Birds seek quiet hidden places while they molt into new feathers each year after nesting season. Here in Minnesota, most birds have passed that phase. So, again we are seeing dabbling ducks and diving ducks visit the pond.  Early this morning, three Mergansers were floating on calm water warming themselves in the sunlight.  After a while they began diving to find food. They eat fish, mollusks, aquatic insects, and plants.  This one was poised to dive, with her wings up, feet back, and bill ready to lead her into the water.

garden spider

Hidden in the grasses around the pond, this Yellow Garden Spider wove her web suspended from two plants two feet apart.  It looks like she has been successful catching lunch; the white item in her grasp is an insect wrapped in silk.  No brown paper lunch bags for this elegant creature, a Banded Argiope Argiope trifasciata.
 

bee on sneezeweed

 

monarch on vervain

The Blue Vervain blossoms have mostly gone to seed. In the buffer around the pond, they've been blooming since mid-July. The flowers of Verbena hastata open one by one from the bottom of spikes held on the crown of the plant.  This Monarch butterfly looked for nectar in the few remaining flowers at the top of the spike. Along with butterflies, bees and other insects visit Vervain.  Now, the seeds will be food for birds like Cardinals, Sparrows, and Juncos.

planthopper

 

Planthoppers are masters of disguise. A green Acanalonid Planthopper, hiding on a stem, can look like part of the plant -- a seed pod, leaf, bract, or stipule. 

This one is only 3/8 inch long.  It was perched on a stem at the leaf sheath, probably sucking sap from the grass.  Planthoppers, true to their name, can leap many times the length of their bodies.  And they are very agile insects that can move easily forwards, backwards, or sideways. 

sneezeweed

Growing from 2 to 6 feet high on angular winged stems, Sneezeweed Helenium autumnale is blooming on all sides of the pond.

The flowers are showy, golden yellow with a domed center.  These late-summer plants will feed butterflies and unfold their blooms until winter comes.

The common name 'Sneezeweed' came about because the pollen, when inhaled, causes sneezing.  In the past, the powdered flower heads were used in medicine to cause violent sneezing as treatment.

green frogs on rocks

Usually, the frogs who live here sit on shore hiding among grasses looking for prey insects or invertebrates.

But when a rock is available, Green Frogs Rana clamitans prefer to sit in the sun and wait for a meal to present itself.  

goldenrod

 

To complement all the blue and purple flowers around the pond this week, the Goldenrod has unfurled its blooms.  Solidago species, commonly called Goldenrods, are in a genus of more than 100 species of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae.

Goldenrods are often blamed for allergies, but they have sticky pollen and rely on insects to move most of it.  The wind borne pollen of ragweeds and pigweeds are to blame for 'hay fever' in late summer.

These plants are habitat for a large number of insect species. Blooming in late summer, they are a critical nectar source for many bees, butterflies, and moths to fortify themselves before freezing weather comes. 

balanced turtle

This turtle was probably thinking it could be the top part of a balanced rock sculpture.  Or, maybe seeking a sunny rock and believed this would be it.  Not enough rocks for a sculpture, nor the right shape to be comfortable!

turtle munching

The pond was quiet and clear today, after a rain shower overnight.  We could see to the mud, sand, and rocks on the bottom. 

A Painted Turtle Chrysemys picta was very visible in the water, looking for lunch.  Painted turtles feed mainly on aquatic vegetation, algae, small water insects, dragonfly larvae, crustaceans, plants like water lily or duckweed, and sometimes dead or injured fish.  

When this turtle bumped into a floating mass of algae or plant matter, it was lunch time!

ironweed

The tall, stately plants topped by brilliant purple flowers -- blooming now by the pond -- are Common Ironweed Vernonia fasciculata.  Each 5- or 6-foot tall plant has a purple-green stem, dark green toothed leaves along the stem, and clusters of flowers at the top. Clusters are made up of many flower heads, each about 3/4” across. After the flowers open and mature, each becomes a fruit that is composed of a dry seed with a tuft of coppery brown hair. 

This is a host plant for the 'American Painted Lady' butterfly and also has value to native bees.

Ironweed got its common name because of several qualities: tough straight stems like iron rods, fading purple flowers become rusty-tinged, and seeds are colored like rust.

Ironweed is one of about 500 species of perennial plants constituting the genus Vernonia of the family Asteraceae; it's species are distributed throughout the world.

black wasp

 

I was surprised and apprehensive to see this big black wasp on a milkweed flower near the pond.  It was alarming because of its size (over one inch) but is not a pest to harm people. This Great Black Wasp Sphex pennsylvanicus, looks iridescent violet-black with smoky transparent wings that have a violet sheen. They visit flowers to feed on nectar and pollen; no harm to the plants. 

The female Black Wasp digs a burrow in the ground to reproduce her kind. She hunts katydids, paralyzes them, and places several in the burrow. She then lays eggs in the burrow.  They hatch into larvae. They have a ready meal, quietly growing into adult Black Wasps. 

blue lobelia

A mid-height plant with tall columns of flowers, Great Blue Lobelia Lobelia siphilitica stands out from the green grasses and foliage in several places around the pond.  

This Lobelia started blooming in late July.  Its native wildflowers will continue showing clear blue blooms through the autumn as the individual flowers open starting at the bottom of each column.

It attracts butterflies, and provides a color contrast to the gold and yellows of other late summer blooms.

