June 30, 2017 at 6:14 am (plant-eating insects, singing insects)
by Carl Strang
This year’s bioblitz in the series organized by the Indiana Academy of Sciences took place on June 10-11 at the White River Woods and McVey Memorial Forest, two sites near Muncie. This early in the season I did not expect much in the way of singing insects. Spring trigs were common, so I gained more experience with them, but there was a surprising lack of spring field crickets.
Green-striped grasshoppers still were displaying at McVey.
A Roesel’s katydid at White River Woods
I joined Jeff Holland’s Purdue University group at their light station in the forest at McVey, assisting as a moth spotter. A few photos from that night follow.
Banded tussock moth
Io moths, when resting, do not show their dramatic hind-wing eye spots.
Barred granite
A few walnut sphinxes were attracted to the light.
A couple black-sided pygmy grasshoppers also made an appearance.
Male black-sided pygmy grasshoppers have a distinctive white, black and brown pattern.
Females are all dark. The pygmy grasshoppers are distinguished not only by their small size, but also by the pronotum’s extension over much of the abdomen.
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June 6, 2017 at 6:18 am (botany, plant-eating insects, restoration)
Tags: Aegopodium podagraria, Alliaria petiolata, Amur honeysuckle, common buckthorn, Dodecatheon meadia, garlic mustard, giant swallowtail, goutweed, Lonicera maackii, McCormick Woods, Papilio cresphontes, Poanes zabulon, Rhamnus cathartica, shooting star, St. James Farm, Zabulon skipper
by Carl Strang
Earlier this spring I began my work as volunteer steward of McCormick Woods, the main forest at St. James Farm Forest Preserve. The stewards provide backup and extension of the ecosystem restoration work by Forest Preserve District staff. The McCormick Woods ecosystem is the highest quality forest in the western half of DuPage County, and the District has put considerable effort into its restoration, but there still is plenty for volunteers to do. Invasive shrubs and herbaceous plants are established in significant portions of the forest, there supplanting the diverse native plant and animal community.
I have had the help of two other volunteers, Wayne and Bob, and we have made a good start. We began by focusing on garlic mustard, an invasive and allelopathic biennial, in two large areas where native plant diversity is excellent and garlic mustard is not yet well established. We took the bushels of pulled garlic mustard plants and dumped them in two locations, hoping to make progress against the forest’s biggest threat: goutweed.
Goutweed is a perennial member of the parsley family (Apiaceae, formerly Umbelliferae).
Goutweed was imported from its native Europe and commonly is planted as an ornamental ground cover. Apparently it was used in the landscape around the McCormick residence at St. James Farm. Unfortunately it spread into the adjacent forest, and significant colonies of the plant have supplanted the native forest flora in places. Repeated applications of herbicides by District staff may have slowed it down, but do not kill it. Stronger herbicides that would kill it also would threaten the trees.
I selected goutweed colonies in two locations as garlic mustard dump sites. I wanted to see if masses of pulled plants might smother the goutweed, hoping also that allelochemicals might leach out and inhibit goutweed growth. The goutweed has proven to be resilient.
Goutweed leaves pushed up through the piles of garlic mustard in the first location, which had not received an herbicide spray earlier in the spring.
The second dump was in goutweed that had been hit by herbicide. It is too soon to say whether the results are any better.
At some point I want to take measurements to see how fast the goutweed colonies are expanding, and whether these efforts slow that growth.
Now that the garlic mustard pulling is done for the year, we have shifted to another location and are cutting common buckthorn and Amur honeysuckle. That part of the forest still has a good diversity of native woodland plants hanging on beneath the invasive shrubs.
Here is part of the area we have cleared. Increased light levels should allow native plants to expand their populations.
We are creating a brush pile of the cuttings that later will be burned.
There are no goutweed patches in that part of the forest. Burning brush piles would kill the goutweed beneath them.
I was inspired to take on the stewardship job by the diversity of life in McCormick Woods. Some recent photos:
Shooting stars have popped up here and there where they were released by the removal of invasive brush.
Giant swallowtails appear occasionally at St. James Farm.
