Southern section of Paint Creek’s original stream bed during restoration in 2020.Same section of the original stream bed, spring 2022 – full of Marsh Marigolds!A northern section of the original stream bed being revealed, December 2022
On a gray day in mid-December, while buzzing about trying to complete a myriad of Christmas errands, a message appeared on my phone from Dr. Ben VanderWeide, Oakland Township’s Stewardship Manager. He wanted me to know that he and a small crew were working in the woods at the Paint Creek Heritage Area – Wet Prairie.
Text and photos by Cam Mannino
Aha! Ben knows that restoration of that particular woods is of special interest to me! So when a free moment appeared, I grabbed my camera and headed north on the trail from Silver Bell Road to see the transformations taking place in one of my favorite restoration projects.
A Reminder about an Historic Change in Paint Creek
As I’ve explained in a previous blog, for eons Paint Creek wandered through the floodplain west of the Paint Creek Trail just north of Silver Bell Road. But in the late 19th century, the stream bed was moved to accommodate the railroad that ran along what is now the Trail. Since then, the water in the original bed comes from rain, snow melt, and some groundwater. After human intervention dramatically altered the water flow (or hydrology) of the area, non-native bushes, vines and trees invaded the wet meadows and moist open woodland along the former stream bed.
The new, non-natives had distinct advantages. Their predators – insects, fungi, animals – were left behind in their countries of origin. They could easily compete with native plants whose predators are also native. The open tree canopy closed, and the woodland floor darkened. And over the next century, invasive shrubs and vines gradually choked off or shaded out most of the native plants that had bloomed for millennia in the woodland and wet meadows and along the former creek bed.
A 1963 aerial photo showing the old bed of Paint Creek (blue), the core wet-mesic prairie area (green), and the current active restoration area outlined in red.
The Restoration Process Begins to Unfold
Most of the work at the Wet Prairie since its acquisition in 2003 had concentrated on the core wet-mesic prairie and the wet meadows to the south. In 2018, a parks prescribed burn contractor conducted a controlled burn in the north half of the park which top-killed huge thickets of non-native brush. Restoration was off and running! But much more was needed, of course, and heavy equipment was impractical in a delicate, very moist area.
So in late 2020, Ben, stewardship specialist Grant VanderLaan, staff from Six Rivers Land Conservancy, and volunteers took on the monumental task of cutting and carefully burning as many non-native bushes and vines as possible in the northern wet meadows and woodland. In some areas, careful application of herbicides to stumps and small re-sprouts followed in order to eliminate invasive species while doing as little harm as possible to any native plants still struggling to survive beneath the non-native thickets. It was an exhausting, laborious process, but what a transformation was taking shape!
BEFORE: Paint Creek Trail edge by the Wet Prairie before invasive shrub removal on April 30, 2018AFTER: The Paint Creek Trail at the Wet Prairie in spring 2020 after invasive shrub removal.BEFORE: Looking west from the Paint Creek Trail at marker D-34.5 on June 1, 2018, before invasive shrub control.AFTER: Looking west from the Paint Creek Trail at marker D-34.5 on December 21, 2022, after three years of invasive shrub control.
This past autumn, the crew’s goal was to continue to increase light reaching the woodland floor to help the special mix of woodland wildflowers, grasses, and sedges return. To do this they reduced the number of fallen ash trees caused by emerald ash borer damage, removed any last invasive shrubs, and thinned trees that were choking out the remaining oaks in the area. As they’ve done annually for several years, volunteers also collected and cleaned a record amount of native wildflower and grass seed from local populations. The Wet Prairie woodlands were an ideal location for sowing some of it once this fall’s work was completed.
Small Winter Fires of Brush and Fallen Logs Release Nutrients Back to the Soil
Piles of branches and logs from old dead falls piled where the canopy is tall and open.
In mid-December, Ben’s message appeared on my phone with a photo of a small part of the work area. Amazed at what I saw, I left Christmas prep behind and headed to the Wet Prairie. The work crew was small by then – just Ben, Grant and hard-working volunteers George Hartsig and Jon Reed. They had removed a remarkable amount of non-native shrubs and vines and piled them along with the ash deadfalls and thinned saplings in open areas where low fires on moist ground could not reach the canopy. Then they’d set the piles ablaze on the wet soil and tended the fires until they had turned to ash. Wet winter days are ideal for this work and I was happy to see plumes of white smoke rising in multiple spots throughout the woodland when I arrived.
Multiple fires burned in the moist woodland, tended by Dr. Ben, stewardship specialist Grant VanderLaan and volunteer George Hartsig.Grant and George paused for my photo while tending the fires.The crew kept adding fallen limbs as the fire glowed within.A section of the woodland restoration area with burn piles smoking in the distance in the current work area.
I was delighted to see the woods opening further with the restoration work. Now patches of sunlight and rain could nurture the woodland floor, and struggling wet meadow plants could grow. Another part of the moist woodland could breathe again.
The “Comeback Kids”: Native Plants Return and an Iconic Bird Responds to Restoration
Though invasive plants had decimated many of the native species that once bloomed on the forest floor and along the banks of the stream bed, a few hardy survivors appear each year as restoration continues. Last year, in an area along the Paint Creek Trail formerly blanked by thickets of bittersweet, privet, glossy buckthorn and autumn olive, a gorgeous carpet of native Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) emerged on its own! Imagine how long those native wildflowers had waited for the sun and the rain!
BEFORE: A dense wall of non-native species on the north end of the Wet Prairie in August 2017.AFTER: A profusion of native Golden Alexanders where a thicket non-native shrubs once stood on the north side of the Wet Prairie in spring 2022
Last summer, the stewardship crew spotted a Red-Headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) exploring a possible nesting cavity on a dead tree at the Wet Prairie. These birds prefer woodlands with open canopies and plenty of standing dead trees, just the conditions that restoration work had provided over the years (with some help from the emerald ash borer, in this case.) A hopeful sign that restoration will encourage the return of other species!
A Red-Headed Woodpecker at Paint Creek Heritage Area – Wet Prairie in summer 2022.
During my December visit, Ben pointed out some of the remaining green leaves or dry stems of sturdy native plants that have emerged since restoration granted them their days in the sunshine and rain.
Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) with Ostrich Ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris) in the distance at the Wet Prairie WoodsGolden Ragwort (Packera aurea) in bloom in the Wet Prairie WoodsLeaves of Golden Ragwort still green in the remaining snow of a gray December day.Tussock Sedge (Carex stricta) in a woodland opening; Photo by peakaytea at iNaturalist (cc Public domain)Dry winter stems of Tussock Sedge at the Wet Prairie in December. Riverbank Wild Rye (Elymus riparius) has shed its seeds next to the newly-exposed section of the ancient stream bed of Paint Creek
A Final Step for this Year: Sowing Native Seed
Sadly, few native plants survived the long years of domination by non-native species. Ben would like to return more native wildflowers and grasses to this special woodland. So as the fires burned low this winter, Grant used a leaf blower to open patches around the cleared area to allow native seed to reach the soil. And George spread the collected seed mixes in the woods – a mesic savanna mix for consistently moist areas and a sunny wet meadow mix for wetter spots.
Stewardship Specialist Grant VanderLaan cleared spots on the forest floor in preparation for planting.Volunteer George Hartsig spread seed in the time-honored fashion, by hand., choosing the mix according to the soil moisture.
Isn’t it cheering that native seed prefers to be sown in the coldest months? It’s so counter-intuitive and I love that! In fact, many native seeds need the cold to germinate. Then these hardy native plants spend about three years growing deep roots until they fully bloom, ready for Michigan’s unpredictable weather. We’ll have to be patient, but with luck, the wait will be worth it. Here are a few of the plants we can hope to see taking up residence in the woodland at the Wet Prairie once they’ve established their deep root systems. (Click on black boxes at the edge of the frame to move through the slideshow below.)
Native Bulrush (Scirpus atrovirens)
Flat-topped White Aster (Doellingeria umbellata)
Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maxiumum)
Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
A small bush, Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa)
Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) with Joe Pye (Eutrochium fistulosum) beyond
Common Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum)
Swamp Betony (Melanerpes erythrocephalus)
Looking to the Past to Help the Future Flourish
Ostrich Ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris) under the open canopy in a restored area within the Wet Prairie Woodlandin 2021
As I watched the fires on that gray December day, I felt that Ben and his stewardship plans were not only restoring an ancient ecosystem that nature had developed over thousands of years. Restoration will also make it possible for nature, with a bit of help from us, to once more determine what will develop and thrive there in the future. At an online workshop I attended in November, Gregory Nowicki of the US Department of Agriculture summed up restoration with a quote he found that perfectly captured what I felt as I watched those fires slowly burning down in the Wet Prairie Woods.
“Restoration uses the past not as a goal but as a reference point for the future. If we seek to recreate the temperate forests, tall grass savannas, or desert communities of centuries past, it is not to turn back the evolutionary clock but to set it ticking again.” (Falk 1990)”
Yes! Nature knows best and humans, even with the best intentions, have interfered with ancient processes that supported a healthy, highly varied habitat. Those carpets of invasive plants appeared in our parks because humans moved them here from distant lands. But in Oakland Township, we are lending nature a helping hand, letting it get back to work at filling our parks and natural areas with healthy habitat that supports the birds, animals, and insects that share the benefits of nature’s bounty with us. What a Christmas gift Ben gave me when he sent me that text!
Take a peek through the lenses of the stewardship team as we highlight native species that are currently flowering throughout the parks! This will be a recurring series, updated throughout the summer season as new plants unfurl their beautiful blooms. The majority of the species highlighted this week can be found in the native plant beds at Gallagher Creek Park. Since construction of the beds in 2019, the stewardship team has worked diligently to promote and maintain native plant diversity. We are happy to report that the beds are flourishing. They are abuzz with activity as happy pollinators weave through the blossoms. We hope that you get to spot these species on your next walk through our parks!
Golden Alexanders (Zizea aurea)
The aptly named golden alexanders are seen here in a photo from a native plant bed at Gallagher Creek Park. Golden alexanders is a perennial herb belonging to the carrot family (Apiaceae)! The upper leaves of this species are divided in two, whereas the lower leaves are divided in threes. The small yellow flowers of this species are arranged in a large umbel. This species is a larval host to the black swallowtail.
Common cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex)
Common cinquefoil is pictured here at Lost Lake Nature Park. As its name suggests, it is common. However it should not be overlooked! Its dainty flowers only last around a month, and are a joyous addition to the groundcover of a variety of habitats. This herbaceous species can be identified by its deep leaf venation and serrated leaves. The 1/2″ flowers have five yellow petals and roughly twenty stamens (pollen producing flower organ). Common cinquefoil belongs to Rosaceae, the rose family. The leaves of this species are often eaten by small mammals, and the flowers are visited by small flies and bees.
Golden ragwort (Packera aurea)
Golden ragwort can be seen at Paint Creek Heritage Area- Wet Prairie (photographed here). The flowers occur in clusters and are a shade of deep yellow. On a single flower, petal number can range from several to more than a dozen. Stewards Camryn and Cassie are pictured showing the height of golden ragwort, which can reach up to two feet. Golden ragwort belongs to Asteraceae, also known as the daisy family. Though past its peak flowering season, this species is too beautiful not to share!
Robin’s plantain (Erigeron pulchellus)
Robin’s plantain is shown here in the native plant beds at Gallagher Creek Park. The petals occur in a range of colors. Seen here in white, they can also be shaded lavender or blue. The basal leaves of this species are notably hairy and soft. This species, like golden ragwort, belongs to the family Asteraceae. Robin’s plantain propagates through stolons or rhizomes.
Sand coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)
Sand coreopsis can be found in abundance in Gallagher Creek Park’s native plant beds. This species is impossible to miss! It’s voluminous flowers perch proudly on peduncles that can reach up to 2 1/2 feet high. The photo on the right shows a coreopsis flower visited by a pearl crescent, a native butterfly. Pearl crescents lay their eggs on the leaves of various aster species. Sand coreopsis is a member of the Asteraceae family.
