Restoration and rehabilitation
(For the time series of the backyard seeded prairie and our other plantings, see the Changes: 2020 page.)
Shots of plantings around the house:
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| The seeded prairie on July 22, 2021 |
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| The north yard plantings on July 22, 2021 |
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| West end of septic planting with many Partridge Peas on June 8, 2021. This planting brought a special visitor (see the butterfly section below). |
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| The front door plantings on 7/22/21. |
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| Another angle. |
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| Front yard - septic planting in January. |
The early growing season involved a mild drought again, but then significant rains throughout the remainder of the summer. The amount and frequency of rain made 2021 the year of the mosquitoes. We spent much less time outside due to the biting insects. Headnets or bugshirts were a necessity for any walk in the woods or working in the garden from early-summer until the first frosts of the fall.
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| How the world saw Darrin throughout the summer (or would have, if we socialized during the pandemic). |
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| Julie tries the bugshirt/dress. |
Flora and fauna
Here are the updates and totals, with some photo highlights.
Birds:
180 species. No additions to the bird list in 2021.
Turkey Vultures were around throughout the winter. During a couple of windy days, we had an individual perch in the sheltered area of the seeded prairie on a bird box. There was a Black Vulture in the vicinity a few miles north of us, but it never showed up here.
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| This vulture on Feb 2, 2021 is 4+ years old based on feather molt |
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| Sandhill Cranes fly over the house all the time. It was pretty cool when two strolled by the pond and into the seeded prairie. First time in the yard, April. |
- Red-breasted Nuthatches were regulars as of September, but an individual was around sporadically during the summer.
- Pine Siskin individuals were flyovers in October, November, and December.
- Eastern Bluebirds: we banded a male and female amongst a few visiting our feeders for sunflower chips over the winter/spring.
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| Female banded on Feb 2, 2021 |
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| Male banded on May 11, 2021 |
It turned out that these two became a mated pair and attempted three nestings this summer. Two were successful, 1st with 4-5 fledglings and 2nd with 4 fledglings. The most interesting observation is that at least one other male helped with the first brood, and it could be a youngster from this pairs' previous year's nesting.
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| We fed mealworms in the tray to the left, several meters from the nesting box. Hard to see but this picture shows a male at the box and another male at the tray. |
Unsure why the third nesting was unsuccessful, but the male and female continued their presence around the property.
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| 3rd clutch of eggs on July 10, 2021, but they didn't hatch. |
A cumulative list of breeding birds on our property can be found here.
The mosquitoes prevented much banding 2021. We banded 177 new birds of 25 species this year. Our banding totals can be viewed here.
Mammals: 21+ species. Nothing new in 2021.
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| On Feb 19, 2021, we had an opossum come up on the deck in the afternoon. It was clear that it wasn't doing well, and curled up and died overnight. I moved the corpse to the seeded prairie. Check out the insects section below to see what was attracted. |
Herps: 12 species. Nothing new in 2021.
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| This snapping turtle was headed upland from our swamp on May 22, 2021. |
Fish: 1 species. Is this likely to ever change?!?
Invertebrates
The insect story of 2021 was, of course, the emergence of Brood X periodical cicadas. We didn't live in the Ann Arbor area 17 years ago, but Julie recalls the deafening noise when she visited. We wondered if some of these wondrous insects would emerge on our property. We found a couple of exuviae, too early to be dog day cicadas and thought that might be the start. On June 10, the distinct and slightly creepy song of Magicicada septendecim was heard. We heard this species a couple of times, but that was it. But we only had to travel a few miles to encounter pockets of cicadas. The video below was taken near where we pick up our farm box.
Butterflies: 52 species. Three new species in 2021.
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| A number of Compton Tortoiseshells turned up in the woods on Apr 7, frequenting flowing tree sap. |
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| Zabulon
Skippers were observed multiple times throughout the summer. Could the
additional Purple Love Grass plantings have brought them to the
property? |
The butterfly excitement of the summer was a Cloudless Sulphur turning up on Jun 5, 2021. We only saw one and could recognize it due to a nick in its hind wing.
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| Hanging out in the front garden |
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| The individual was a female, as several eggs were laid on the Partridge Peas, such as this one on Jun 8. |
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| We only found a few caterpillars, such as this on Jun 19. Ants likely consumed many of the eggs. |
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| One of the two or three fresh adults on Jul 6. They didn't stick around and flew off. |
We participate in Monarch Watch by tagging Monarchs. In 2021, we only tagged 16 (all we could catch) Monarchs on the property.
Moths: We added 20 species in 2021, bringing our property total to 593.
