high water

This morning, after
7 inches of rain fell overnight, the pond is higher than usual and some of the shoreline around it is under water.  The critters are trying to find their favorite places to feed or soak up the sun.


I was watching a turtle crawl slowly up on a small rise among the grasses.


Then a frog croaked, and I noticed him right near the turtle.  We've been hearing these Green Frogs
Rana (Aquarana) clamitans
for several weeks.  They are usually secretive; this is first time I've seen one here.  Do you see him in the photo below?

The Tree Swallow pair return to the branch over the pond every day.  When she is in the nestbox, he sits on the branch to keep watch on her and their eggs.  Sometimes she joins him there. They can survey their territory, chase away intruders, and spy food items flying by.  Or, just sit close together.  On occasion, he sings to her.  She has been incubating eggs for 11 days.  They will hatch any day.

queen anne's lace

Queen Anne's Lace Daucus carota is a member of the carrot family.  There are several of these tall striking 'wild carrot' plants in the disturbed area around the pond. 

Each bloom is an umbel of small flowers that form a shape like an open umbrella.  Its flower looks like poison hemlock or wild parsnip, two plants you want to avoid.  The few small magenta flowers in the center help identify Queen Anne's Lace.
(photo left)

It is interesting and pretty, but if allowed to proliferate it can crowd out native wildflowers. 
We hope to limit Queen Anne's Lace spread by  clipping the flowers just before they go to seed.  Meanwhile, we can enjoy the white (sometimes pink-tinged) blossoms.

full bloom thistle

The Musk Thistle Carduus nutans I've been watching since May is now blooming.  The plant is more than 5 feet tall and branched out regally to stand above the other flowers near it.
Several blooms, each opening in their own time, reveal deep magenta color at first.  (See 6/7/2020 and 6/17/2020.) Then, as the flower head ripens, it seems pale lavender. The plant flowers over a seven- to nine-week period, and begins to disseminate seed about two weeks after it first blooms. 
Note: This is a non-native invasive plant that can compete with native wildflowers, so we will try to control the seeds.

chamomile

Daisy-like flowers are scattered here and there around the pond.  Most are the Ox-eye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare, a common wild flower. 

This flower, German Chamomile Matricaria chamomilla, is another plant grown in some places as a crop. The flowers contain a blue essential oil that is distilled and used in health care and beauty products.

German Chamomile has an upright stem that branches with fine fern-like foliage and multiple flowers that do look like small daisies.

In some places this plant is considered a nuisance weed.  We (and the pollinators) enjoy its presence as a bright spot among green wildflowers, grasses, sedges, and rushes circling the pond.

whitetail and bluet

The pond is a magnet for dragonflies and damselflies.  Both are in the Odonata family. Above is a damselfly hunting for a food item in the grasses surrounding the pond.  It is less than 1.5 inches long.

Their species lay eggs in the water or on aquatic plants, then the nymphs or larvae hatch and live in the water.  The young go through several stages until adulthood, feeding on smaller creatures in the pond.

This Common Whitetail dragonfly Plathemis lydia was resting on the big rock.  It is about 2 inches long.

raided nest

Many Painted Turtles Chrysemys picta live in our pond. They mate once a year; in Minnesota, it is usually late May or June. Usually, Painted Turtles lay between 4 and 15 eggs. This year, the females looked for nest sites with soft sandy soil, even if they have to cross lawns and rocky shores.


One found a good spot on the sunny slope above the pond. Because she knows her hatchlings will instinctively head straight for the water, from here their short trip will be downhill.  She dug a shallow hole with her hind feet, and deposited her eggs.  She covered the hole carefully and returned to the water, her job done for this season.

The eggs usually hatch about 72 days later, in late August or early September.  Unfortunately, turtle nests are often discovered by birds, raccoons or skunks, who make a meal of the eggs.  It's not unusual for many of painted turtle eggs to be lost to predators.  We found a few raided turtle egg nests like this one . . .  the eggs eaten and the shells strewn around the hole.

eggs

Each day, Tree Swallows fly above the pond looking like they are doing aerial acrobats for our amazement.  In reality, they are eating -- feeding on flying insects.  So adept in the air, they eat and drink while flying, and rarely spend any time on the ground.  Unlike other swallows, they nest in old woodpecker cavities or human-built boxes. A pair settled in the bluebird box near the pond and started their clutch of eggs.  Each is less than an inch long, white, and oval.  The female places shed feathers from herself and other birds in the nest grass to hide the eggs until she is is ready to incubate them all.

Blackbird fledglings

Hiding in the reeds, unsure of what to do next, these three young Red-winged Blackbirds are waiting for instructions from a parent.  They fledged from their nest today, and flew a short distance. They hatched only 10 days ago (see post on 6/10/2020), then grew and developed to almost their adult size.  The mom will feed them and teach them to find food on their own for the next few weeks.  Seeds are most of their diet year-round, but for summer they will learn to hunt insects hiding among plants surrounding the pond.  Later, once each develops agile flight, they will catch flying insects mid-air.

vibrant thistle color

On 6-7-2020 we posted photos of a lovely rosette of thistle leaves.

The Musk Thistle plant is biennial -- seed germinates in the fall and survives winter as a small plant close to the ground.  Covered by leaf litter, it is insulated through cold weather.

This plant has grown to over 5 feet tall, and branched out to display several flower buds. Each is beginning to show its true vibrant color.

Goldfinches use the downy parts of the seed produced by this flower, and they eat the thistle seed.  But it is an invasive plant and very painful to touch.

cinquefoil

This little 5-petaled gem shines with bright yellow blossoms among the early green plants around the pond.