Wild lupine (Lupinus perennis)
Wild lupine has been seen in many parks over the past two weeks including Bear Creek Nature Park, Gallagher Creek Park, Charles Ilsley Park (pictured here), and Nicholson Prairie along the Paint Creek Trail. The palmately compound leaves of wild lupine are deeply divided into numerous leaflets. Flowers occur in clusters on stems that can reach up to two feet in height. The flowers are most commonly blue/purple, but can range from pink to white. Wild lupine belongs to Fabaceae, the legume family. Like other species within this family, lupine forms a symbiotic relationship with a group of bacteria called rhizobia. Rhizobia colonize and form nodules on the roots of legumes, wherein they fix and provide biological nitrogen to their host plants. This symbiosis is beneficial to the host plant, as nitrogen is an essential plant macronutrient.
Wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Wild columbine is pictured here at Bear Creek Nature Park (left), and Gallagher Creek Park (right). This species is easily identified by its bell-shaped ‘drooping’ flowers. Five red and yellow petals are surrounded by five, paler red sepals. Wild columbine belongs to the family Ranunculaceae, also known as the buttercup family. This species attracts a variety of wildlife, including hummingbirds, butterflies, hawk moths, bees, and birds. It is a larval host to the columbine duskywing butterfly. When admiring this species, the lyrics of Townes Van Zandt’s 1969 song ‘Columbine’ never fail to get stuck in my mind…
“Cut yourself a columbine, Tear it from the stem, Now breathe upon the petals fine, And throw ’em to the wind.”
…Except follow better ecological practices than Townes- don’t cut them!
FalseSolomon’s-seal (Maianthemum racemosum)
The slightly hairy stem of false Solomon’s-seal supports alternating oval-shaped leaves. The stem terminates in a cluster of dozens of small white flowers. This photo was taken at Cranberry Lake Park, where you can also find this species cousin, true Solomon’s seal! True Solomon’s seal can easily be distinguished from this species by its small, drooping, bell-shaped flowers. This species is within the lily group. False Solomon’s seal is able to colonize areas through sturdy rhizomes. This species is occasionally browsed by deer.
Foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)
Foxglove beardtongue can be seen in Gallagher Creek Park’s native plant beds and surrounding natural areas. Seen in the photo on the left is a flower stalk with many emerging tubular blooms. Small hairs can be found on the white flowers. The opposite leaves of this species are glossy and lightly toothed. Foxglove beardtongue belongs to the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. This species is frequently visited by bumblebees, and occasionally even hummingbirds.
Hairy beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus)
Hairy beardtongue can be seen in Gallagher Creek Park’s native plant beds, and several spots along the Paint Creek Trail. The drooping, slender flowers of this species are pale violet in color. The hairy stem is a key identifier of this species, as seen in the photo on the right. Like foxglove beardtongue, this species belongs to the family Plantaginaceae. The descriptor ‘hairy’ is derived from the fifth stamen of the flower. This special stamen is infertile and has a cluster of small hairs.
Check back in toward the end of June for a new list of native flowering species. Among the species highlighted will be milkweeds, which will begin to flower over the next several weeks. There are eleven native milkweed species to the state of Michigan. Keep an eye out to see which species we find within Oakland Township’s parks!
This post was written by Stewardship Technician Max Dunn
I am now more than halfway through my seasonal internship as a stewardship technician with Oakland Township Parks and Recreation. My work season is ending about 6 weeks earlier than the rest of the crew since I am heading back to college at the end of August. Although I haven’t been here long, I’ve learned and experienced more at this job than my past three combined. I am now able to confidently maneuver a truck and trailer, identify and treat multiple invasive species, input data into Geographic Information System’s (GIS), and most fun of all, experience beloved native plants in their natural habitats.
Truck & Trailer Experience
In 2017 I purchased a 1997 Plymouth Breeze and have been driving it daily ever since. This small, easily maneuverable car stands 4.5 feet tall, a dwarf to the stewardship crews truck; a large-and-in-charge GMC 2500 standard 8 foot bed, often pulling a trailer. Driving a rig of this size and length may be common place for some of you, but it was very new to me. We first practiced in an open field to get comfortable then worked up to main roads. Before getting behind the wheel for the first time, thoughts of doubt and insecurity arose in my head. An occurrence that often accompanies me when learning new things. However, this time I realized my degrading thoughts and switched my outlook to one of confidence. This allowed me to be the controller instead of the controlled and made space for a present and enjoyable learning experience.
Backing up the trailer proved to be the hardest task for me since small trailers are very touch sensitive to your driving. It’s a great test of patience and focus and I have come to enjoy the sharp mental state it puts me in. Just remember, when you turn left, the trailer goes right. Unless it’s at too much of an angle, then it goes left. Also, this is an extension of your truck, so allow more space for clearance.
Although pulling a trailer can be a challenge, it is essential for our work. It’s equipped with a 130-gallon water tank, water pump, and heavy duty hose which supplies readily available water for prescribed burns and herbicide application. It requires a great amount of trust from Oakland Township to put this equipment into the hands of myself and the other stewardship technicians and I am grateful they have. I have gained numerous skills from this task alone which will stick with me well into the future.
Geographic Information System
GIS is an acronym for Geographic Information System, a mapping system that captures, stores, and displays data related to specific positions on Earth’s surface. The stewardship crew and I use an app on our phones called ESRI FieldMaps to document locations of invasive species and herbicide application out in the field. With each location, we input additional information such as plant density, herbicide concentration, and weather for that day.
This job introduced me to the hands-on aspect of GIS. I was familiarized with with these systems last spring in an agriculture class at Michigan State University and it was a great overview. But I have found that subjects like this are best learned from hands-on experience. Within the first three days on the job we were getting oriented and comfortable with the Field Maps app. It was early in the garlic mustard season, so documenting plant locations in the field was our orientation task (and what a great one to use since it is so prevalent!). It initially seemed like so much information needed to be included with the garlic mustard location. I was slightly concerned that I would miss out on something valuable and began to ask myself, “How do I properly estimate a plants density and how do I draw a polygon of the area we surveyed? More importantly, how do I remember the area I surveyed?” These all turned out to be useless concerns since the app is quite user-friendly.
Swallow-wort is an invasive plant that is related to milkweeds. It makes seeds attached to fluffy parachutes, so it can spread long distances to new areas.
I have really enjoyed scanning our parks for invasive plants like swallow-wort, and recording their locations and plant densities into the GIS. It is interesting to find a large, dense “mother” patch, then locate all the stragglers in an area. Once all the points are plotted, a rough dispersal outline is created which shows how far offspring of that colony spread. These dispersal outlines then provide valuable information for future stewardship crews because we can compare dispersal outlines throughout time and see how the plants respond to our treatments. If they are effective, the outlines will shrink in size.
