two killdeers

I've seen two Killdeer around the pond since early June.  I wonder if they're are pair or siblings?  

If they are a pair, wonder where the nest is?  

The pond and it's environs are full of questions that I ask myself every day!

muskrat, greener pastures

The muskrat left the safety of the pond to find fresher food!  Usually, it eats plants that are growing in the water or very near the shore.  It has been a cold wet Spring, so maybe the plants are not producing enough for muskrats.  This critter ventured out of its comfort zone to fill its hunger.  Several times!

Near the safety of water, circled around to run up the slope to find fresh food.

At top of the slope, gathering a big mouthful of plant material.

Running downhill to the safety of the pond to munch the fresh food, and try the gathering again.

muskrat claws

 

The muskrats Ondatra zibethicus who live on the pond are semi-aquatic rodents.  

They eat mostly plant matter, but also smaller critters that they find.  To eat, they have a thumb and four fingers -- with claws -- to grasp food.  The back feet are larger and have five webbed fingers that help swimming in ponds, lakes, and rivers.  They swim under water hunting for vegetation that they gnaw and chew with large incisor teeth located in front of their cheek.  Or, they may sit on shore chewing terrestrial grasses.

first turtle of Spring

Adult painted turtles Chrysemys picta begin active foraging usually in March or early April.  Since winter has held on strongly until now, we only saw the first turtle today when the sun was shining and temperature is in the 60's F.  

Shortly after awaking from winter, courtship begins.  If they laid clutches of eggs last fall, the little hatched turtles probably over-wintered in the nest.  Now they emerge and instinctively seek the security of water in the pond.

Today, the Spring Peepers are singing too!

tamarack in autumn

 

The Tamarack tree Larix laricina is a deciduous tree.  In summer it has lush green needle-like leaves; in autumn the leaves turn golden before they drop.  Next to the pond, it gets along with other swamp and wetland species. 

This tree is also a conifer, making small cones that shed winged seeds in the fall.

green heron resting on log

goldenrod and asters

very green heron

The taxonomic name for Green Heron is Butorides virescens.  It translates to the bird "resembles bitterns" and the color is "greenish".  Green Herons hunt from shore rather than wading like other herons who have longer legs, so they like to stand on the log to hunt for food.  Today he spread his wing out fully so we could admire the green.

scouring rush 'horsetail'

 

Scouring Rush Equisetum hyemale grows in the wetland around the pond.  

It is also called 'horsetail'. This plant has coarse fibers and silica deposits in its stems, so herbivores don't eat this plant.  

For more about this plant, see blog posts on 7/23/2020 and 6/25/2021.

baby snapping turtle

We found this baby Snapping Turtle on a street curb in the neighborhood. We relocated it to the wetland around the pond, hoping it would find enough to eat there.  Snapping Turtles Chelydra serpentina eat water plants as well as insects, worms, snails, small fish, and anything edible that it can find. 

 

tiny toad

On a patch of gravel a toad, the size of a quarter coin, was hunting for breakfast among the spider webs.

vervain

Blue Vervain is blooming profusely in the wetland surrounding the pond. Verbena hastata is also called Swamp Verbena, Blue Verbena, Simpler's Joy; it is a perennial herbaceous plant that blooms every summer. The stiff erect square stems remain standing all winter, providing seeds to the birds in cold snowy months. In the growing season the plant has opposite, simple leaves which have double-serrate margins.

The family name for genus Verbena is Latin for "sacred plant" because it has been used for hundreds of years in various health remedies. The Latin specific epithet hastata means "spear-shaped" and describes the leaves of this plant.

The family Verbenaceae includes herbs, shrubs, and trees; among them, teak trees -- highly prized for its furniture wood.

 

green frog looks like . . .

. . .  like a rubber toy in rocks near the pond.  But it sounds exactly like a frog!

The Green Frog is widely present in the eastern half of Minnesota.  

Typically greenish-brown on top, and males have yellow throats.

seed pods

Northern Blue Flag Iris versicolor bloomed in June at the edge of the pond. Now, in July, seed pods have formed. When they are ripe, we'll sow the seeds.  These were only tiny foliage two years ago, and now they can propagate new flowering plants.
 

culver's root

Culver's Root Veronicastrum virginicum is found growing in wetlands and wet prairies.

The individual flowers are comprised of four fused petals up to a half an inch long. A main spike at the top of the plant is surrounded by several other spikes of flowers. The flowers bloom from the bottom of the spike up.  Culver's Root is not bothered much by leaf-chewing insects or mammalian herbivores. The seeds are too tiny to be of much interest to birds.  However, many varieties of insects visit the flowers to collect pollen or drink nectar. 

(above left)  Culver's Root just before it blooms.

(above right) A Black Wasp drinks nectar from the flowers while hunting for prey items; their bodies are covered in fine hairs that also collect pollen.

(below) A Bumble Bee with bulging pollen pockets stops for just a few more from this blooming Culvers Root.

mallard families

Female Mallard came out of the grasses with her 3 young ducks (upper right).  Then, another Mallard appeared with her 8 younger ducklings. They were all intent on eating duckweed and other aquatic plants growing in the pond.

painted turtle sunning among reeds

 

iris

 

Northern Blue Flag 

Iris versicolor, is blooming 

again near the pond.

This year each plant seems stronger and more colorful with the background of grass green.

These grow near the green/white striped leaves of Sweet Flag (Acorus).

blackbird nest

The Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus gave away the secret location of their nest by screeching at us as we walked around the pond.  As I came near the spot, he warned me vocally and hit my hat with his feet as he flew by.

 

sora chicks

 

Described as "secretive" birds and rarely seen, we have a pair of Sora Porzana carolina living in the wetland around the pond.  I saw a lone egg a few days ago, and thought it was the start of a clutch. Today, this little black cotton-ball with orange/red tufts under his big beak appeared!  Soras start incubating eggs when they have only a few in the nest, and go on laying eggs (one a day) until they have around a dozen eggs. Consequently, each chick hatches on different day. One parent tends to the hatchlings and the other continues incubating the remaining eggs until each hatches.