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| Casebearer moth (Coleophora monardella) on Monarda fistulosa from May 23, 2021. |
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| Not a new species for the property, but a helpful individual. This Pandora Sphinx (Eumorpha pandorus) is helping "remove" Woodbine from the banding shack on Sep 7, 2021. |
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| One of the most beautiful moth caterpillars is this Crown Slug Moth (Isa textula) on a Red Oak leaf Sep 24 2021. |
Flies (Diptera): 144 species, up from 136. Again, most species added were due to efforts in studying leaf mines.
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| Small Dung Fly (Cordilura sp.) at the edge of our pond on Apr 27, 2021. Many members of this genus mine sedges in the genera Carex or Scirpus. |
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| This is Scathophaga stercoraria - Golden Dung Fly |
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| This little robber fly, Dioctria hyalipennis, is apparently not native, but was introduced to the U.S. around 1918. |
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| Picture-winged Fly (Pseudoseioptera sp.) on Jun 9, 2021. |
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| One of the buggers that impacted the outdoor fun this year: likely Inland Floodwater Mosquito (Aedes vexans) |
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| Phytoliriomyza felti leaf mines in Spleenwort on Nov 1, 2021. |
Bees/wasps (Hymenoptera): 107 species, up from 103.
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| Spiny Ash Sawfly larvae (Eupareophora parca) on Jun 2, 2021. |
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| Ichneumonid wasp (Dolichomitus irritator) on Jun 25, 2021. |
We then had several female Ichneumonid Wasps ovipositing in Riverbank Wild Rye (Elymus riparius) flowers. We haven't been able to narrow down this ID.
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| female ovipositing in Riverbank Wild Rye on Jul 25, 2021. |
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| dorsal view of female on Riverbank Wild Rye |
Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata): 45 species. Two new species in 2021.
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| This female Spangled Skimmer (L. cyanea) was a surprise on Jun 24, 2021. |
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| We were surprised by this Four-spotted Skimmer (L. quadrimaculata) that scouted the pond over a couple days around Jun 6, 2021. |
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| Not new, but always great to see a Swamp Darner (E. heros) ovipositing in the swamp, here on Oct 17, 2021. |
Other beetles, bugs, and other insects: Now 242 species.
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| Dozens of Margined Carrion Beetles helped break down the opossum that was placed in the seeded prairie. Ridged Carrion Beetles also were present (late March-2021). |
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| Enchenopa on-cercis - undescribed treehopper species that feeds on Redbud. Adult with nymphs on Jun 16, 2021. |
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| Had no idea there was such as thing as a root aphid, much less a kind specific to dandelions (genus Trama). Almost makes weeding worthwhile. |
Plants
We only added one new species to the property list: Amelanchier arborea. Most of the serviceberries on our property are A. laevis. A number of years ago, we pulled a volunteer out of the swamp and planted it near our pond. This was the first year it bloomed, and to our surprise it was this species; photo below.
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| Wild New England Asters pop up in colors other than purple; we found a few pink ones this year in our front prairie planting, which came mostly from seed we gathered. |
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| Not a new species, but this Witch-hazel's leaves remained intact while its flowers were present on Nov 15, 2021. |
We started tracking species that we have planted in the yard or old
field that become naturalized away from the place we have planted them.
Our new FQA (Floristic Quality Assessment) stats follow:
Whole property: 357 species (66% native), overall and adjusted FQI* 43.5 and 28.5
Woods: 215 species (84.7% native), FQI 48.4 and 35.9
Woods + old field: 275 species (77% native), FQI 46.4 and 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: 164 distinct kinds have been found, with 144 of them
identified close to species with a fair degree of confidence.
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| Earthfan, Thelephora terrestris. |
We found a fair quantity of Hen-of-the-woods as well as Chicken-of-the-woods. Julie froze several pounds of each.
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| The Hen-of-the-Woods on the big Bur Oak grew large again. I put a cloche on it Oct 5, as it grew to discourage the various critters from getting to it. |
For years, I had been looking for the log Julie had found when she was "lost" in the past. We had thought it may have been west and south of our property. On Sep 25, while following a warbler, I spied brilliant orange through a thicket while scanning with binoculars.
This ended up being located west and north of where we thought the land of gold (orange) was located.
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| The largest quantity of Chicken-of-the-Woods I have ever seen. |
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| The closer orange fungi is fresher with great texture. |
As
of this writing, it doesn't look like we will be any traveling again
this summer due to covid-19. We left the property a bit more in 2021 for day trips and hiking in many of the local preserves. Overall, we felt like we lost the summer of 2021 due to the horrendous mosquito hordes around our property and vicinity. Interestingly, it seemed that that mosquitoes were in typical wet year numbers in areas we visited with permanent wetlands that may have been more in balance with their ecosystems. Our property and vicinity has a great number of seasonal wetlands and the summer's rains seemed to prolong and expand the mosquito populations of various species.