Using this app consistently on the job site has taught me how to properly record data and take time to complete tasks that remove me from “actual field work.” My past three jobs were strictly manual labor so if I wasn’t working with my body, it was viewed as a waste of time. It took around a month at this job to break down that ideology and I have gotten much better at taking the time to input data.
A portion of Lost Lake Nature Park on the Field Maps App showing Swallow-Wort points (red stars) and herbicide treatment polygons (red areas)
A rough plant dispersal outline of Swallow-Wort (red area) at Lost Lake Nature Park. The black circle marks the large, dense “mother” patch. As distance from the “mother” increases, the area and densities of other points decrease.
Wildflowers at Gallagher Creek Park
One of the most enjoyable new experiences on the job has been finding mature, native plants in their natural habitats. It provides insight into how naturally occurring plants compare to landscaped ones in size, spread, and structure. Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea), for example, seems to be pretty adaptable. I have seen them in wetland areas with dappled light, semi-dry areas with full sun, and in landscaped beds. Furthermore, they can be quite small and slender in the wild when competing with other plants, but can be very full and wide in landscaped areas; give them space and they will grow! These differences were witnessed in May at the native plant beds of Gallagher Creek Park.
Golden Alexanders in the native plant landscaping beds at Gallagher Creek Park. Photo by Ben VanderWeide.
Gallagher Creek Park on Silverbell Road, just east of Adams Road is probably best known for the playground. However, it also houses some amazing plants such as Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis) and Yellow Lady Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum).
The day before we went to weed the native plant beds around the playground in May, our Stewardship Manager Ben VanderWeide let us know that Yellow Lady Slippers would most likely be flowering in the park. When we got to a garden bed near the suspected area, we took a quick intermission from weeding and began our search. Early on, I stumbled across a beautiful wild lupine, the first one I have ever seen uncultivated and growing naturally. Their loose flower clusters and unique foliage are quite striking!
As I was framing a picture of it, I noticed a helical blade of grass twisting its way into the frame and took it as a foreshadow of a Yellow Lady Slipper sighting. I thought this because the grass perfectly mimicked the helically-twisted sepals of a Yellow Lady Slipper. After admiring the lupine and golden grass blade, we continued our search, and as foretold, stumbled upon a colony of Yellow Lady Slippers! Partially bloomed flowers resembled Corinthian helmets, while the fully mature looked like sunbathing aliens. It was interesting to see how small they were in real life and appreciate their complexity up close. That was truly a day to remember.
Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis) and helical grass blade
Blooming Yellow Lady Slipper resembling a Corinthian helmet
Peak Bloom Yellow Lady Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum)
Spending time on job sites is something I look forward to. I have realized that as I experience something new, I also learn more about myself. I now tackle new task with confidence and take breaks from manual labor in order to do activities like data entry that have delayed returns. It has been great to grow alongside the abundant wildlife each workday, and I am amazed at how much I have experienced on the job. I am curious to look back in 5 weeks and see what else I’ve learned!
Children and parents enjoying the play area at Gallagher Creek
Little, busy Gallagher Creek Park has gone through some big changes in the last few years. The Oakland Township Parks and Recreation Commission made a commitment to provide this densely populated area of the township with a playground for children. And they made it happen very quickly! Meanwhile, Dr. Ben VanderWeide, the township Stewardship Manager, set in motion a plan to eliminate large stands of non-native shrubs and begin restoring the fields that surround the new playground. This spring, he and his crew spent long hours creating and planting an extensive set of native gardens.
Photos and text
by Cam Mannino
So I’ve enjoyed several happy outings at this little green park from late April to late June, observing both the exciting changes initiated by human effort and nature’s annual, sometimes less noticed, transition from spring to summer. Glad you’re here to share both of them with me.
The People Factor: From an Old Farm Field to a Playground Surrounded by Beauty
In the spring of 2015, the restoration of native habitat at Gallagher Creek began with a prescribed burn handled by contractors and supervised by Dr. Ben. Having done a plant survey, he had found many native plants struggling to grow amongst invasives. So in 2015, before the Parks Commission began to consider playground plans, Ben set about removing large stands of aggressive shrubs from the eastern sections of Gallagher Creek. In the early winter of 2016, he was able to begin planting native seed, using budgeted Land Preservation millage funds and a prairie restoration grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service – Partners for Fish and Wildlife program. (Click on photos to enlarge; hover cursor for captions.)
Our prescribed fire contractor burns at Gallagher Creek Park, spring 2015.
Invasive shrubs are cleared from Gallagher Creek in preparation for seeding native plants.
Native plants are seeded in early winter 0f 2016.
From 2016 to 2019, the Parks and Recreation Commissioners and Director Mindy Milos-Dale set about making the playground area a priority project. A professional architect from Professional Engineering Associates (PEA) worked with the Parks Commission and staff to develop a design for the playground, picnic pavilion, and paths that would harmonize with the natural environment. The Township Board’s Safety Paths and Trails Committee worked with dedication to complete the northern paved trail along Silverbell Road that leads into the park and LJ Construction did an excellent job of putting it all together. Now it’s easier and safer for families to reach Gallagher Creek Park from surrounding neighborhoods. And the stewardship crew, volunteers of all ages, and Dr. Ben set out to surround the playground with an educational garden that can familiarize both children and their parents with lovely plants that are native to our area.
Stewardship crew and volunteers planting at the Gallagher Creek
All of the work came to fruition this May when the park was dedicated and the gardens completed.
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Nature Begins its Transition at Gallagher Creek
The paths that lead out of the native gardens create a transition from the playground to the natural areas that surround the slides and swings. Right now, the only trail beyond the playground leads to a platform near the creek, but more are planned. So knees cocked high, I waded through the carpet of tall grass and flowers, exploring, watching a wet, cold, spring make the transformation into early summer.
A Cold, Wet Spring at Gallagher Creek: Wildflowers Emerge, the Birds are Fewer than Previous Years, and Insects Not Yet Active
Gallagher Creek ran over its banks after the heavy rains in May
May was wet! Gallagher Creek, normally shallow and wandering slowly through tall grass, flooded over into pools beneath the sheltering willows. Instead of whispering, it burbled along it path toward Paint Creek. The cool temperatures and moisture were perfect for some plants.
