monarch butterfly

Last year, a few milkweed plants were growing happily in the marsh.  This year, more plants of Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata are evident all around the pond. Yay for Monarch butterflies!

maltese cross

 A volunteer plant in the area around the pond - - Maltese Cross.

Its really red flowers are welcome among all the purple, white, and yellow.

It has naturalized in some parts of Minnesota. It can be found along roadsides and other disturbed areas, as well as open woodlands, in the northern United States and Canada.

convivial ducks

This summer has been very scant on rainfall so far.  The pond water level is currently low, and there is plenty of algae floating.  But the rocks are always good places for sharing the sunshine.  Female Mallard and Hooded Merganser have raised their young broods here, and shared the big rock today.

mountain mint

Mountain Mint Pycnanthemum virginianum  is blooming in the marsh around the pond.  

It offers very fragrant leaves and many small flowers that attract bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, and beetles.

evening primrose

The flowers of Evening Primrose Oenothera biennis close in the daytime when sunlight would heat them, and open later when dusk falls.

This plant is food for several butterfly and moth species larvae.

The seed pods that form along the stem are an interesting shape and structure, especially when dried.

Oenothera species are 'roadside' plants -- they grow well in disturbed soil like along railways, roads, and waste areas.

ladybug on milkweed

royal catchfly

 

Royal Catchfly Silene regia makes its bright red flowers stand out among the white and purple wildflowers now blooming. 

This family of plants was named 'catchfly' because it has a sticky seed pod behind the flower.  Little flies, gnats, and other tiny insects get stuck on the sticky pod or stem.

Butterflies also pollinate this wildflower.

mulleins

Last year, only one Mullein Verbascum thapsus plant bloomed in the riparian area.  This year, several have sent their tall blooming shoots up among the grasses and rushes. This large one is sending out branches. It is very hairy plant and has many common names alluding to that characteristic - - 'wooly' 'feltwort' -- 'old man's blanket'. Mullein derives from and French word meaning soft.  

Note: This is a non-native plant that can compete with native wildflowers.  Letting it grow here will reduce the good quality wildlife habitat in the natural wetland around our pond.  We will be removing its seed heads to prevent proliferation.

barn swallows

 

Barn Swallows hunt over the pond, where they catch flying insects mid-air. To do this efficiently, they fly with their wide beaks open.  

This pair found a good amount of food here, and decided to make their nest nearby. They gathered mud from the shore to paste pieces of grasses to a vertical surface in a barn, outbuilding, or nearby structure.

When their eggs hatch, the pond area will be a resource for mosquitoes and other flying insects to feed to their chicks.

white wildflowers

Sitting near the pond, one can gaze out at flowering plants among the green grasses, rushes, and reeds.  Mountain Mint, Swamp Milkweed, and Queen Anne's Lace are among the ones blooming now. 

yellow loosestrife

Small yellow wildflowers, brightening the green grasses and rushes around the pond now, are River Loosestrife Lysimachia hybrida, or Lowland Yellow Loosestrife. This plant bloomed last year, and came back stronger with more stems this season.  Lysmachias produce floral oil rather than nectar.  These plants are also pollen hosts for Macropis bees; the bees specialize in using a mixture of pollen and floral oil to produce offspring.  read more at U of MN Extension 

damselfly

 

Perched on the windowsill.  Looking in at us.

swamp milkweed and vervain

 

gleeful painted turtle

The painted turtles who live in the pond love to sit in the sun, especially on rocks near the water. There, each can enjoy the warmth and (in case of danger) slip into the water to hide if needed. This young little critter, about 4 inches long, looked so gleeful today with its feet extended out to catch as much sunshine as possible.

new Mallards, second clutch

Mallard female has been hiding her second clutch of eggs near the pond among grasses.  Today she led all 6 hatched ducklings to the pond, where they paddled around and started to feed.  They can eat seeds, stems, and roots of many different plants; also aquatic invertebrates such as worms, beetles, dragonflies, or insect larvae. 

hoary alyssum

oxeye daisy

 

scouring rush

Scouring Rush Equisetum hyemale grows in the wetland around the pond.  It is also called 'horsetail'.

This plant's ancestors have been on earth millions of years.  

The tough stems can be used as reeds for musical instruments.

They also have coarse fibers and silica deposits, so mammal herbivore don't eat this plant.  

Rather than seeds, the Scouring Rush reproduces by spores made by structures on the top of each fertile stem.

galls on goldenrod

 

Now, in June, the typical insects are laying their eggs in the goldenrod stems.  The eggs will hatch larvae who will feed and grow inside the bulge or 'gall'.

By autumn, the swelled galls with be more noticeable on the dried thinner stems.  The larvae will stay in the gall through winter, unless a bird pecks through to feast on them.  In Spring, those who stay hidden will emerge as adults.

The most typical insect causing galls are the Goldenrod Gall Flies Eurosta solidagnis, who completes its entire life cycle only on goldenrod. 

Last fall, I gathered several dried stems with galls.  They are such interesting shapes and colors, so they deserved to be in a drawing or painting!

widow skimmer

This dragonfly male 'Widow Skimmer' Libellula luctuosa shows off his handsome transparent wings with black and white structural coloration -- the production of color by microscopically structured surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible light.

The grass seedhead on the left is close to the camera and in front of the wing. But the rush stem behind the wing is showing clearly through the transparent wing while the skimmer rests, clasping that stem.

He is probably looking for prey -- other insects such as mosquitoes. To catch prey he will use his legs, and bring prey into his mouth with fangs.

nesting mallard

Mallards have 1 or 2 broods each year.  One is hiding her 2nd clutch near the pond among grasses.

There are six eggs in her nest, nestled among short pieces of grass and small downy feathers.

 

great blue heron

Stealthily, this Great Blue Heron appeared on the shore this afternoon.  It stood still for only a little while, looking for prey; they eat fish, frogs, aquatic creatures, even small mammals.  Is it a male and female? Great Blue Herons Ardea herodias look alike except for their size, so more likely to tell if we can see them in pairs.

crown vetch

A creeping plant that was used in the past as erosion control on embankments and roadsides, Crown Vetch Securigera varia is sprinkled among the grasses and rushs around the pond.  Pretty lavender and purple blossoms among the greens, but it can take over native plants in this area. 

Since this is a non-native invasive plant that can compete with native wildflowers, we will be removing it or cutting it back.

mullein

 




Several Mullein plants are growing in the riparian zone around the pond. The plants are small rosettes of fuzzy leaves, close to the ground, the first year of their growth.  The second year, Common Mullein Verbacum thapsus shoots up a stem clad in very fuzzy leaves topped by a flower spike (left).

Once the flower blooms, it is a brilliant torch of yellow blossoms.  Each blossom has 5 petals, and stays open for a short time. Thus, the spike may have only a few blossoms open at a time.

meal for green heron

This bird is at it again!  The Green Heron visits the pond several times a week during this hot season.  They are year-around residents of Florida and tropic regions, but migrate to breed in the eastern half of the US nearly as far as the Canadian border.  

Green Herons nest in trees and shrubs near water, or dry woods and orchards as long as it provides seclusion and there is water nearby for foraging fish or frogs.

Last year we saw a Green Heron Butorides virescens several times here on the pond shore, hunting for a meal. To see those previous photos and information about how these birds use tools to hunt, enter heron in the search box at top left then press return.