30, 2020 |
- Common Redpolls showed up in the planted prairie with a few feeding in Showy Goldenrods on 11/28/20
- White-winged Crossbills passed through the yard with a small flock of 3 on 12/11/20.
- Red Crossbills are in the area, but we haven't seen or heard any yet this winter.
Could we be lucky enough to have Pine Grosbeaks or Bohemian Waxwings turn up this winter?
Nesting: Wood Duck was the new species found nesting in 2020. They likely nested in previous years, but the young were likely led away from the area quickly due to dry pond conditions. Water remained in the neighbor's buttonbush swamp a bit longer this year to host the ducklings.
We also found an easy-to-view family of Eastern Screech-owls.
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| Owl keeping an eye on me May 3, 2020 |
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| Owl peering from the side door on May 9, 2020 |
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| Youngster across the trail from the cavity on May 23, 2020 |
A cumulative list of breeding birds on our property can be found here.
We did a bit more banding in 2020. We banded 663 new birds of 41
species this year. Our banding totals can be viewed here. Having set
up a net near the feeders for the siskins, we captured a great number
of seed-eaters including a male Hairy Woodpecker that we originally
banded in 2013!
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| Net of siskins on October 17, 2020 |
Mammals: 21+ species. Nothing new in 2020.
Herps: 12 species. Nothing new in 2020.
Fish: 1 species. Bluegill. Wait, What?!? We don't have any permanent water in our natural area.
While wandering the wet woods, we were checking tree tip-ups for any
potential new finds this spring. One of these "small" pools in the
middle of the woods had fish present.
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| Tip-up pool on May 3, 2020 |
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| One of the six yearling Bluegills |
We had a heavy rain incidents in late April / early May which must have
caused overflow conditions of neighbor's ponds to the north. We had
guessed they had fish in them since a Belted Kingfisher has been heard
in the vicinity sporadically through the years. These spring rainfalls
must have allowed sufficient water depth for the smaller, younger fish
to be swept to the middle of the woods. At least they may have eaten
some mosquito larvae before they became "feeder" fish for a raccoon or
Green Heron.
Invertebrates
Butterflies: 49 species. Nothing new in 2020.
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| Coenonympha tullia inornata - Inornate Ringlet on July 30, 2020. Individuals appear regularly here. |
We participate in Monarch Watch, including tagging Monarchs that we have
raised from eggs/larvae. In 2020, we only tagged 15 (all we could
catch) Monarchs on the property. Migratory adults were limited and we
only saw 1 or 2 after mid-September.
Moths: We added 44 species in 2020, bringing our property total to 573.
Essentially all new moths were from the porch lights or examining leaf
mines.
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| Phobetron pithecium- Hag Moth caterpillar found on Redbud on August 16, 2020 |
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| Acronicta funeralis - Funerary Dagger, aka Paddle Caterpillar found on serviceberry June 23, 2020 |
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| Schizura ipomaeae - Morning-glory Prominent moth caterpillar on Swamp Rose September 6, 2020 |
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| Likely Phyllonorycter propinquinella on black cherry |
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| Stigmella rhamnicola - Pygmy Leafmining Moth leaf mines in Common Buckthorn, Rhamnus cathartica |
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| Schinia florida - Primrose Moth on Evening Primrose on August 21, 2020 |
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| Primrose Moth caterpillar feeding on flower buds on August 29, 2020 |
Flies (Diptera): 136 species, up from 111. Again, most species added were due to efforts in studying leaf mines.
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| Flower gall on Cut-leaf Coneflower (R. lanciniata): Asphondylia rudbeckiaeconspicua - Gall Midge |
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| Phytomyza loewii - Clematis leafminer |
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| unknown fly leaf miner on clover |
Bees/wasps (Hymenoptera): 103 species, up from 95. We have much work to do, as we have not focused on this Order.
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| Argid sawfly larva on hawthorn (possibly Arge tumsua?) |
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| unknown sawfly larva on serviceberry |
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| Colpotrochia fultoni, uncommon species of Ichneumon, which is an endoparasite of Lepidoptera |
Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata): 43 species. No new species in 2020, but a couple of vouchers of less common species.
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| Comet Darner (Anax longipes) on June 13, 2020 |
This male
darner landed on our raised flower beds and was a young adult. I suspect it
came from the neighbor's pond across the lane. We've seen them zipping
through the yard in past years.
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| Carolina Saddlebags (T. carolina) on July 3, 2020 |
We've had the reddish saddlebags cruising our yard and prairie in past years. This individual was flying over our deck.
Other beetles, bugs, and other insects: Now 242 species.
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| Leafhopper with a parastic Dryinid wasp larva |
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| Ceuthophilus sp. - female Camel Cricket. I found
individuals multiple times when working on the pond skimmer basket this summer. |
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| Nectopsyche sp. - White Miller Caddisfly species that came to our porch light. This likely breeds in our pond. |
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| Microcoryphia - Bristletail sp. found when cleaning a Hen of the Woods mushroom from the woods. |
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| Brochymena sp. - Rough Stink Bug |
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| Hypselistes florens - Splendid Dwarf Spider. A showy
little spider that we somehow overlooked in previous years, as it's only 2-4 mm in size. |
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| Ixodes scapularis - Black-legged Tick |
This tick is a most
disappointing find since this is the species that carries Lyme Disease.
This tick has been spreading east across Michigan over the years and is
now present with Lyme Disease confirmed in the area.
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| Firefly larva eating a snail |
Plants
We gained a net of 17 new species to the property list. Eleven were native, with the surprise addition of a State Threatened Species, Oval Ladies' Tresses, Spiranthes ovalis. It was growing right on a trail margin.
Chinkapin Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) was a nice find. We first found a sapling on the neighbor's property, and ended up finding one or more on ours, although all are quite young. Zigzag Goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis) on the far west part of our property was also welcome.
We will now start tracking species that we have planted in the yard or old field that become naturalized away from the place we have planted them. The most notable in 2020 was finding Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) in two places in the woods. This herbaceous species is shunned by deer and has largish seeds consumed (but not generally spread) by birds. Seems weird where they showed up; there's a small possibility they could be native to the property but just gone unnoticed having not bloomed until this year. We've surely walked right by pretty conspicuous plants in past years.
Our new FQA (Floristic Quality Assessment) stats follow:
Whole property: 356 species (66% native), overall/adjusted FQI* 43.4 / 28.4
Woods: 212 species (85% native), FQI 48 / 35.9
Woods + old field: 274 species (77% native), FQI 46.3 / 31.7
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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 greater than 35 are
considered important floristically while most undeveloped land scores
less than 20.
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Fungi: It was a fairly poor year for new fungi. A better list
was kept. So far, 160 distinct kinds have been found, with 140 of them
identified close to species with a fair degree of confidence. The most interesting new species in 2020 was Devil's Urn (Urnula craterium). It was nearly the size of a tennis ball:
We did end up finding several Hen-of-the-woods as well as Chicken-of-the-woods. We had enough of both to freeze portions for our current pandemic winter -- we even dehydrated some of the hen for an intense powder to use as a flavoring. There were also enough Flammulina velutipes -- Velvet Foot -- to at least taste, and we found them delicious.
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| Velvet foot = the same species as the cultivated grocery store enoki. |
As of this writing, it doesn't look like we will be any traveling again this summer due to covid-19. We barely left the property in 2020, but devoted a lot of time to vegetable gardening, landscape maintenance, and caring for our ailing cat. Perhaps we will be able to devote more time this summer to finding new species.
