First Monarch

Popping all over my backyard are green stalks of whorled leaves.  The tallest are about 12" high. Break off a leaf and a sticky white liquid oozes out. A poisonous liquid for most creatures. Except for our state butterfly - monarch. So, with plenty of milkweed available, that means the monarchs can return and they have!

Wednesday was a sunny, warm day - finally after days and days of rain. At about 5 p.m., flitting around the yard was a female monarch butterfly. She stopped at several of the taller milkweed plants. When I checked the leaves later, there was one egg towards the top of one of the inner leaves.

By this time last year, the first group of eggs had already grow, pupated, and hatched as butterflies. That meant we had three hatchings of monarchs over the course of last summer. This year, hopefully, we'll get two.

But at least they are back!

Was it love? Or just a really confused bird?

So, this afternoon, naturalists spotted a female turkey standing in front of the hawk's mew. It kept walking back and forth and even jumped up on screen. When staff tried to drive it off, the turkey turned and charged. One very determined Meleagris gallopavo...

Once a group of students came into the area to attend the a raptor program in the amphitheater, the turkey left and hasn't been seen since. But you never know when it comes to love, so maybe the turkey will be back - keep your eyes open.

Time for a Change

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the prescribed burn we had on the main prairie. Since that time, I've taken a picture of the prairie once a week, standing on the amphitheater platform looking northward. Here's what lots of rain and cool temperatures do to a regenerating grassland.

         April 29 - day of the burn                                   May 13

                     May 23                                                 May 29

                                                      June 4