Wildflower Walk

From our walk yesterday we were greeted with cooler temps and a nice breeze.

And the flowers in the pollinator patch have exploded in both variety and numbers.  In order of appearance are, Ox Eye. Bee Balm, Boneset, Compass Plant, Milkweed, Yellow Coneflower, Showy Tick-Trefoil, Black-Eyed Susan along with a dog.

 

Native Blooms

On May 4 of this year we conducted a prescribed burn on the prairie planting out back behind the house. Yup, we set the entire backyard on fire.

Today marks ten weeks of green-up since the burn. And I am tickled to report that not only is it greening-up it is greening-up more vigorously than imagined.Here are some before and after photos for comparison.       

Panoramic view - Left (north) to right (east)          

View south with the house in the background       

And a few examples of nature's handiwork that are thriving post-burn .....     

Black-eyed Susan        

Boneset       

Pale Purple Coneflower       

Milkweed       

Gray-Headed Coneflower

Along Came a Spider

Monarch butterflies are toxic to critters that eat them as a consequence of feeding-upon their host plant – milkweed. 

During the larval stage of growth as the monarch caterpillar feeds poisonous Cardiac Glycosides found in the milkweed foliage are stored.  This toxin is harmful to vertebrate predators – those predators that have a backbone or spinal column.  It is quite a remarkable defense mechanism.  However, these glycosides have no effect on invertebrate predators. 

Which would explain why a spider has disabled this monarch and is tying it-up with webbing in anticipation of dining-upon it. 

click on image for a closer look

 

There you have it – this is where the strong survive and the weak are killed and eaten.

Black and White

 click on the milkweed for a better look

Cleaning-out the photos on my device I found this from November.  I took this photo walking out to a deer stand to do some bow hunting.  

Back-lit by a setting sun with a bit of breeze - another opportunity to fiddle with this notion of using a simple iPhone to scratch a photography itch.  Besides, what's not to like about milkweed propagation on your monarch butterfly habitat?

Still working on scratching that itch... 

Power of Observation

Try this sometime.

Locate an item of interest in the natural world and see what you can find/observe in the space of five minutes or so.

I did this the other day.  I picked a clump of milkweed in the yard and no sooner had I arrived to check it out this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail lit on a milkweed bloom.  It's flutter was a-stutter tho...

click on images for a better look

No wonder.  It was missing half of its tail.  I wonder what the story is behind that?

  

Lurking amongst the shadows and blending-in with its pale green camouflage was this katydid...

   .

Hiding in a milkweed bloom was a Monarch caterpillar... 

And locating caterpillar frass (poop) on the leaves of a milkweed I tracked this guy down...

It is mind-boggling to think of how much of the natural world we pass by on a daily basis simply because we don't take the time to stop and observe.  

Don't waste your powers of observation and never allow them to waste-away...

Meet the Milkweed

Click on the flower for a better look

Asclepias syriaca – Common Milkweed – is a perennial native plant.  As a matter of fact - of the more than 2,000 milkweed species worldwide 13 of them call Wisconsin home.

This is a fascinating plant in that the sap contains an organic compound known as a cardiac glycoside.  If consumed you may suffer a reaction that can include an elevated heartrate, flushing and faintness.   Similarly, the beneficial medical use of these compounds is in treatments for congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia.  Digitalis purpurea – found in the Foxglove plant - has been used in medicine for several hundred years.  But I digress.   

The Monarch butterfly lays its eggs exclusively on this plant and Monarch larvae ingest the plant sap with no ill effects.  As a consequence Monarchs become toxic to birds and other predators.

The Remarkable Monarch

Meet Danaus plexippus – the Monarch butterfly – in larval stage.

click on image to enlarge

This teensy-tiny fella - about a single centimeter in length - is posing on one of the many, many milkweed plants at our house on the peninsula.

Adult butterflies feed on the nectar of flowers but in its larval stage of life the monarch feeds exclusively on milkweed.  This endows it with a unique defense mechanism.  The monarch is poisonous to predators as a consequence of dining upon milkweed.  Toxic chemicals found in milkweed build-up and remain in the critter even after it metamorphoses into a butterfly giving it a chemical defense system.  Remarkable!

This caterpillar will form a chrysalis from which an adult butterfly will emerge.  The entire process of egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly takes about four weeks with multiple generations born over the course of a year.

