Red Wing Nature Notes

In a recent post, I described a rather unusual observation of a leopard frog trying to catch a ruby-throated hummingbird. After my posting, I e-mailed Mary Hoff, Natural Curiosities editor for the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer. Mary in turn forwarded my question on to Carol Hall, DNR herpetologist. She reported that though she had not personally heard of this happening, she found an article in the Auk publication dating back to 1944 in which L.S.T. Norris-Elye with the Manitoba Museum described several reports of what were believed to be leopard frogs capturing hummingbirds.

In recent days, I have observed several orange colored monarch butterflies heading south to the high cool forests of central Mexico. These butterflies have recently hatched and are expected to live 8 to 9 months, dying shortly after reproducing next March or April. This monarch is resting and feeding on the bloom of a “bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare). What is most remarkable about this migration is that no one individual is likely to make the complete round trip, so that monarchs that return to the wintering grounds have never been there before.

On a hike through the hardwood forest this afternoon, I stumbled across a patch of ripe blackberries (Rubus nigrobaccus). What was quite surprising was that despite the dry weather we have been experiencing recently, there were many juicy berries available for the picking. Blackberries grow best along the edge of the forest and require some sunlight. A walk through a blackberry thicket is something to avoid on a fall hike, but is very rewarding during the summer to gather fruit.

My final observation to report this week is the blooming of a fairly common woodland wildflower- White Snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum). A point of interest about this plant is that years ago farmers had to be very careful not to let their dairy cows into a wooded pasture that contained this plant. Individuals drinking milk from cows ingesting snakeroot could become ill. Cows eating large quantities of snakeroot could actually die.

I know we have ? many coyotes around here yet I rarely see one. Last year as I ?emerged from a shelter belt of trees between fields, I had ? a half-mile view across a small field/valley. Something in my peripheral vision ?caught my attention and I turned my head towards ?it .

It could have been a dead tree, a patch of dirt or a dead plant in the distance. I was not expecting to see anything. It was a subconscious action. It is likely my eye would have passed over it, but as I turned my head I unexpectedly sneezed. If it hadn’t taken a second for sound to travel across the open space I might not have seen anything.

What I saw was a coyote that had been laying in the long grass at the edge of the field watching me. When I sneezed he jumped straight up into the air like he’d been shot and disappeared into the brush.

Once or twice this year ?while driving the gravel road to our house I’ve ?had a quick glimpse of one diappearing into the brush.

At night we frequently hear their ?other-worldly calls in the distance. Less frequently they yip and call near the house. Many nightsa passing coyote lets out a single howl as he passes our house in the pre-dawn hours.

I’ve made it a goal to record some coyote howls and post them on the blog. My recording equipment is a simple, low quality ?radio shack voice memo recorder, but I think it will do the job in the right situation.

I leave it on my dresser and shake myself awake when ? I hear more than one or two calls ?in the night ?night. I fumble with the recorder and sneak to a door or window in hopes of recording the sound. Several times I have stood in the dark hearing only crickets waiting for ?a second ?call. The moon is always out and the second call for me to record has not come yet.

Last night there was a very loud series of howls just outside the house. I tip toed to the sliding patio door and opened it, thinking like usual, I would after a few minutes, ? go back to sleep. As I stood at the crack in the door recorder in hand I heard a distinct crunching like a dog working on a bone. Of course I waited silently and stared into the dark willing myself to see something out there. The moon was bright on the field ?but the large oaks near our house cast impenetrable shadows.

It’s crazy, but I stood for nearly an hour. Always I would hear the crunch, crunch crunch. I saw three deer bolt across the field in the moon light. I think I saw the shadow of two coyotes do the same. Sometimes the crunching would stop and I could hear the sound of something apparently running in circles in the long grass. Finally I decided the noises would continue and I probably wouldn’t see anything new. I mentally marked the spot.

This morning I went to the place, ?the darkest part of the shadow thrown by the big white oak in the moonlight. ?Nearby there was an area where I had turned up and raked out fresh dirt as I worked on a landscaping project the night before. ?I walked around ?and found deer tracks, coyote tracks and coon tracks. I found paths where creatures had walked through the long grass under the oaks.

I looked to see if I could find ?feathers or tufts of hair from a coyote dinner. There was nothing like that. There was something strange though. ? Evidently the acorns have started to fall. Under the white oak that ?I was staring at last night ?there was nothing but empty acorn cups and some ?matted grass. I went to other oaks nearby and found quite a few acorns on the ground. Evidently the party was under just that one tree.

I doubt coyotes were eating acorns, though I know my dogs seem to enjoy them. ? I’m pretty sure the steady crunching noise accounts for the missing acorns. I know people who hate oak trees – wouldn’t have them because of the mess. Our oak trees aren’t messy at all. By spring there’s not an acorn to be found.