A recent addition to the preserve species list was this Zabulon skipper.
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May 1, 2017 at 6:02 am (birds, botany, mammals, plant-eating insects)
Tags: Celastrina ladon, coyote, Draba verna, great horned owl, spring azure, St. James Farm, vernal whitlow grass
by Carl Strang
April is a month of accelerating change, and this was evident on several levels at St. James Farm this year. Nevertheless, some observations were continuations of patterns established over the winter.
This coyote frequented the meadows along the entrance drive, and one day was joined by another, presumably its mate, distinguished by a significantly redder coat.
A second check of the great horned owl nest, in mid-April, found the adult still present. At this point it would be brooding young, which I have not yet seen.
Many plants begin to bloom in April.
Draba verna, the vernal whitlow grass, was a species I had not noticed last year.
Now that I am in my second year of observations, I can make comparisons. The median first flower date for 33 species was 3 days earlier than last year, not much different.
Spring azures were the first butterflies to appear, on April 2.
A new extension of the regional trail is being constructed through the forest this year.
The route was staked, and later cleared of trees.
I think it is important for the trail system to show off our better ecosystems. This route could have been much more damaging to the vegetation, but I would prefer that it not be so wide. I am hopeful that the new trail’s positives will outweigh its detrimental side.
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December 16, 2016 at 7:04 am (birds, botany, mammals, plant-eating insects, restoration)
Tags: black duck, Epargyreus clarus, Euonymus alatus, mallard, opossum, pintail, silver-spotted skipper, St. James Farm, white-crowned sparrow, winged euonymus
by Carl Strang
This blog has been on hiatus while I work on my annual research summary documents, but I have been paying regular visits to St. James Farm Forest Preserve, the site I monitor and where I soon will begin as volunteer steward. Today’s entry shares some photos from recent weeks.
Winged euonymus adds color to the autumn scene, but is an invasive shrub that will need to be removed at some point.
As leaves come off the trees, bird nests are revealed. This oriole nest had a significant content of synthetic fibers, including fishing line from the nearby ponds. The fuzzy white object hanging below the nest is a fishing lure, the hook not quite visible at this angle.
This silver-spotted skipper still was active on November 16.
The opossum lay dead in the center of a trail, also on November 16. Cause of death was not evident.
Late autumn migrants included this white-crowned sparrow youngster.
The most unusual stopover duck was a female pintail on the east pond.
Another duck worth noting was this male. Accompanied by a female mallard, his huge size and her identity suggest that he may be a mallard-black duck hybrid.
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September 1, 2016 at 6:18 am (plant-eating insects, singing insects)
Tags: Allonemobius griseus, cottonwood borer, gray ground cricket, Illinois Beach State Park, Kiowa rangeland grasshopper, Neoconocephalus robustus, Orchelimum concinnum, Plectrodera scalator, robust conehead, stripe-faced meadow katydid, Trachyrhachys kiowa
by Carl Strang
Two targets for my friends from Ohio and West Virginia were stripe-faced meadow katydids and gray ground crickets, both of which can be found at Illinois Beach State Park. The stripe-faceds proved to be in their early-stage colors.
Even this nymph has the facial stripe, but it is brown and relatively fuzzy-edged compared to what it ultimately will become. New adults have the same brown colors, even though they are mature enough to sing and to mate.
The nymphs and new adults were all in shades of tan and brown. We saw one or two adults which were beginning to develop their green body colors, and the more distinct facial features.
Gray ground crickets have been a challenge, and prior to this year I had gotten only a couple brief glimpses of them. This time I caught one, allowing us to take photos before releasing our subject back into the dunes.
The cricket was a female, probably made vulnerable by her moving about seeking a singing male.
Gray ground crickets are well named. I especially like the head stripes and the little dark rectangular markings on the wings.
We found other critters of interest along the way, of course.
Kiowa rangeland grasshoppers occupy the same ecological zone as the gray ground cricket.
Scattered cottonwood trees among the dunes were hosts for this striking beetle, a cottonwood borer.
