Grasshopper

I’ve always had a fascination for grasshoppers.  It’s just been in the past couple of years that I’ve really learned anything about them.  I was hesitant to delve into grasshopper identification, because I perceived such a vast number of local species.  The truth is that the possible variations within a species make it seem that there are many species involved.  This is a Northern Green-striped Grasshopper, Chortophaga viridifasciata, a species that produces both green and brown forms.  The occurrence of multiple forms seems to be found in many grasshopper species. 

As a child, I always seemed to have a few pet grasshoppers hidden around the house.  When viewed in hand, grasshoppers always had the most interesting detailed markings and facial expressions.  Add to that the difficulty in catching a grasshopper by hand and you have a creature that made a perfect companion for an active youth.

My interest in grasshoppers actually got me into trouble one spring day when I was in the sixth grade.  My teacher was explaining insect development and was displaying a poster with the standard progression of grasshopper from egg to adult.  She explained that the eggs hatched in the spring and the grasshopper proceeded through its various growth stages until it became a winged adult in the fall.  When I asked why there were winged adults in the school yard right now, which happened to be early April, she told me I was wrong.  A short argument ended with my departing the classroom on the way out of the school to catch an adult grasshopper.  I never made it out of the building, but I did get to share my views on grasshoppers with the Principal and he shared his views on not causing trouble with me.

The fact is that many grasshoppers overwinter as a nymph.  Their transformation to adult is accomplished in early spring.  The Northern Green-striped Grasshopper follows that schedule, so they come into spring in this stage and go through their final molt soon after becoming active.

Warm days full of grasshoppers always remind me of my early life.  I don’t know what species I was catching back then, but I’m sure this was one of them.  It’s nice to be able to put a name to some of my old friends.

Prairie Garden - New Part - Early April

The most recent portion of the Prairie Garden is too new to offer much of interest.  This area was sprayed twice with glyphosate herbicide last October and was seeded in November and December.  I always try to plant seed at the same time of year that it is naturally being dropped by the plant.  I figure that should give the seed the right combination of cold, heat, wet or dry conditions necessary for germination.  It’s more successful and much easier than packaging seed and storing it for periods in the freezer.

The glyphosate spray got rid of many of the late season grasses and forbs, but left plenty of seeds from those early flowering species.  The bulk of the green plants now showing are non-native species typically found in disturbed areas around the house and yard.  This is Corn Speedwell, a low growing plant that has no fear of lawn mowers.

The only plants of any height are the Hairy Bittercress.  These little weeds forcibly propel the ripe seeds from the pod, so you don’t want to make a close examination without some eye protection.

Whitlow Grass, Draba verna, has petals that are split down the middle, so the regular four petals often appear to be eight. The split petal easily distinguishes this non-native species from the native Drabas.

Many years ago I excitedly thought these narrow leaved seedlings to be those of a Blazing Star.  I was really disappointed when they turned out to be English Plantain.

Mouse-ear Chickweed is a rather interesting looking plant, but it’s also one of those weedy non-natives.

Purple Dead Nettle often forms a solid mass in crop fields and other disturbed ground.  Fortunately, I don’t have to deal with that type of infestation.  Many of these non-native plants will persist indefinitely in the Prairie Garden, but their vigor will be reduced by competition with the prairie natives.

Many of the native seedlings won’t become evident until later in the season.  There are a few that show themselves early in the spring and they give me hope that my seeding will be successful.  Gray-headed Coneflower is a rapid grower that can often flower in its first year.

Several Purple Coneflower seedlings are appearing.  Besides being a great attractor of butterflies, the Purple Coneflowers help convince the more confused individuals that this is an actual garden and not a weed patch.

Wild Petunias are one of the few natives that readily volunteer in the yard.  It’s nice to know that the lawn hasn’t been completely taken over by alien species.

Prairie Garden - Old Part - Early April

Growth in the Prairie Garden is proceeding at a rapid rate.  Plants are roughly a month ahead of where they were last year.  The old portion of the Prairie Garden was mowed the first week of February and we’ve had above normal temperatures during the two months since then.  Plants that take their growth cues from soil temperature have emerged at a time when the top growth is still at risk from damage by a frost or freeze.  I know from experience that some of these plants cannot handle freezing and there will be a die-back of top growth when we get a frost.