The most spectacular spring wildflower was the Yellow Lady Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum) tucked in near the old stump left of the platform at the creek. The long purple ribbons on these yellow dancing shoes suit this wildflower’s name just perfectly!
Yellow Ladyslipper, a native wildflower, near the platform by the creek
Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) erupted from the soil in time to live up to their name, too. They formed a circular carpet out in the eastern field, where Ben had cleared a dense stand of shrubs in a previous year. Mayapples are more commonly seen in wooded areas but this colony of them seems quite happy to be surrounded by tall grass.
A circular carpet of May Apples thriving in the middle of the eastern field at Gallagher Creek
Their modest little flowers, which emerge from little “green apple” buds, droop shyly beneath the leaves.
The Mayapple’s flower is hidden beneath its umbrella-like leaves.
Wild Strawberry flowers (Fragaria virginiana) lay hidden in the grass all over the park. Their berries will provide a tasty treat for all kinds of animals who always get to these berries before I do!
Wild Strawberry flowers are almost constantly underfoot in the natural areas of Gallagher Creek Park in May.
Where Gallagher Creek had flooded , it had left standing water far out in the eastern field. And some little rivulets flow the other way, toward the creek from the marsh near Silverbell Road. So I was glad I had waterproof hiking shoes. All along the creek in May, golden splashes of Swamp Buttercup (Ranunculus hispidus) shone like little suns from the wet grass. I’ve never seen as many here as I’ve seen this year.
Swamp Buttercup created golden swathes among the wet grass near Gallagher Creek.
When Ben cleared the shrubs, he saved a lovely Nannyberry bush (Viburnum lentago) that can now stand out in the landscape. According to the website Illinoiswildflowers.info, this graceful native shrub or small tree later produces juicy, sweet, purplish fruits that many birds love, including Ruffed Grouse, Northern Bobwhite, Ring-necked Pheasant, Northern Flicker, Gray Catbird, American Robin, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Bluebird, Cedar Waxwing, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Purple Finch. It’s also a popular nesting shrub for birds. Sounds like a good one for my yard!
Native Nannyberry produces lovely panicles of creamy flowers and then purplish fruits that the birds love. It’s a nesting shrub for many birds as well.
Oak trees are “monoecious,” meaning they have both male and female flowers on the same tree. The male flowers look like little bright green balls on the long, elegant catkins and the female flowers, which become the acorns, are inconspicuous little blossoms on the same branch. The female flowers are pollinated by the wind, which means a lot of us around here are sneezing in May! And once the male flowers open and shed their pollen, they fall to the ground. Here are the male flowers on an oak at Gallagher Creek Park (maybe black oak, Quercus velutina).
The male flowers on the oak catkins have opened and are releasing their pollen to the wind in hopes that the pollen will find a female flower.
Just a couple of birds kept me company at Gallagher Creek Park in late April and May. I mentioned in the blog earlier this month that a birder friend sent me a photo of a Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) standing over her eggs in the shallow nest she’d scraped in the bare earth. The eggs, however, disappeared without my birder friend or me ever spotting the fledglings. Killdeer nests are awfully vulnerable to snakes, raccoons, coyotes and of course, careless humans! But I’ve learned that the adults can lead newborns to safer territory with water and food on the day they hatch from their eggs. They’re born ready to go. So maybe there are fledglings somewhere on the property being cared for by the male while the female starts a new nest. I hope so.
A killdeer standing over her eggs at Gallagher Creek Park early in the spring. (Photo by a birder friend who wishes to be remain anonymous)
Last year, the air over the park was filled with swooping and diving Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). This year, I’ve only seen one or two. It may be that the busy playground has encouraged them to settle elsewhere. Here’s a photo of one high in a tree at Gallagher Creek Park about two years ago, and one on the wing, scooping insects out of the air in the wetland area on the far side of the creek as I’ve seen them doing this year.
A Tree Swallow high in a tree at Gallagher Creek Park.
A Tree Swallow forages by flying with its beak open and scooping prey from the sky.
As Summer Tentatively Arrived More Birds and Lots of Crazy Insects!
Getting to Know a Killdeer, plus Other Avian Visitors
In June, I thought perhaps I was repeatedly seeing the Killdeer that my birding friend had introduced me to in late April. By June 1, the adult Killdeer had abandoned its first nest and seemed to be striking up a friendship with a local American Robin (Turdusmigratorius). The killdeer appears to be the female, since the only other adult killdeer around is usually flying in circles making its piercing territorial call which is the male’s way of protecting his mate’s territory. (No wonder the second part of the Killdeer’s scientific name is “vociferous”!) The Robin may have been a female as well, since its head is not as dark as most males. On that June 1 afternoon, these two birds of different species hung out together in a native bed near the pavilion that hadn’t yet been planted. It was surprising to me that the two of them seemed so relaxed in each other’s presence – especially since killdeer are usually quite excitable. I liked to imagine that perhaps the smaller bird found the Robin’s stolid presence reassuring – or maybe that they were silently commiserating over the difficulties of nesting and raising young!
The Killdeer sat calmly within the unplanted garden and the Robin kept it company.
After several minutes, the Killdeer stood up close to the Robin, who calmly looked off into the distance.
And then the Killdeer bobbed away a few steps and paused.
A week later on June 8, the Killdeer was bobbing along among the newly planted garden where it had visited with the Robin, calling now and then.
The Killdeer explored the plants in the native garden where it had kept company with the Robin a week earlier.
Six days later on June 14, Ben texted that he’d just seen another killdeer nest with four eggs in it. When I went on my own, I couldn’t find it; their nests are notorious for being well camouflaged! A day later, sharp-eyed Ben texted again to say he’d seen a hatchling coming out one of the eggs! And he sent me this wonderful photo! Be sure to notice the long beak on this youngster.
A killdeer fledgling emerging from its egg. Photo by Dr. Ben VanderWeide
My husband and I hurried to the park. At first we only saw the female doing a distraction maneuver near the nest location that Ben had described. She huddled down in the grass and stretched her wings up vertically, spread her tail and fluttered, trying to draw our attention. Killdeer females do this when possible predators approach their young. They want predators to think they are starting a new nest. “Don’t look there! Look over here!”