The loudest nighttime insect singer was the robust conehead. We saw both brown and green males.
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August 28, 2016 at 4:47 pm (plant-eating insects, reptiles and amphibians, singing insects)
Tags: Amblycorypha rotundifolia, Anaxipha exigua, blinded sphinx, common true katydid, confused ground cricket, Cope's gray treefrog, Desmia funeralis, ecoblitz, Eulithis diversilineata, Eunemobius confusus, fork-tailed bush katydid, grape leaffolder, Indiana Forest Alliance, jumping bush cricket, lesser angle-winged katydid, lesser grapevine looper, Microcentrum retinerve, Nebraska conehead, Neoconocephalus nebrascensis, Neotibicen tibicen, Orocharis saltator, Paonias excaecata, Paonias myops, Pterophylla camellifolia, rattler round-winged katydid, Say's trig, Scudderia furcata, small-eyed sphinx, swamp cicada
by Carl Strang
The Indiana Forest Alliance, a non-profit conservation organization, has been sponsoring a species survey in portions of two state forests in southern Indiana. As it consists of repeated weekend sessions over a period of years, they are calling it an “ecoblitz” rather than a bioblitz, which is a one-time event limited to a 24- or 48-hour time span. I went down for a weekend last fall, and returned in early August to complete the singing insects portion of the survey.
The area is forested, except for some small areas of tall, dense herbaceous growth in stream bottoms. The singing insect fauna consequently is mainly of forest species.
Confused ground crickets were common on the forest floor.
Say’s trigs by the hundreds sang in the open herbaceous areas.
Widely scattered small groups of rattler round-winged katydids could be heard at night.
This nymph is recognizable as a male fork-tailed bush katydid by the distinctive appendages at the tip of his abdomen.
Some of the other species that sang for us were swamp cicadas, Nebraska coneheads, lesser angle-wing katydids, jumping bush crickets and common true katydids.
I also helped with photography at a night-time moth survey at illuminated sheets.
This small-eyed sphinx was one of the two hummingbird moths we attracted.
A blinded sphinx also dropped in.
A grape leaffolder
This lesser grapevine looper appears to be sending out pheromone.
A Cope’s gray treefrog hopped in, possibly sensing the smorgasbord we had created.
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August 25, 2016 at 6:05 am (birds, botany, dragonflies and damselflies, plant-eating insects)
Tags: Alypia octomaculata, Athyrium filix-femina, barred owl, Dioscorea villosa, eight-spotted forester, lady fern, Lestes rectangularis, Libellula luctuosa, Lulu Lake, slender spreadwing, St. James Farm, widow skimmer, wild yam
by Carl Strang
It’s been a busy field season, and I have fallen way behind in blog posts. I’ll catch up eventually, but today will share a smorgasbord of photos from May through July.
This barred owl appeared during a walk through St. James Farm Forest Preserve. I believe I had come close to its nest tree.
Here is the first slender spreadwing I have found at St. James Farm.
Wild yam graces the understory of the St. James Farm forest.
Sporangia on the underside of a lady fern leaf at St. James Farm.
The Lulu Lake Nature Preserve in Walworth County, Wisconsin, has become a favorite site. Here a woodland graces a kame.
An eight-spotted forester provided a photo op in the nature preserve portion of the Round Lake state property in Starke County, Indiana.
This dragonfly I encountered at Houghton Lake in Marshall County, Indiana, was a bit of a puzzler. I eventually concluded it was a somewhat odd widow skimmer, but later changed the ID to slaty skimmer (see comments).
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July 8, 2016 at 6:21 am (plant-eating insects, singing insects)
Tags: Arphia sulfurea, bunchgrass grasshopper, Diceroprocta vitripennis, green-winged cicada, Hesperotettix viridis, Kankakee Sands, meadow purple-striped grasshopper, mottled sand grasshopper, Pseudopomala brachyptera, Roesel's katydid, Roeseliana roesellii, short-winged toothpick grasshopper, Spharagemon collare, sulfur-winged grasshopper
by Carl Strang
The most fruitful recent singing insects search was at the Kankakee Sands preserve in Kankakee County, which has become one of my favorites for species that affiliate with sand-soil habitats. The June 28 visit yielded 3 county records, two of which were of familiar species, Roesel’s katydid and green-winged cicada.
