"I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free." ~Wendell Berry
Along with posting about Purple Martins and our native prairie restoration efforts, I'm starting a new series here on my blog, called, "Feed the Bees". With the recent reports of the decline in the insect populations, it's becoming more & more imperative that we start taking a look at what we can do in our own micro-environments to help maintain or restore the insect populations. All life depends on our pollinators and if they die, we die.
I used to think the Virburnum, dandelions and wild plums were the first bloomers in spring. But this year, I was delighted to find this wee little flower growing all over my yard. It's called, Houstonia Pusilla - or more commonly:
Tiny Bluet, Small Bluet, or Least Bluet
As I've driven around Missouri in search of other purple martin sites and talked with people about their resident birds, I've seen a lot of man-made lawns and hay fields that really don't support the insect populations we need to sustain pollination. But, I'm only one person. I understand to some people, it can be daunting to try to figure out how to change a lawn into an eco-friendly garden that will support so many types of wildlife. With this blog, I'm hoping to encourage others to take baby steps towards supporting our insect populations, including ALL our pollinators, as well as reduce the back-breaking work that people do to maintain these sterile lawns.
Our "extended" Savanna - we were going to burn it this year (it's 4 years old), but life happens and we didn't make the window. So instead, we mowed down the dead stuff and mulched all the leaves. It's ready to be a bee-haven again this year.
We currently own 23 acres here in Licking, Missouri. For a long time, I was focused on picking up the dead branches that had fallen from some of the trees. It was back-breaking work. It was hard. And during the summer, it was hot and, even after spraying myself with Deet, I would still end up with a tick or chigger bite as my reward for my hard work. We would wait for it to rain, and then when there was little chance of a fire spreading to the neighbor's hay fields, we would burn all the old, dead and decaying wood.
We planted 50 of these wild plums as mere twigs(purchased from George White Nursery) in 2008 / 2009. I still remember crawling through the ragweed that got taller than the twigs and cutting it back to let the small trees get some sunlight. Today, 32 of them survived and on average they stand at approx. 14-15 feet and have a plethora of blossoms in the spring, providing a lot of early pollen & food for the bees.
The plants in the southern fields have started to turn green.
The western half of the southern field - mowed and raked - will possibly be burned again next year. It has been planted for 7 years.
The eastern half of the southern field. mowed & raked to remove the duff. Also planted 7 years ago.
After reading more about bees however, I have learned that some of them actually NEED this dead, decaying wood in order to survive. They also need undisturbed soil, covered with dead leaves, etc.
When Bob mowed the fields, he accidentally killed this black snake. It makes me sad when a snake dies, but we left it in the field for any scavengers to partake. Poor guy...wondering why he didn't hear the thundering of the tractor and get out of the way.
So, no more bonfires here on Gobbler's Knob to burn limbs or dead trees. From now on, we'll be piling up the dead wood and letting it decay. The larger limbs from these piles will be used to create new brush piles and cover for the resident quail (and other incidental wildlife that takes advantage of the refuge.
A dead tree. It was struck by lightning and then the insects and woodpeckers finished it off. We'll push it over and it will be at the base of the rest of the pile, providing food & cover for the bees & insects to make use of it.
We trimmed some of the lower limbs on our trees for two reasons: 1) Bob can mow under the trees now without getting slapped in he head by a low limb and; 2) the hawks that come after my martins won't be able to use them as cover. They will be piled on top of the dead tree log above and given over to nature's use.
Small limbs & rubbish will be piled up for the insects to make use of.
This will take a little bit of muscle, so Bob will use the tractor to push it all up together. Then, we'll make a nice brush pile for quail cover next to it. I can't wait to see what kinds of insects move in!
More limbs to add to the pile.
Supporting the Ground Nesters
How can we support ground-nesting bees and other ground-nesting insects?
Protect existing nesting sites (insects can be observed entering
ground tunnels, small piles of soil often surround the entrances)
Do not disturb the soil (avoid tilling, digging, vehicular traffic)
Do not cover soil with mulch
Maintain existing vegetation, which is usually sparse, by removing strong-growing plants (shrubs, invasive weeds)
Nesting sites can be protected from predators like skunks and raccoons by covering the area with chicken wire
Create man-made nesting sites for ground-nesting bees
In gardens, areas can be dedicated for nesting sites. Rock gardens
are ideal as they usually have well-draining soil and low vegetation.
Some areas need to be kept free of vegetation. Rocks and clumps of
perennials are helpful as orientation for bees to find their nest
entrances. Bees choose sunny locations for their nesting sites and
prefer slopes exposed to the southeast, which warm up quickly in the
morning.