A female killdeer from behind pretending that she is creating a new nest to distract me from her fledgling young.
This time we saw the baby bird, probably just half an hour out of its egg. We wanted to keep our distance to avoid any further distress for either the fledgling or its mother so no photo. But while we watched, this tiny bird struggled to its feet for a few seconds, then flopped on the ground and fluttered forward a little on its tiny wings. By a few repetitions of this arduous process, it got away from the exposed nest, the eggs and the hot sun and hid under some grass. What a little survivor! We walked away.
That evening, I learned the following from A Guide to Bird Behavior, Vol. II by Donald W. and Lillian Q. Stokes: “Once the chicks have hatched, the parents lead them gradually to areas with abundant food and some cover…On the first day, the chicks may move up to 120 feet from the nests…Brooding [covering the bird with adult’s body] by one or both parents occurs frequently during the first few days and, of course, during the nights.” I felt reassured, though I’ve not seen the fledgling since it hatched. Here’s a little Killdeer in a photo taken by iNaturalist.org photographer, Steven Mlodinow. Definitely “aaawww” worthy, I’d say. Hope someday I get to see one on its feet like this!
Killdeer Fledgling by Steven Mlodinow (CC BY-NC) at iNaturalist.org
The Robin, by the way, may have been staring toward the pavilion because she was contemplating a nest there. Ben reported two adult Robins calmly ignoring humans below as they zipped back and forth bringing food to their young in the rafters of the pavilion. When I visited on June 14, I saw two Robin hatchlings who still needed to grow into their beaks a bit before leaving the nest. Unlike hatchling Killdeers who leave the nest within minutes, the Robin nestlings can spend almost two weeks in their nest.
Two young Robins with just their beaks showing in the pavilion at Gallagher Creek.
On each visit over the six weeks, I kept hearing the “witchedy, witchedy” calls of the tiny, masked CommonYellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas). Each time, though, the calls seemed to be coming from the wetland on the far side of the creek. But last week, on June 19, I finally spotted one high atop a snag near the marsh along Silverbell Road.
A Common Yellowthroat perched on the top of a tall stump near the marsh.
On that last visit, I also heard a Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) trilling its melody and finally spotted it high on a bare limb. It looked as though it were studying the marsh for insects before singing another “verse.”
The Song Sparrow studying the insects in the Gallagher Creek Marsh.
A few minutes later, I looked up from a flower to see a Great Egret (Ardea alba) soaring away from the creek and across the marsh. It was gone before I could raise the camera to my eye. So here’s a flying Egret photo taken at Bear Creek marsh a few years ago with a possible mate in the distance. I hope the flying egret nests near Gallagher Creek this year.
A Great Egret taking flight at Bear Creek marsh a few years ago – with perhaps a mate in the distance?
Gallagher Creek’s Wild and Weird June Insects
The natural areas at Gallagher Creek Park bloomed with a few more wildflowers in June. And that prompted visits by a variety of insects. Some I wrote about last week when I reported on native pollinators – bumblebees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees and hoverflies. This week get ready for some hair-raising stories! These insects are colorful and fascinating but come with some pretty fierce behavior!
Thanks to very kind assistance from Dr. Gary Parsons, an entomologist from Michigan State University, I now know that an insect I saw last week is a female Feather-legged Fly, specifically Trichopoda pennipes. These insects mimic wasps. With their feathery jodpurs, they sip on nectar, spreading some pollen as they buzz from flower to flower. Their genus also has the unpleasant distinction of laying its eggs in or on other insects. Once they hatch they eat the host! Yuck. According to Dr. Parsons, though, they may play a role in controlling an invasive stink bug because of their parasitic habits. Great looking little critter with a grim reproductive strategy, eh? (Note the two tiny Hoverflies (genus Syrphidae) mating on these Yarrow blossoms in the background.)
A feather-legged fly which mimics a wasp, pollinates as it sips nectar from flower to flower.
Speaking of Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), the fields at Gallagher are filled with this well-known native plant – and insects are making the most of them! Below, a potential victim of the Feather-legged Flyhas come up with a snazzy defense. An insect group called Froghoppers (superfamily Cercopoidea) has a nymph stage that we commonly call Spittlebugs. To protect itself from predators, the nymph pierces the plant stem, feeds on its sap (doing no serious harm) and then excretes a bitter-tasting foam around itself. That keeps the nymph moist, insulates it from cold, and hides it from view so it can safely metamorphose within its bubbles. This spittlebug seems to have found an exceptionally safe spot beneath an umbrella of Yarrow buds.
The foam of a Spittlebug or Froghopper nymph protects it from view of predators.
Yarrow also hosted a very impressive arachnid. The long legs stretching down this stalk belong to a Daddylonglegs, also known as a Harvestman (order Opiliones). Unlike other arachnids, their body segments (cephalothorax and abdomen) are fused together and they have two tiny eyes on top of their heads instead of up to eight for spiders. Quite a specimen, isn’t it?
A daddylonglegs or harvestman waiting for prey on a budding Yarrow.
A lovely plant with the oddly descriptive name of Hairy Beard-tongue (Penstemon hirsutus) played host to an Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica ) this week. Unlike the Bumblebee which it resembles, it doesn’t have a long tongue to reach into these delicate lavender tubes for nectar. Sometimes the Carpenter Bee has to slit the petals open to reach the pollen in narrow blossoms. I wonder if that’s why this bee solved the problem by choosing the smaller, shallower flowers?
An Eastern Carpenter Bee probes the tubular blossoms of Hairy Beard-tongue.
An Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (Erythemis simplicollis) rested among the greenery in the eastern meadow. According to the “Bug Lady” at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Field Station, the white tip of her abdomen means she’s a female and they can lay up to 900 eggs per day! Most of the eggs and larvae, of course, will get eaten by fish and frogs. Dragonflies are flying predators. By snagging other insects from the air, they keep the habitat in balance. And they are such flying aces!
A female Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly may lay as many as 900 eggs a day in the wetlands at Gallagher Creek.