Coneflower seed harvest

It is time to harvest some wildflower seeds, in order to expand the native plant population in the riparian buffer surrounding our pond.  There are more than 30 documented native species in this buffer.  Close to the water is a ring of wetland; outside of that is a ring of moist to dry areas.  So the pond provides a comfortable home for a wide variety of plants.  We hope to reduce the 'weeds' and encourage the flowering native plants to flourish.

For example, a few coneflowers bloom here.  Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea now has some blooms 'going to seed' as the petals dry out. When I remove the seeds, intending to spread them around the pond for new plants, we can see why this plant is called 'cone flower'.

song sparrow on branch

 Song Sparrows usually stay low to the ground and forage secretively among grasses and wildflower plants.  Moving along wetland edges Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia will search for beetles, caterpillars, dragonflies, grasshoppers, snails, or earthworms -- flitting or hopping through plants surrounding the pond to find a meal.  They will also eat berries and seeds when insects are not plentiful.

Occasionally males will come to an exposed perch to sing their sweet melody.  Song Sparrow sounds

sandpiper

 A hot sultry day in August.  The pond was quiet.  Several rocks appeared offshore in the last few days, exposed by the lack of rain and lower water level.  Good for sandpipers hunting lunch.  This Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria shows off its white eye ring while it waits on a rock to spot a meal in or on the water -- aquatic invertebrates such as larvae, worms, flies, or mollusks.  

ladybug on Mountain Mint

This Mountain Mint plant supplied a meal for a ladybug.  Ladybugs, or Lady Beetles, are in the coccinellids family of beetles, not bugs.  Most are predators -- they eat smaller insects.  They prefer insects that happen to be considered pests on plants.  This includes mites, white flies, and scale insects, but especially aphids.  When the aphids are all eaten on a given plant, Ladybugs quickly head to another plant or area to find more of their favorites.

Monkey Flower

Blooming now -- small lilac-purple flowers at the very edge of the pond.  Some native plants around the pond, like these, are not noticeable until you get close.  Monkey Flower Mimulus ringens.  The name comes from the Latin diminutive of mimus meaning "a mimic" or little monkey.  The flowers are like tiny snapdragons, less than one inch long.  Bumblebees are important native pollinators for this species.  Monkey Flower is a native plant, naturalized along the pond's margin. 

Monarch butterfly caterpillars

The  rose flowers of Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata plants are blooming in several places along the shore around the pond.  Actually, the flowers can vary in color from soft mauve to dusty pink to soft crimson violet.  This milkweed attracts a profusion of butterflies and other pollinators who lap up its nectar.  The Monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus uses the milkweed as its host plant. A host plant is where the butterfly will lays its eggs exclusively, because the larvae that hatch will have a ready supply of the only plant they will eat.  This Swamp Milkweed had two different size caterpillars feasting on leaves.  (In these photos, golden aphids share the sweetness of the plant.)

Eastern Forktail damselfly

This damselfly, a young orange female Eastern Forktail, is of a species often seen near ponds in Minnesota.  The male Eastern Forktail is mostly green and black.  Older females look blue or frosty violet.  Forktails Ischnura verticalis live through winter in the water as nymphs, feeding on smaller aquatic critters.  But they are also prey for larger aquatic creatures.  If they make it through to springtime, they emerge out of the water as adult damselflies.  If they can avoid being eaten by a bird, they will mate and deposit eggs into plant stems or floating material.  The eggs later hatch and release new nymphs into the pond for next year's damselflies.

bees on thistle

young blackbird

Young birds often have the same feather color and pattern as their mother until they get their adult feathers.  Three eggs were in the Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoenicius nest this spring; three young birds fledged out of that nest, looking like their mom. 

Today, this young one perched close enough that we could see the beginning of the orange epaulettes on the shoulders.  Females do have epaulettes but they are usually orange-gold and blend in with her brown streaky appearance.  Males will molt into more blackish body feathers to contrast with bright orange-red epaulettes.  

But all have the pointy long beak, so nicely posed by the blackbird in this photo.

Tussock Moth Caterpillars on milkweed

12 spotted skimmer

The pond area is home to several 

kinds of  dragonflies. 

The females lay their eggs on a plant in the water,

or just drop them into the water.

The eggs hatch after about a week,

when the creatures are called 'nymphs'.

Dragonfly nymphs live in the water while they grow. The length of this portion of the 

dragonfly life cycle is variable.

If the nymphs are not grown enough at 

beginning of winter they will remain

 in the water until spring, often beneath ice.

They feed actively and grow all winter 

to emerge as adults in spring. 

This is a dragonfly called 12-Spotted Skimmer, perched on a reed top in early August.

protecting native plants

You might see me pulling weeds, snipping tree sprouts, or clipping seed heads in the riparian buffer surrounding our pond.  This is necessary to protect the pollinators, birds, and critters that depend on the native plants and the clean water in the pond.  Fortunately, we have a wonderful variety of native wildflowers close to the pond that have been thriving and propagating for several years.

Unfortunately, the builder brought in soil during the last 12 months to finish the area beyond the native plantings. That soil contained a plentiful seed bank of invasive or harmful species. We now have a bothersome crop of knapweed, velvetleaf (shown above), mustard, ragweed, lambs quarter, crabgrass, dock, amaranth, spurge, and thistles surrounding the pond.  They are competing with the desirable native plants like milkweed, aster, lobelia, boneset, chamomile, clover, daisy, echinacea, golden alexander, meadow rue, bee balm, penstemon, ironweed, mountain mint, vervain, silene, sunflower, and others. 

To protect them, you will see me pulling, snipping, and clipping.