The most obvious plant in the Prairie Garden at this time is the Western Sunflower.  These plants often survive the winter as a cluster of green basal leaves, so it’s not surprising that they take off as soon as the spring temperatures allow. 

Western Sunflower is an aggressive plant and will soon spread to take over just about any area.  It does produce viable seed, but most of the rapid expansion is through far reaching rhizomes that produce new plants.  The result is a large colony of clones. 

The grasses are coming on very quickly.  I’m wondering if the grasses will give more competition to the early blooming flowers.  This is a clump of Side-oats Gramma, which normally stays very short until the mid-summer months.

The leaves of the False Aloe are rapidly elongating.  These plants will produce flower stalks this year if they are not knocked back by a freeze.  At this stage they are highly susceptible to damage by a hard frost.

Purple Coneflower plants are showing some luxurious growth.

My population of Wild Nodding Onion still hasn’t increased in number.  The only plants I have are those protected by the wire cage.  Most of the seed produced by these plants has been scattered back into the garden, but no more plants have emerged.  I don’t know if the seeds are failing to germinate or if predators are eating the plants as quickly as they develop. 

The first Prairie Garden bloom this year is the Hoary Puccoon.  This is an early plant that is pretty much on schedule, but it usually doesn’t have all of this competing growth to deal with.

These young plants remain unidentified at the moment.  I’ll keep a watch on them until they reach a stage where I can either run them through the keys or I recognize what they are.  It’s not unusual for me to be baffled by a young plant in its early stages of growth.  One reason for this garden is to allow me to watch things grow on a day-to-day basis, so that I’ll be able to identify a plant the minute it sticks leaves above the ground. 

Fence Row Natives

Despite the mess of invasives, the old fence row has maintained a nice collection of native species.  This Wild Plum has put on a good display of blooms, but it’s been several years since any of the Blue Jay Barrens plums have produced ripe fruit.  Late freezes are rough on this tree, so early warm weather just sets it up for failure. 

It would be nice to see all of these lovely flowers turn into bright yellow-red fruit.  We’ve had a hard mid May freeze each of the last three years and Wild Plums have dropped their fruit after each freeze.  It’s hard to imagine that we’ll make it through to summer without at least one more freeze this spring.

A Brown Thrasher entertained me for an entire morning.  It produced quite a variety of mimicked songs.  Many of the songs were unfamiliar to me, so I’m guessing these were learned somewhere far from Blue Jay Barrens.

Despite the abundance of Japanese Honeysuckle, many native flowers are showing themselves in the old fence row.  Several colonies of Mayapple are present.  I’ll be sure to leave enough native trees and shrubs to give the Mayapples the shade they prefer.

Bluets are common in the areas that hadn’t been completely shade covered.  It’ll be interesting to see if these persist or if they become overwhelmed by other sun loving species.

Spring Beauties have covered large sections of the fence row.  These plants seem to compete well against many invasives.

Adder’s Tongue Fern has colonized the entire fence row.  I originally found this plant growing in limited colonies in the fence rows.  It has since spread across the old crop fields.  It’s definitely a species that’s on the increase.

I’m still finding Olive Hairstreaks everywhere I look.  This guy was using one of my marking flags as a perch from which to fly out to chase other butterflies crowding into its territory.  The abundance of these butterflies makes me optimistic about finding some of their larvae feeding on Eastern Red Cedars.  I see the adults each year, but I’ve never seen a larva and I would really like to enjoy all stages of the butterfly life cycle.

Spraying Invasive Sprouts in the Fence Row

Invasive sprouts have begun to grow in my fence row clearing area.  In a typical year, you have months through the winter when you can cut and mark invasive shrubs, but you only have a few weeks during the spring when you can successfully apply herbicide to the resulting sprouts.  The warm weather has accelerated the growth of most exotic plants and considerably shortened the possible spray window.  Instead of coming on in succession, almost all of the species have developed together and many native species have joined the rush.  Weeks may seem like plenty of time to get the spray job completed, but you can’t spray when it’s raining or when it’s windy or when the plant is covered in dew.  Finding a time when none of those three conditions is present can sometimes be tough.