It looks like wild strawberry before it blooms.

But the petals, with a pointed sepal between each one, tells us its true identity -- cinquefoil.  There are several varieties in the potentilla family.  This is Rough Cinquefoil Potentilla norvegica.

It will add color to the wildflower field all summer long, and compliment the native plants that will bloom later.

alfalfa

Alfalfa Medicago sativa is another forage crop grown around the world. But it escaped and now commonly sprouts along roads and degraded or disturbed areas.  Also called lucerne or purple medic, Alfalfa adds its deep purple blooms to the wildflower palette around the pond.  Known for the remarkable productivity and quality of its herbage, the plant is also valued in soil improvement and is grown as a green manure.  We are glad it is present here to add its color and value to the pond area.

Alsike Clover

Clover is a forage crop around the world.  But it readily escapes cultivation, so it is common in meadows and in disturbed places.  This pond and surrounding wetland was disturbed during transition to a neighborhood, and some native plant seed was sown.  So, we have clover.

Alsike Clover Trifolium hybridum flowers are light pink turning darker pink with age, giving the head a distinct two-tone color pattern as lower blossoms on the globe mature first.

Clover is one of the main nectar sources for honeybees.  The resident Muskrats are very fond of clover.  We see them swimming across the pond, picking a bunch of clover stems and leaves with flowers, then swimming back across the pond to their burrow.

red-winged blackbirds hatched

The female Red-winged Blackbird has been constantly hunting and making frequent trips back to her nest.  This signaled to me that her eggs have hatched.  This species usually lays 2 to 4 eggs per brood.  Sure, enough, there are three chicks in the nest.  They look out-of-focus because, while the other material in the frame is still, the new babies are fuzzy and wriggling.  Their beaks are pointed to lower left in this photo.

With help of tall boots and a pole for my camera, I was able to peer into the reeds and see the beauty of her architecture skills.  Blackbirds wind stringy plant material around several upright stems, then weave in a platform of coarse, wet vegetation. She adds more wet material to shape a cup, plastering the inside with mud. To protect her babies, she lines the cup with fine, dry grasses.

swallows

There are two kinds of swallows that regularly hang out near our pond.  Both species are aerial insectivores, which means they are so agile they can eat and drink all they need while flying.  They “swallow" food with their mouth open as they soar through a group of flying insects.  They dip their beaks to sip water as they glide low over a pond or lake.  They eat mosquitoes, flies, grasshoppers, beetles, moths and other flying insects in mid air.  Small birds with long wings, they can make sharp turns at high speeds in order to catch hundreds of insects each day. Swallows are most often a welcome sight with their voracious appetite for flying insects – a good mosquito control method.

Tree Swallows Tachycineta bicolor are iridescent blue with a white front and underparts  nest in cavities . . .  old woodpecker holes or a nestbox like Bluebirds.

The Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica has a deeply forked tail, dark feathers and rust colored throat and  under parts.  This 6" long bird lives in farmlands, suburbs, and wetlands. Because they make nests of mud in barns, on ledges, or under eaves, the location of their nests sometimes make them a pest.
Photo below: Barn Swallow

thistle

We have been watching this thistle plant, while removing the other "field" thistles from the wetland area.  Probably 'Musk Thistle' Carduus nutans, or ‘Plumeless Thistle’ Carduus acanthoides, the seed germinated last summer.  It over wintered as a rosette protected by leaf litter and a cover of snow.

We noticed this rosette among the ground clutter after the snow melted.  Through May, it resumed vegetative growth.  It is growing tall now, and branching out to produce numerous large flower heads.
This particular plant is just a lot of green now, hiding among more green.

But when it finally blossoms, you will not be able to miss the deep purple magenta flowers!

After blooming and setting seed the whole plant will die, thereby completing the life cycle.
But this plant can produce 120,000 seeds that could germinate this season and form little rosettes to wait out winter.  Rather than allow this species to spread and become a nuisance in the pond area, DNR recommends control before flowering.  We will enjoy the beginning of flowering and try to cut off development of any seeds.

Mallard chicks

A pair of Mallards showed up with ducklings on the pond.  There were only six ducklings today, and they looked older than the brood of eleven  that we saw on May 15.  We can't know if this is the same or a different brood, but it seems like the young here are appropriately more mature.  The bills are longer and their feathers seem smoother than the ducklings we saw before.   (right: closeup of one of the 6)

nestbox terror

Both adult Red-wing Blackbirds have been very aggressive in this wetland area. They regard the entire pond and shoreline as "their" territory.

The male attacks or takes flight after other birds, even larger Crows. He loudly protests Starlings that feed at the shoreline.  He has chased away Chickadees, Tree Swallows, and Bluebirds that tried to nest in the boxes intended for them, just because he does not want them nearby.

The female Blackbird claimed all the seed feeders near the pond as her personal property, and persecuted all other birds who tried to feed at any of them.  When the feeder on our deck was taken away, she stood on the deck rail and demanded we put it back.

RWBB nest

The Red-winged Blackbird nest is hidden in vegetation at the far end of the pond.  The female was in the nest when I approached.  The male adult protested my presence there, flying over my head while squawking loudly. He brushed against my hat several times to make sure I knew he was serious.

Hidden in marsh vegetation, the female had built a sturdy cup of grass a few feet out from the shore.  Suspended above the water and lashed to stiff standing reeds from last season, the nest is purposely hard to reach.  She had built it of grass, reeds, leaves, rootlets, and lined it with fine grass.  While I watched, she only squashed down further in the nest to hide her eggs.

Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus typically have 3 or 4 eggs in a clutch, and they may have a second clutch each season.