Grasshoppers were building up their diversity at the site. Sulfur-winged grasshoppers still were going, and the season’s first mottled sand grasshopper also flashed his wings.
This was by far the earliest I have found this sand-soil specialist.
Then in the prairie beyond the savanna I started to hear the zuzz-zuzz-zuzz of stridulating grasshoppers. I had a hard time getting a look at who it might be. Eventually I saw a possible candidate.
This grasshopper has a somewhat slanted face, and color markings reminiscent of stridulating grasshoppers in genus Orphulella.
Study of the photos, however, led to an identification as the meadow purple-striped grasshopper, Hesperotettix viridis, in the non-singing spur-throated grasshopper group. As I waded through the grasses I flushed out a couple really odd grasshoppers that begged to be photographed.
The blade-like antennas, subtle striping pattern, and especially the gangly skinniness of the critter were distinctive.
They reminded me of high school basketball players whose growth spurts have given them impressive height, but whose strength and coordination have some catching up to do. Though I saw and photographed only the minute-winged females, my identification and study convinced me that these were the stridulators. The short-winged toothpick grasshopper is well named, seeming to be constructed of toothpicks. It is a member of the slant-faced stridulating subfamily, and is described as being a frequent singer. The species, also known by the more mundane name of bunchgrass grasshopper (Pseudopomala brachyptera), now is removed from my hypothetical list for my survey region.
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June 30, 2016 at 6:58 am (plant-eating insects)
Tags: Asterocampa celtis, eastern comma, Goose Pond, hackberry emperor, Haploa lecontei, Hyloprepia fucosa, large lace-border, LeConte's haploa, painted lichen moth, Polygonia comma, Scopula limboundata, St. James Farm
by Carl Strang
Though singing insects are my main research focus, I enjoy studying other critters as well. Here is a gallery of recently encountered butterflies and moths.
Not all travel has been out of county. Here is the first eastern comma I have found at St. James Farm Forest Preserve.
One day I encountered several hackberry emperors at SJF. Here is the usual underwing view they provide.
Another individual spread its wings in the sun.
LeConte’s haploas are tiger moths that occur in the St. James Farm forests.
Here is another, providing a sense of this species’ variability.
The UV light at Goose Pond brought in some moths. This one was familiar, a large lace border.
A few painted lichen moths also were drawn to the light. For some reason I was unable to get a sharp photo.
Despite much poring over of references, I was unable to identify this moth.
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June 10, 2016 at 6:27 am (birds, botany, dragonflies and damselflies, plant-eating insects)
Tags: Arisaema dracontium, Camassia scilloides, common goat's beard, dot-tailed whiteface, eastern bluebird, grayish fan-foot, grayish Zanclognatha, green dragon, hairy sweet cicely, Leucorrhinia intacta, Osmorhiza claytonii, Osmorhiza longistilis, smooth sweet cicely, St. James Farm, Tragopogon pratensis, wild hyacinth, Zanclognatha pedipilalis
by Carl Strang
As recent posts have shown, I am transitioning into the singing insects field season. I will be spending less time at St. James Farm over the next four months, though I won’t be ignoring that preserve completely. So here is a collection of recent photos from St. James Farm Forest Preserve.
I was pleased to find that green dragons are scattered throughout the forest.
Both the smooth sweet cicely, shown here, and the hairy sweet cicely are among the late spring forest wildflowers at SJF.
Wild hyacinths are savanna or woods border plants with only a brief blooming period.
The somewhat weedy, open-growing common goat’s beard is a personal favorite.
Earlier in the season I saw a female dot-tailed whiteface in one of the prairie plots. Here is a male on station at the catch-and-release fishing pond.
The grayish fan-foot, aka grayish Zanclognatha, has been abundant in the forest in recent days. The caterpillars live on fallen dead leaves.
This eastern bluebird nestling looks ready to get out into the world.
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