Water Garden Night Creatures

When people discovered I was building a Water Garden outside my front door, they all said “Don’t do that. You’ll attract snakes.” I just smiled and thought that if I was really lucky, they’d be right. I’ve had several transient snake visitors over the years, but last night I got a picture of one of two Northern Water Snakes that may be taking up permanent residence here. They’re both young and there’s plenty of room here for them to grow.

The Cope’s Gray Treefrogs are back in action. Although he looks like he’s free falling, this guy is actually floating. Treefrogs never appear to be comfortable in the water. When submerged, they squeeze their eyes back into their heads as if water may permanently blind them.

If you like taking pictures of frogs with their throats distended, this is the perfect frog to work with. It gets my vote for cutest frog at Blue Jay Barrens.

When the porch light is on, they’ll sit on the deck waiting for insects to fall within reach. We all walk carefully to avoid stepping on any of the little fellows.

The Water Garden is full of Green Frog tadpoles that will emerge later this summer. The tadpoles balance on the water lily stalks in preparation for a dash to the surface for a gulp of air.

This is what the tadpoles will eventually become. I remove the Green Frogs from the Water Garden when I find them. Green Frogs are effective predators and will eat the smaller frogs. They’re especially effective at cleaning up young frogs that are just transforming to terrestrial form. Since I have tadpoles every year, it’s pretty obvious that I’m not an efficient predator.

Newts are the underwater version of the Green Frog, eating anything they can catch. Frog and salamander tadpole numbers plummet when the newt population grows. I remove newts, but the best I can do is keep the numbers low enough that the other Water Garden inhabitants have a chance to survive. This newt is a female who is carefully placing her eggs on plant stalks growing in one of the submerged pots.

Following Up

I thought it might be a good idea to give an update on a couple of the things I’ve posted about before and have been keeping an eye on. This is the pot in which I planted the seeds and other debris left by Bluebirds roosting over the winter in the nest boxes. This pot is surrounded by several others and I decided that any plant that could be found in all pots could not be attributed to the Bluebirds. Those shared plants were removed from this pot.

The two most common plants are Japanese Honeysuckle, the opposite leaved plant in the lower center of the photo and Multiflora Rose, shown just above the honeysuckle. It’s no wonder these invasive species are so hard to control. With birds dropping the seeds everywhere, there will be no end to new seedlings. The third most common plant is some species of grape, shown in the lower right.

The seeds are maturing on the pot cultured Leavenworthia uniflora. Here are a few of the pods, some are still holding their seed and others have let the seed drop. Once all of the seed has matured, I’ll remove all plants from the pot and then get the dropped seeds ready for summer by lightly stirring and packing down the soil. Leavenworthia seeds need a period of warm weather to prepare them for germination in late winter.

I saved some of the seeds for distribution in likely growing areas around Blue Jay Barrens. I’m going to plant some on a few ant mounds to see if the Leavenworthia will grow in association with the Mound Builder Ants. Other winter annuals can do it, so I thought Leavenworthia might also.

The Yellow Lady’s Slipper orchid is still awaiting pollen. I’m assuming a pollinated flower would begin to wither as the plant began seed production. The bloom commonly lasts for several weeks before fading.

Edwards' Hairstreak Butterfly larvae are still spending all of their time in the tree. I check periodically to see if the ants have begun building a byre in which to store the growing larvae. The literature says that sometime around the larvae’s third molt, the ants will begin to take the larvae into protective custody at the base of the tree during the day. This should be happening soon.

The young oak leaves show increased signs of feeding, but I haven’t seen any larvae moving onto the leaves during daylight hours. During the day they seem to maintain a position that tends to mimic the buds and bud scales.

Lyre-Leaved Sage

Lyre-Leaved Sage, Salvia lyrata, is one of the earliest members of the mint family to display its showy blooms. I find the design of the mint flower fascinating. The sepals are fused to form that wonderful hood from which the flower emerges. The hoods remain after the flowers drop and are attractive on their own merits.

The five petals of the flower are also fused to form a long tube. The lobes at the end of the tube are all that remain of what were five individual petals in the early evolutionary history of the flower. These flowers are beautiful. It’s no wonder so many of the mint species, including this one, have been selectively bred to produce plants for use in our yards and gardens.

The tubed flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies. In order for its tongue to reach the nectar, this Pipevine Swallowtail has to push its face right inside the flower tube.

The shape of the leaf is supposed to resemble that of a lyre, the classical stringed instrument commonly used in ancient Greece. Instead of musical instruments, I always think of radish leaves. The leaves persist throughout the year and take on a purplish hue in the winter.

Sunny openings in the woods often develop solid stands of Lyre-Leaved Sage. Most of the leaves are located at ground level, so mowing does no harm to the plant. I have sections of my mowed trails that have become solid stands of sage. Cultivated varieties have been developed for use as ground covers, especially in areas that are going to be mowed. I like to see native plants become popular for the home landscape, but I always prefer the original wild version to the plant breeder’s creations.

Woodland Maintenance Area

In 1990 I wrote the first five year management plan for Blue Jay Barrens. Every five year since then, I’ve updated that plan. That first plan was heavy into clearing cedars from the prairies and identifying the plants and animals living here. I’m currently working on my fifth five year plan. This new plan will be focusing on maintaining areas that have been cleaned of non-desirable species. I will also be looking at the management needs of the woodlands, an area that has not yet enjoyed the benefits of management activities.