This insect is even more remarkable when you consider its travels.  Monarchs migrate up to several thousand miles from Mexico to Canada and back.  Beginning in the spring migrating females head north in relays laying their eggs along the way with new generations of butterflies replacing the old.  Each butterfly will migrate once with its great-grandchildren migrating the following year.  The science behind the migration supposes that the monarchs use the earth’s magnetic field to navigate and the position of the sun to signal when to depart for Mexico.

Since the butterfly only lives a few weeks it is the last generation of monarchs born in late summer or early fall that make the migration.  As the temperatures begin to fall and the days grow shorter this generation of butterflies doesn’t mature enough to reproduce allowing them to live up to eight or nine months.  They’ll make the migration south for the winter and return next year to reproduce.

Monarch numbers are in decline as a consequence of pesticide and herbicide use and loss of habitat.  If you’re inclined to lending a hand plant milkweed and nectar producing flowers for this amazing animal.

Milkweed

click on pic to enlarge

Asclepias Syriaca.  There are thirteen milkweed varieties found in Wisconsin and this stuff grows all over the place.  Along the driveway, in the flower beds, in the native planting and along the trails.  It is ubiquitous.

There are no healing qualities to be ascribed to this plan - if you taste it your heart will do flip-flops and you'll get hot-flashes.  That is because the plant contains cardiac glycosides.

In a symbiotic twist the Monarch butterfly lays its eggs on this plant and the caterpillar dines-upon it.  As a result the caterpillar becomes toxic and the birds leave it alone.

Bugs

Meet Lygaeus Kalmii - the Small Eastern Milkweed Bug.

click to enlarge

Found throughout the US this critter dines on milkweed but is immune to the toxic chemicals in the plant.  The regular diet of milkweed also endows this beetle with the same properties making it toxic to other insect predators.

The large number of little bugs (which resemble the adults) are nymphs. 

Wildflowers

Wildflowers are beginning to bloom.

First the milkweed...

Followed by the penstemon...

And the false sunflower...

 click on images to enlarge

The Remarkable Monarch

Meet Danaus plexippus – the Monarch butterfly – in larval stage.

click on image to enlarge

This fella is posing on one of the many, many milkweed plants found here at The Platz.

Adult butterflies feed on the nectar of flowers but in its larval stage of life the monarch feeds exclusively on milkweed.  This endows it with a unique defense mechanism.  The monarch is poisonous to predators as a consequence of dining upon milkweed.  Toxic chemicals found in milkweed build-up and remain in the critter even after it metamorphoses into a butterfly giving it a chemical defense system.  Remarkable!

This caterpillar will form a chrysalis from which an adult butterfly will emerge.  The entire process of egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly takes about four weeks with multiple generations born over the course of a year.

This insect is even more remarkable when you consider its travels.  Monarchs migrate up to several thousand miles from Mexico to Canada and back.  Beginning in the spring migrating females head north in relays laying their eggs along the way with new generations of butterflies replacing the old.  Each butterfly will migrate once with its great-grandchildren migrating the following year.  The science behind the migration supposes that the monarchs use the earth’s magnetic field to navigate and the position of the sun to signal when to depart for Mexico.

Since the butterfly only lives a few weeks it is the last generation of monarchs born in late summer or early fall that make the migration.  As the temperatures begin to fall and the days grow shorter this generation of butterflies doesn’t mature enough to reproduce allowing them to live up to eight or nine months.  They’ll make the migration south for the winter and return next year to reproduce.

Monarch numbers are in decline as a consequence of pesticide and herbicide use and loss of habitat.  If you’re inclined to lending a hand plant milkweed and nectar producing flowers for this amazing animal.

You can learn more about the monarch butterfly here.

Common Milkweed

Asclepias Syriaca.  There are thirteen milkweed varieties found in Wisconsin and this stuff grows all over the place.  Along the driveway, in the flower beds, in the native planting and along the trails.  It is ubiquitous.

click on image to enlarge




It is a host plant for the Monarch butterfly and because the sap of the plant contains cardiac glycosides the Monarch caterpillars are toxic to birds.  If you don't believe me tast the sap sometime.  You're heart will begin to race and you'll have hot flashes.  Maybe even pass out.

The local orioles use the fibers that make up the plant stems to weave their nests.

Wildflowers

Common Milkweed - Asclepias Syriaca.

click on image to enlarge

With more than several thousand species found throughout the world Wisconsin has thirteen of them.  No healing qualities to be ascribed to this plan - if you taste it your heart will do flip-flops and you'll get hot-flashes. 

In a symbiotic twist the Monarch butterfly lays its eggs on this plant and the caterpillar dines-upon it.  As a result the caterpillar becomes toxic and the birds leave it alone.