So that’s a long way of saying the first acorns are falling. A friend mentioned the first black walnuts are falling from the walnut tree in their yard as well.

Someone else mentioned they saw a large wasp nest along the road so I’m including a photo of that as well. ?The nest is ?a busy place right now. When it gets cold the wasps will die.

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Last Friday evening Kathy and I had the wonderful opportunity to walk the trails and experience a truly remarkable restored prairie. Manawa Prairie Farm has been created and made possible through the efforts of Dag Knudsen and Tine Thevenin of Lake City. Along with various native prairie grass like big bluestem, the area abounds with numerous colorful forbs such as; cup-plant, Black-eyed Susan, milkweed, wild indigo and thin-leaved coneflowers to name a few. The most colorful plant we observed was purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea).

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During the last six weeks we have had a very large leopard frog that has taken up residency in our flower garden in the backyard. It can usually be seen in the shade of some of the plants in the garden. This past Sunday as we were eating breakfast on our deck, we observed the frog make two 18 inch high jumps in an attempt to catch a ruby-throated hummingbird that was feeding on nectar of the colorful monarda plants. That is the first time that we have ever observed such unusual behavior.

I have been noticing ?swallowtail butterflies. ?The other day ?as I mowed the lawn I saw two distinct types. One was a striking black with blue ?or purple on its ?wings. It would land at each clover blossom and sit still as if trying to get every last bit of necter from the blossom. Then with comparatively ?a relaxed flutter it would move on. ?

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The second was yellow and black and photographed quite well. This butterfly had a different technique of nector gathering. Its wings would never stop fluttering and it spent a much shorter time at each flower. I also noticed the wings were split. If you watch closely you can see that the lower halves of the wings barely ? move, they are ?like a stablizer.

I tried to learn a little bit about these guys through web searches, which sometimes gives “iffy” results. Apparantly the caterpillar of the ?darker colored swallow tail feeds on ?queen ann’s lace. ? I made a couple videos ? ?with my still camera in addition to the photos. They are not great, but you can see how there feeding habits differ. They appear at the bottom of the post.

While I was out chasing butterflies with my camera I found what I thought was a wasp(its actually a fly) with a long stinger. It acted ?as if it may be depositing eggs into the queen ann’s lace flower. I got a good photo so I’m including it.

I sent an email to minnesota extension service with ?a photo attached – here is the interesting reply from Ralph Holzenthal ?that came back:

“It’s an Asilidae, or robber fly. They are rapacious arial predators of other flying insects, including stinging bees and wasps which they are able to subdue. They have strong spiny legs for holding on to their prey. None are parasitoids. Its “stinger” is actually its long pointed piercing proboscis which it uses to impale its prey. It’s probably perched on the flower while sucking its prey dry. They are beautiful insects!”

As I’ve ?mentioned in previous posts, there’s been a shift in the season. I notice it in the seeds being produced. In the last week or so I am ?starting to pick ?seeds off of my clothes when I come in from a walk. A couple of weeks ago burdock was looking a little bit like thistle with white or purple flowers. Those are transforming into green prickly orbs ?that will soon turn brown.

I should also mention yellow cone flowers ? are in bloom & we’ve had some cool nights. The fireflies have disappeared. Will they return if we have more warm nights?– Butterfly videos are below.

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With the mild drought that we have been experiencing lately and the river level below 2 feet, now is a great time to explore via kayak or canoe the various backwaters around Red Wing. The low water creates excellent feeding habitat for many different waterfowl and shorebirds. No doubt the most beautiful of these birds are the white pelicans numbering into the hundreds at times. Compared to the brown pelicans of the southern part of the U.S. that dive headfirst into the water to feed, the white pelicans can be observed forming lines and chasing schools of small fish into very shallow water.

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Last summer at this time of August, a friend and I kayaked the Mississippi river from Diamond Bluff to Red Wing early one morning. Along the way, we explored a small backwater immediately upstream of Lock and Dam # 3 on the Minnesota side of the river. We discovered a large patch of an aquatic plant seldom seen in the local backwaters anymore the American lotus (Nelumbo lutea). This plant has huge floating leaves and colorful white flowers. The Native Americans used the large starchy rhizomes as a food source. These days the dried seed heads are collected and used for fall arrangements. For those wishing to see this beautiful plant and have no watercraft, I suggest a drive on the dike road between Wabasha and Nelson WI. Several acres of these plants are now in full bloom on the upstream side of the dike.

This past Sunday evening Kathy and I took a canoe ride out into the backwaters at the Head of Lake Pepin. We noticed the riverbanks lined with another interesting aquatic plant known as Wapato or Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia). This plant is an important food for wildlife such as muskrats and tundra swans in the fall. These plants have a starchy tuber the size of a small potato that is found in the mud or riverbank. Unfortunately with the increasing rate of sedimentation along the river, areas producing these valuable tubers is greatly diminishing.