In the new management plan, I’m identifying maintenance areas within each habitat type that will be monitored to track the rate of infestation by invasive species and to determine the time, resources and labor required to maintain the desired conditions within each area. I’ve just identified what I consider the best woodland area for such an activity. This section of woods consists almost exclusively of deciduous trees, so there won’t be a big workload removing cedars. The watershed is contained entirely within the Blue Jay Barrens boundaries, making it more difficult for exotics to move in from neighboring properties.

The watershed is in a wide oval shape that gives equal amounts of south, east, and west facing slopes. The stand of trees is of mixed species and contains some large individuals. Diversity of slopes and tree species gives the best chance of a diverse ground cover. A wide number of species could make a home within this small area.

There is a healthy, multi-level canopy. This type of canopy can support the greatest diversity of nesting and foraging birds.

Many small to medium sized trees are found in the stand. Several downed logs offer cover to reptiles and amphibians, as well as a home to creatures that live in decomposing wood. This is probably the healthiest woodland area at Blue Jay Barrens.

Something in the history of this area of woods practically eliminated the ground cover. Woodland wildflowers have just begun to reappear. Small Jack-in-the-Pulpit are beginning to appear along the lower slopes. The scarcity of woodland flowers makes this an excellent area in which to monitor efforts to increase flower numbers.

Green Dragon, a relative of Jack-in-the-Pulpit, is also growing here. These are the only Green Dragon plants I’ve found that are not growing in the floodplain of the creek.

Goldenseal is also increasing in this area. The presence of these species indicates that soils and growing conditions are suitable for a wide variety of species. I’ve wanted to work with increasing the Blue Jay Barrens populations of woodland plants by introducing seeds into new areas and I believe this patch of woods would be the perfect place to try.

A fence used to divide this area of woods. The fence posts have long ago decayed, but there’s enough wire sticking out of the trees to be certain of the old line. The possibility that land use was different on each side of the fence increases the diversity of conditions responsible for the woodland’s development. This should be a fascinating area to study.

I found very few invasives here. My first job will be to thoroughly search the area and remove all invasive plants. Once that is accomplished, I’ll be able to monitor how quickly new invaders move in and calculate how much work it will take each year to keep the woods clean. During the next few months, I’ll be designating maintenance areas in the other Blue Jay Barrens habitats.

Downy False Foxglove

The tall plant to the left of the tree is Downy False Foxglove, Aureolaria virginica. As we progress into summer, it will develop attractive fuzzy yellow flowers. I used to see a lot of these around Blue Jay Barrens.

Now this is a more common scene. Deer love this plant and nibble their way right down the stalk. I estimate 90% of the plants are eaten before they have a chance to flower. Most are left with enough leaves to survive, but they won’t resprout and flower this year. Seed production has nearly been stopped.

The eaten plants always show a lot of insect damage. I’m guessing that the stressed plant is more attractive to insects. Unhealthy plants often signal their distress through odor or color. Many insects respond to these signals that a plant is more susceptible to predation and swarm in for a meal.

This particular plant was supporting a large population of little beetles. These were feeding on the cut stalk while others chewed holes in the leaves.

A grasshopper nymph was nibbling on the leaf margins. Shifts in animal populations can dramatically change plant populations. Thirty years ago, deer were only seen occasionally. Now it’s impossible to walk through the woods without seeing multiple deer. It makes me wonder what things will look like as the deer population continues to increase.

American Painted Lady

The American Painted Lady butterflies are busy laying eggs on the Pussytoe leaves. We’re in the peak of the first of what could be four broods before the end of September. It’s a good thing the Pussytoes are such prolific growers. At the rate females are laying eggs, a slow growing plant could be totally consumed by the number of larvae that will soon be munching the leaves.

Egg laying strategies vary. Many of the females get their heads down to the base of the plant and then turn around and crawl back up the leaf. During the ascent, they will deposit one egg somewhere in the middle or lower part of the leaf.

Other females are more casual and take a land-and-lay approach. Despite the method employed, individual females appear to use the same technique each time they visit a new plant.

The green eggs closely match the leaf color. In some cases the hairs on the leaves appear to have been pulled over the egg. I find a lot of eggs on the leaves, but when I come back later to look for larvae, I have very little luck.

When taking shots of moving butterflies, I try to anticipate the direction of travel and position myself where I can intercept the subject. In this case I was too accurate with my predicted destination. The butterfly came straight at me and chose to visit a plant located between my boot heals. It took some stretching to get twisted around for this shot. Fortunately, after she laid a couple of eggs here, she visited a dozen more plants within a few feet of me.

Turkey Vulture

I’m used to seeing big birds in the yard, but not Turkey Vultures. I noticed this one sitting at the edge of the field, looking into the tall grass. I wondered what it might be after and then remembered throwing out some bad fish a couple of days earlier.

The fish was the target. It pulled the fillet into the yard before beginning to eat. I was surprised the fish was still there. Usually the skunks or opossums or raccoons or dogs eat the scraps the first night they’re available. The fish had been out there through two nights.

The Turkey Vulture returned several times through the day. Its preferred perch was my electronic rain gauge. I have three rain gauges; two standard cylinder types with gradations marked on the side and one electronic type that transmits the readings into the house. The two standard gauges always match rainfall amounts. The electronic gauge tends to register odd readings. I wonder why that might be.

That big foot jammed down in the rain collection bowl can’t be good on the mechanism. Each time the bird returned, it landed on the rain gauge before dropping down to the ground for more fish.

That’s an old rain gauge with an outer casing made of plastic. I’m glad the force of the landings and take offs didn’t cause any cracking. The fish was all gone by evening, so I doubt the Turkey Vulture will be returning.