Another Day on the Prairie

Yellow House was out on the Lilly Prairie today. While I was explaining the plan for the day, a group of kids started staring and pointing at the teacher. I joked and said, "What? Does she have a bug on her shoulder?" And to my surprise - she did!

Yesterday it was katydids. Today it was cicadas!

On the Prairie

It's September and that means the new class of 7th Graders from Heritage E-STEM Middle School are visiting Dodge Nature Center's Lilly Prairie as part of a year-long study of ecosystems. Today the first groups came out to make detailed observations of a group of prairie plants we'll work with throughout the year, doing various projects like identifying with dichotomous keys, determining the average number of seeds per seed head, scarifying and stratifying, and planting the seeds. 

Drizzling rain didn't deter the students (although it did make things rather soggy - my hiking boots are still wet.) It was great seeing small groups of students talking, comparing, questioning - their drawings and notes showed a lot of effort. 

As the last group of the day finished up, one of the students noticed this lovely creature hiding among the grasses. 

It's lime green body blends in seamlessly with the grasses and leaves of the flowering prairie plants. While its long legs help it jump efficiently, this one walked slowly across the tree stump where we placed it so we could watch it. Can you identify it? I "did." (hint, hint, hint...)

Bad News for Minnesota Bats

The DNR informed us today that they have found the fungus responsible for white nose syndrome in two bat caves in Minnesota - Tower Soudan Mine in northern Minnesota and Forestville in the south. This is bad -very bad.

Hibernating bats have a body temperature around 40F. They make wake up a few times during the hibernation period, but this takes a great deal of energy. Why white nose syndrome is so bad is that it affects bats during their hibernation. The fungus grows best at - that's right - 40F. And bats infected with the fungus wake up frequently. This drains the energy and fat reserves the bats have and causes them to weaken until they die. Research has shown that a bat infected with white nose syndrome will not survive. 100% certain death.

What can we do? Well, first of all, don't go from bat cave to bat cave. You might transfer the fungus. You can also provide financial support to organizations researching this problem. Keep you fingers crossed and shoes clean.

Back in Business

Technology keeps us on our toes. So, I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks because I couldn't type anything - no cursor. Did a little research and found I needed a different browser. So, now - YEAH! I can post to the blog again.

Fuzzy and Cute, but Dangerous, too

During an class on insects yesterday, the kids spotted this fuzzy caterpillar. Looks kind of cute, huh? None of us could identify it, so after class and a quick Google search (fuzzy yellow caterpillar), we learned that this critter is the larval form of the American Dagger Moth. It likes to eat leaves from boxelders (where it is in the picture), maples, ashes, willows, birches, etc. - in other words, just about any deciduous tree. The moth is a mottled gray color - nothing too showy. The caterpillar is where its life is interesting - see those black hairs? Those contain a toxin. And if the caterpillar is handled roughly, the hairs break and release the toxin. Bad enough for a bird or woodland mammal, but it's obnoxious for humans, too. Yet another reason to follow the rule: Look with your eyes, not your hands

Whopper of a Wasp

A group of campers at the nature center spotted a group of these wasps on a downed tree in the woods southeast of the Museum. What caught their attention was both the extremely long ovipositor (over 5” long!) and the pale green sac that would sporadically inflate as they watched the wasp.

Among the questions raised by the group, (What is this? Is it dangerous? Can it sting me with that long thing?) the most asked was, “What is it doing?”

This is the time of year when the giant ichneumon wasps have mated and the females are laying eggs. This is a parasitic wasp. It is particular about the host it is looking for – a pigeon horntail larva. Ironically, pigeon horntails are also a kind of wasp. The females lay their eggs on the surface of the tree and once hatched, the larvae burrow into the wood where they will live for up to two years.

Along comes a female ichneumon wasp. Scientists aren’t sure exactly how she finds the larvae inside the tree but they suspect she is relying on smells or sounds produced by the larvae. Once she has zeroed in on a larva, she inserts her ovipositor into the tree. A sac at the base of her abdomen fills with a liquid that is released and starts to decompose the wood so she can reach the larva. The sac also helps to stabilize and support the female wasp during this time. Rotating her body to create the correct orientation, she is now able to deposit an egg on the larva. The entire process of laying one egg can take up to one hour. Once she’s done, the wasp withdraws her ovipositor and moves on to find the next victim. She’ll only live 27 days, so she doesn’t have time to waste.

The ichneumon larva develops and hatches from the egg to start feeding on the horntail larva. It stays in this stage of its life through the winter, waiting to pupate inside the tree in the spring. In June, the new adult emerges, mates, and starts the cycle again.

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!