We need a relief from cool but strange insects, right? So let’s end with a second, closer look at Gallagher’s butterflies, some of which were featured in a slideshow last week. Here’s another look at the gorgeous Red-spotted Purple buttefly (Limenitis arthemis astyanax), this time with the upper (dorsal) view and the equally dramatic lower (ventral) view.
The spectacular Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis), the dorsal view The lower (ventral) side of the Red-spotted Purple’s wings
And here’s the tiny Pearl Crescent, this time with its fuzzy face peering over the edge of a leaf as it flitted about the eastern meadow. The matching orange tips on its striped antennae are nice touches, aren’t they?
The tiny Pearl Crescent with its fuzzy face peering over th edge of a leaf.
The Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) is named after the silver patch on the underside of its wings. Its caterpillars protect themselves from predators by creating a leaf shelter by cutting a flap off the edge of a leaf, folding it over and than fastening it shut with silk!
A Silver-spotted skipper from above.
And a glimpse of the silver patch below for which it is named.
Gallagher Creek Park’s Colorful Future
Non-native Ox-eye Daisies always burst forth in June as they have at Gallagher Creek Park.
Gallagher Creek Park already greets the eye with brightly colored playground equipment and the bright little faces of the children who come each day to enjoy it. And out in the meadow, both native and non-native wildflowers add their beauty to a park visit.
Imagine the color and variety that will greet us when the native gardens come to full bloom in two or three years! Those sturdy native prairie plants in the playground gardens will eventually survive bright sunlight and droughts without much watering because they take the time to grow long roots before fully blooming. Here’s a slideshow of some of those plants as they’ll look when full grown. Maybe they’ll set us dreaming about our own gardens!
When most of us think of pollinators, the EuropeanHoney Bee (Apis mellifera) comes to mind first – and with good reason. These hive bees work industriously in agricultural fields and orchards. And we benefit from the fruits, vegetables and of course flowers they visit. According to MSU Extension, though, they are active in temperatures above 60 °F and prefer clear, sunny, placid weather. In case you haven’t noticed (or don’t live in Michigan), that’s not yet our weather here this year.
Luckily, native bees and hoverflies come to our rescue, and the rescue of countless wildflowers. Bumblebees (genus Bombus), our chunky native bees, only require temperatures above 50° and will fly in wet, dark and windy weather – the kind we’re living with this year! And along side them are other native bees and the ever-present hoverflies who look like bees but aren’t. So let’s see who’s out and about in our parks pollinating plants on these cool, damp days of early summer.
[A Disclaimer: I’m a learner when it comes to insect identification, but I’ve done my best to figure out what I’m seeing. Let me know in comments if you think I’ve erred. And if you’d like more detailed info, check out my two main sources: a fine book by Heather Holm entitled Pollinators of Native Plants and this excellent web article by Jason Gibbs from MSU Dept. of Etymology.]
[Warning! Corrections below! A kind and knowledgeable reader helped me out by commenting on 3 bee species that he believed were misidentified in this blog. I checked them with Dr. Gary Parsons from at Michigan State University and a fellow there who is a bee curator and they determined that the reader is correct. Thanks to the reader and to Dr. Parsons! You’ll see the corrections below and links to more information on the correct bees! My apologies. I will be much more careful in the future when trying to ID native bees, which it turns out can only to be positively identified as to species with a microscope and using identification keys – and not through photos!]
Native Bees Happily Take on the Job of Spring Pollination
Female bees of all species carry most of the load when it comes to pollination, because they feed pollen to themselves and their young. Some species stash it on hairs or in pollen baskets on their hind legs. Others let it spread thickly across the stiff hairs of their abdomen. Wasps, like Yellow Jackets or Hornets, can look like bees but they don’t collect or eat pollen. (They are predators who keep insect numbers in check, including some garden pests.) So if you see lots of yellow or orange pollen on the leg or abdomen of an insect, it’s a bee! Where are these bees finding pollen now?
Native Wild Lupine (Lupine perennis) rises elegantly within the restored prairie at Charles Ilsley Park in early June. Look for them near the observation deck at Gallagher Creek Park as well. They are a popular stop on the pollen route for our native bees right now.
Lupines at Charles Ilsley Park where prairies are being restored
A Metallic Green Sweat Bee (genus Agapostemon) found the Lupine blossoms irresistible. These very small bees are solitary; they don’t live in hives. Instead, they make tunnels in bare soil and tend their young alone. Sweat bees are occasionally attracted to human sweat on hot, dry days but their sting is not as severe as a bee or wasp. They are normally docile while foraging but can be aggressive if you get near their nests. But please don’t use pesticides on them. These little bees do a lot of pollinating! Creating a spot of bare soil on your property away from your garden and house where they can nest will make both you and them feel safer.
A metalic green sweat bee finds its way into a lupine blossom.
One cool afternoon, I watched a couple of sweat bees [Edit: Correction by a reader! The two small bees below are in the genus Ceratina, family Apidae, a genus according to Wikipedia that is “often mistaken for sweat bees! For information on these small bee, use this link] make the proverbial “beeline” for the native Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus), a close relative of asters and daisies, but a different genus. These tiny, sun-faced flowers are one of the first blooms to emerge in spring and they last all summer. So it seems that the two sweat bees heading in from the right on the photo below know a reliable source of nectar and pollen when they see one!
Two metallic green[bees from the genus Ceratina] heading for a tiny Daisy Fleabane.
A native Bumblebee (genus Bombus) used its long tongue to reach inside the lavender lips of the Lupine blossoms at Gallagher Creek Park and then flew off with its pollen load tucked neatly into the pollen sacks on its legs. According to author Heather Holm, bumblebees sometimes use a technique called “buzz pollination” in which they release pollen from tight places by clinging onto a plant’s anthers (the tip of the male stamen that holds the pollen) and activating their flight muscles, making a buzz. Poof! Out comes the pollen. Neat trick. (Click on photos to enlarge; hover cursor for captions.)
A native bumblebee uses its long tongue to reach into Lupine blossoms.
Then it flies off with pollen tucked into the pollen sacks on its legs.
Carpenter Bees (genus Xylocopa) shape their nests by patiently shaving off wood bit by bit to make perfectly round holes, usually on the underside of branches, or at our house, under deck railings! They lay their eggs inside, sealing each egg in separately with neat plugs of pollen to keep the young larvae fed. Later, the young bees will overwinter in these nests to emerge for mating the following spring. Here’s what I’m quite sure is an Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica) nuzzling a Blackberry blossom (Rubus allegheniensis). It looks a lot like a native Bumblebee, but its abdomen is shiny black instead of fuzzy and it has a dot in the center of its yellow thorax.