Supporting Tunnel-nesting Bees
How can we support bees nesting in wood tunnels and hollow stems?
Leave dead trees standing as long as they are not a safety hazard.
Do not remove dead wood and fallen trees from forests
Pile up logs from cut trees (especially those containing burrows) to
allow larvae of beetles, wood wasps and horntails to complete their
life cycles, and to provide abandoned tunnels for nesting bees.
Do not remove plant stems of dormant perennials and grasses from
garden beds until early spring, and leave removed stems in a loose piles
for as long as possible to allow young bees to hatch from their nesting
material.
Do not mow wild meadows more than once a year, ideally in early spring.
Shelter for Overwintering
It’s important to provide shelter for overwintering insects:
As much as possible, keep leaf litter in woodlands and garden beds where it falls.
Create stone, brush and wood piles as shelters for overwintering insects.
Wait to cut down old stems and clumps of perennials until late winter or early spring.
Table 1. Nesting locations of common bee and wasp genera
Ground-Nesters:
Bare patches of well-drained soil, most
often sandy or silty loam that does not collapse when dry and is soft
enough for digging, but some species nest in pure sand, others in river
banks that are periodically inundated
Mining Bees
Andrena
Minute Mining Bees
Perdita
Cellophane Bees
Colletes inaequalis
Slender Sweat Bees
Lasioglossum
Dark Sweat Bees
Halictus
Green sweat Bees
Agapostemon, Augochlora, Augochlorella
Digger Wasps
Sphex
Horse Guard
Stictia
Spider Wasps
Entypus
Sand Wasps
Bembix
Wood and Stem-Nesters:
Tunnels in trees, logs, rotting wood, and
also hollow stems of herbaceous plants and grasses, as well as wooden
structures and old masonry
Mason Bees
Osmia
Yellow-faced Bees
Hylaeus
Carder Bees
Anthidium
Leafcutter Bees
Megachile
Large Carpenter Bees
Xylocopa
Small Carpenter Bees
Ceratina
Resin Bees
Anthidiellum, Dianthidium
Mason Wasps
Euodynerus
Cavity-Nesters:
Abandoned mouse nests, cavities in the soil, in trees and buildings,
As I looked through my SD cards in my camera today, trying to clean them off, I realized that I had taken a lot of native wildflower pictures. Every year, I try to document via pictures all the wildflowers that are blooming each month, so that I can see the progress we're making. There are several that do very well here and, in spite of the very hot, dry weather we've had, they are at least daring to spread their petals and square off with the intensely hot sun.
Late June Bloomers
These were planted in December, 2014. They did okay, in 2017 but at the end of June this year, my gray-headed coneflowers were kickin' it in the west savanna area.
Gray-headed coneflowers
Black-eyed Susans
Virginia Mountain Mint
Butterfly Milkweed (bloomed from June through July)
Ox-eye Sunflower
July Bloomers
The heat intensified in July, but still, the wildflowers were determined.
Lobelia
Royal Catchfly (red) and Black-eyed Susan
Even more Gray-headed coneflowers bloomed in July
Ladino clover seems to love the heat
Queen Anne's lace (wild carrot)
And 4 years after planting - looky, looky who showed up!! Royal Catchfly - there were 4 plants this year (also planted in the Savanna with the Gray-headed coneflowers).
The Partridge pea started blooming in early July, but has really been showing off since the last week of July into August.
Partridge Pea
Of all the blooming flowers I thought the honeybees would love, the sumac was not even on my list! But, turns out sumac is one of their favorites here. So, I guess I'll let it stay.
Smooth Sumac - only 1 of 2 flowers on this page that the honeybees seem to really like.
Rose Pink
The Rattlesnake Master is spreading like crazy - it has basically taken over my specimen garden, ousting most of the coneflower varieties there and only the prairie blazing star is hanging on. Since it's a native wildflower and all kinds of bees and butterflies love it, I'm not going to try to stop it. It's too hot to try to fight it. The clever prairie blazing star has managed to spread to other parts of my field, so it has figured out how to outrun the rattlesnake master.
Prairie Blazing Star in a field of Rattlesnake Master.
Wild Quinine
Turns out, the most favorite plant on my property for the Bumblebees have been all the St. John's Wort bushes I've planted. They are crazy about it...unfortunately, the Japanese beetles are too. *sigh*
Interestingly, I haven't found one honeybee on the St. John's Wort and the Bumblebees are enjoying a pollen Bonanza!
St. John's Wort
I have a lot of favorites, but Wild Bergamot scores in the list of my top-five.