Cutting a shrub causes the plant to respond with multiple sprouts.  This Autumn Olive is at the perfect stage for spraying.  There is a large mass of leaves concentrated in a small area.  The Autumn Olive leaves are easily covered with herbicide with minimal risk to surrounding vegetation.

Multiflora Roses are actually growing too rapidly this year.  They normally sprout in cool weather and produce a tight cluster of dark green leaves.  The warm weather is causing the stems to elongate into a taller, less dense cluster of leaves.  Roses that shoot up too quickly must be pruned back before applying spray.  This adds quite a bit of extra time to the job, but it’s necessary to avoid killing a lot of the surrounding plants.

New growth on the Japanese Honeysuckle makes it easy to see the vines that avoided being cut by the mower. 

I’ll eventually cut all of the aerial Japanese Honeysuckle vines.  For now I’m just cutting those that are threatening particularly valuable or vulnerable trees.  I just remove the lower couple of feet of vine so it’s obvious that it has been treated.  I used to just cut the vine off at the ground, but then I couldn’t tell the difference between those that were cut and those still growing.

There’s still a lot of Japanese Honeysuckle growing at ground level.  That is something I’ll be dealing with later.

Of course warm weather also increases the tick activity.  I managed to collect a dozen American Dog Ticks in just a couple of hours.  Actually, I made it easy for them by laying in the field while trying to get pictures of a butterfly.  This handsome specimen is a male.

Garter Snake and Common Blue Violets

I found the Water Garden Garter Snake wreathed in violet flowers while warming itself on the sunny brick patio.  It was early enough in the morning that the air was still cool, so I thought I would try for a few close-up photos before the snake became more active.  It was probably the snake’s cool morning sluggishness combined with the protective feel of the surrounding violet leaves that caused the snake to allow my close approach.  I took several shots before backing away and allowing the snake to continue warming.

Snake eyes have a neat habit of reflecting their surroundings.  If the snake is cooperative, I try to get in close enough to capture my reflection in the snake’s eye.  That’s my head and hands showing between three and four o’clock in the snake’s pupil.  I was belly down on the patio and about two feet away when I took this shot.

Common Blue Violets gave a wonderful background for the snake.  This native plant is quite aggressive and will readily colonize any open ground.  It has done exceptionally well at surviving in the spaces between bricks on our patio and at filling in between the rocks around the Water Garden.

I eliminate the non-native plants that try to grow here, so the violets can develop without competition.  Common Blue Violets seem to be eaten by any animal that includes vegetable matter in its diet.  Ants commonly visit the flowers to collect nectar.  The plants won’t make it through the spring without suffering some damage from plant consumers.  Sometimes they get eaten right to the ground.

The lower petal forms a rearward projection known as a spur.  Length of the spur can vary considerably between species and is often an important identification characteristic.  I find it amazing how many people have never looked at the back side of a violet flower.  This flower is found in millions of American lawns, but is so often ignored.

There’s considerable competition between violet seedlings for any available space.  Only a few of these will develop into mature plants.  Now, if I get really lucky, I’ll come out one morning to find a litter of baby Garter Snakes lounging in the young violet plants.

Cooper's Hawk

A couple of years ago we replaced our old single pane/storm window combination with new double pane insulated windows.  It’s really nice to be able to see out the windows without rubbing a hole through the condensation or peering through a layer of shrink wrap window covering.  I was sitting at the breakfast table when I saw a Cooper’s Hawk streak past the window.  By the time I got out of the chair and had the hawk in view, it had finished off a Northern Flicker.

It didn’t waste any time getting down to feeding.  While it ate, I was hurriedly trying to find the best window from which to get a shot.  Our new windows are great for viewing through the naked eye, but they’re bad about camera distortion.  I knew better than to try to sneak open a window with the hawk so close to the house.

Normal yard bird activity resumed soon after the kill.  The hawk spent more time watching the surrounding activity and less feeding.

Then a Crow came in and landed in the tree to the hawk’s right. 

 

Two more Crows came in to the left of the hawk.  This was more pressure than the hawk could stand and in the second it takes for the camera to reset after a shot, the hawk lifted its kill into the air and took off.  It’s not uncommon to find a Cooper’s Hawk nest in one of the tall cedars across the field from the yard.  If I’m lucky, I’ll find one this year.