A Carpenter Bee collects pollen or nectar from a blackberry blossom.
The blackberry bush also hosted another bee. I believe it’s a Masked/Cellophane Bee (genus Hylaeus). [Edit: Correction! These bees are from the genus Halictidae whereas the Cellophane bee is in the genus Megachilidae. Thanks to an expert reader for the correction! For information on Halictidae use this link]These solitary bees are the only ones that transport pollen in a crop like some birds do with seed. These bees use exisiting cavities in wood for nesting, and wrap their larvae in a thin membrane that evidently gave them the name “cellophane bees” – and they also have white patches on their heads, hence the “masked” name.
A masked/cellophane bee carries pollen in its crop.
Native Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea), an early summer flower, attracted the attention of another native pollinator, the solitary Leafcutter Bee (genus Megachilidae). [Correction: This is a “mining bee,” species Andrena from the genus Andrenidae. For information on them, see this link. ]They can be very active within blossoms, making what some sources describe as a “swimming motion.” Evidently, that also releases a lot of pollen that they carry on stiff hairs on their abdomen. Their nests are built vertically in hollow plant stems or other natural cavities. They neatly cut and then chew bits of leaves to line each cell. Entomologists suppose that the leaves may preserve the moisture in the pollen plug at the end of each cell, so it will last until the larvae hatches to eat it. The larvae then pupates, emerges for a short life of a few weeks and starts the cycle again.
A Leafcutter Bee searches for both nectar and pollen on a Golden Alexanders blossom
And then there are the “Wannabees”
A tiny hoverfly lands on a small daisy fleabane blossom.
A hoverfly on a Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) at Gallagher Creek
I love Jason Gibb’s term “wannabees” for the ubiquitous Hoverflies – also called flower flies – members of the genus Taxomerus (family Syrphidae). Hoverflies visit flowers frequently and are commonly mistaken for bees. Many of them mimic bees and wasps, being patterned in white, black and yellow (or orange). But they differ from bees in one important way; hoverflies do not have stingers. They just want their predators to think they do! They feed on both pollen and nectar. Though hoverflies don’t carry as much pollen on their smooth bodies as bees do on their fuzzy ones, they may make up for that by visiting flowers more often. As a result, they are considered the second most effective plant pollinators. Another great benefit of hoverflies is that their larvae eat aphids like crazy, much like ladybugs do. So they can keep plants healthy as well as do some pollinating.
Drama Unfolds on Daisy Fleabanes!
It’s not a surprise that the nodding stalks of Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus) show up in every field in the spring. Hoverflies move constantly from one to the next since not many different wildflowers bloom in this cold spring! As they land, of course, they drop pollen on the waiting stigmas of the flower, just what’s needed to produce more Daisy Fleabane. From my observation, the flowers in bright sunlight get more attention from hoverflies than those in the shade. Perhaps they see in ultraviolet like bees and the flowers look much more inviting in the sunshine?
But more than just pollination is taking place on those sunny little blooms! It turns out that a Daisy Fleabane can be a stage for high drama – birth and death among the petals! One tiny fleabane flower featured the mating of two hoverflies while a third ignored them in its avid search for a good meal. The dispassionate female seems to be casually having a snack as well.
Two hoverflies mated on a Daisy Fleabane while one ignored them in the interest of finding nectar or pollen
And on another Fleabane blossom, an ambush! I’ve just learned about Crab Spiders (genus Thomisidae). These crafty arachnids don’t spin webs. They simply sit on or just under the edges of flowers waiting to grab unwary insects. Those long curved front legs do look a bit crab-like!
A crab spider sitting on a fleabane blossom hoping, no doubt, to snag a careless insect.
The Bluebottle Fly (genus Calliphora) in the photo below seems to have been oblivious to a crab spider until it was grabbed around the middle by one of the long legs of its hidden predator. Those big fly eyes look vaguely shocked, don’t they? The hoverfly on the blossom above seems unconcerned, its head deep in the pollen. And what I think is the green sweatbee flying in may choose to do the same on a different bloom. I doubt they stayed around long enough to be a second and third meal for the spider!
A crab spider under the edge of a fleabane has grabbed a fly for lunch, while an uninterested hoverfly eats nearby. And what I think is another green sweat bee speeds in on the right.
What about the Butterflies?
Well, butterflies are arriving, or hatching or coming out from under bark after overwintering. But not many are present yet. And let’s face it; the flowers available now are not especially tempting when compared to the variety and plentitude of summer. So the butterflies that appear in the parks make do with other food sources – sweet tree sap, rotting fruits from last fall, carrion, even occasionally the nutrition left in animal scat! Here’s a selection of the butterflies I’ve seen so far and not one of them was pollinating a flower! (Click on photos to enlarge; use pause button for captions.)
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I’ve also seen three different Monarchs but they didn’t stop to have photos taken. And the very tiny White-striped Black moth (Trichodezia albovittata) is a first sighting ever for me. Its miniscule black and white wings flutter so fast that when flying, it looks like a blurry signal of dots and dashes! I was so happy when it paused for a few moments!
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve used the word “larvae” several times in this piece. The common term for these squiggly young is “caterpillar.” Caterpillars (as I’ve mentioned before) are the preferred food that birds stuff down the tender throats of their hatchlings. They are great baby food for birds, full of protein and fat and easy to swallow.
So let’s be glad that our native insects are out gathering pollen for two reasons. Our bees and wannabees keep the wildflowers (and eventually fruits and vegetables) reproducing year after year. But by also feeding pollen to all those larval bees and flies, they feed the young of clever birds who winkle them out of holes and pluck them off of leaves and limbs. Yes, we may get a few cut, chewed or even defoliated leaves in our garden. But many of those caterpillars will nourish the next generation of glorious birds singing the morning chorus! Now doesn’t that make you appreciate insects just a wee bit more?
Stewardship Manager Dr. Ben VanderWeide and volunteer Stephanie Patil with hundreds of native plants purchased by township residents through the Parks and Recreation Commission.
Natural Areas Notebook 