Wild Bergamot
Trumpet vine
We plant a LOT of red clover - the Bumblebees love it and the Honeybees don't use it (due to the difference in the length of their "tongues"). Guess who just bought 50 more lbs. of red clover? Heh!
Red Clover - Bumblebees LOVE it!
Common Milkweed and Wood Sage
Bindweed - the flowers are open in the morning, but close up when the temperatures start rising.
Ironweed (with Queen Anne's Lace in the foreground)
Prairie Fleabane
This picture doesn't do the wildflowers justice - Wild Quinine, Queen
Anne's Lace, Coneflowers, Sumac and Prairie Blazing Star are just a few
of the predominant native wildflowers you can see here (click on the
picture to get an enlarged view - that's true for all of them).
July - Wild Quinine dominates, but it will soon retreat and another will come up to carry us into Fall.
Passion Flower
Wood Sage
Lastly, a few of which we're not sure
Wild Potato Vine?
Well, I have searched & searched and we thought the vine &
flowers in the picture to the left were either a variety of Morning Glory, or
"Redvine"; but the best online site I can find calls it "Wild Potato Vine"
UPDATED 8/15 - Thanks to Chuck Yetter & his wife, these have now
been *correctly* identified - they're called "wild petunias".
A field of wild petunias - you're welcome, Chuck! :-)
Field full of "wild petunias".
Out of all the flowers above, the only ones I've found that my honeybees really like are the Butterfly milkweed and the Smooth Sumac. I've been searching all my August blooming flowers and haven't been able to find from where my honeybees are getting their pollen and nectar stores for the Fall. Today though, my investigation may have identified their source. Stay tuned....pictures and details are forthcoming!
As a child, every Sunday, my brother, sisters and I eagerly gathered around our tv to watch
"Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins telling us of some exotic, fierce animal
in a far away land and what they did to survive. Sometimes, it was brutal and it was always exciting. Well that wild kingdom is no longer in a faraway
land for me. It's in my own backyard. We have worked for 8.5 years to make our little piece of heaven a safe haven for wildlife by building brush piles and planting native plants that provide food, habitat and cover for them.
Rabbits are drawn to the sweet crimson clover that blossoms during the spring and they sometimes forget how exposed they are while munching on the beautiful flowers.
Quail, turkey, a wide variety of other birds, reptiles (snakes, turtles, etc.), skunks, rabbits, squirrels, and possums, just to name a few, enjoy life here with us on Gobbler's Knob. That variety of wildlife also brings in the inevitable predators - owls, hawks, coyotes and foxes - that prey upon them and I love them as much as I love the wildlife.
A leucistic Northern Harrier snags a mole for his lunch.
The sheer rawness of wild animals hunting, stalking, chasing, creeping about and finally pouncing upon their prey is exhilarating, breathtaking and exciting to me. But we don't make it easy for the predators. We have given the prey ample opportunity for escape and avoidance. They have plenty of brush piles to escape into, lots of natural cover in which they can camouflage themselves and their survival is totally dependent on how or whether they learn to use those tools to their advantage. It's not just survival of the fittest, it's also survival of the smartest.
A Red-Shouldered Hawk waits patiently as it scans the field for signs of movement indicating a tasty morsel is about to make a fatal error.
Five weeks ago, I decided to deploy my game cameras around the property so I could catch a glimpse into their nightly activities. The results have been more rewarding than what I could have hoped for.
These stealthy, beautiful creatures of the night help control our voles, moles, snakes, mice, free-roaming cats, ground hogs (which can quickly become a nuisance and very destructive to pond banks in Missouri), and many other animals here. Yes, they eat the quail, turkey and our other desirables too, but I can accept a native predator doing its thing in order to survive.
I always get excited when I see the late night and early morning timestamps on the cards, because I know I'm about to see a visitor that I would have never known about, without the use of these cameras.
I find it very interesting that some of our 4-legged predators like to
travel the same paths around our property which we have carved with our
4-wheelers. In the first video below, a coyote walks across the trail, moving away from one of the brush piles that has a deep hole burrowed out beneath it. I would love to know what is or what was living under there at one time and if the coyote caught whatever it was.
Interestingly, on the same night within 15 minutes, on the north trail, a fox can be seen sniffing around. Ironically, I have another video of Nikki and Bob walking this same trail the next day and Nikki's hackles on her back are standing up. She knew that he / she had been there the night before - she always seems to know.
And what looks to be the same fox comes through again the next night.
Today, it is 18 degrees with snow flurries and it is supposed to get colder this week. I've cleared the cards and made sure the batteries are good on the game cameras. I'll check them again in a few days to see what our friends have been up to. Yeah, we're digging life here on Gobbler's Knob, bringing the Wild Kingdom right up to our back door steps.
