June Nature Notes
June Nature Notes 2024
It’s almost Summer!
Thursday, June 20 will officially be the first day of Summer. The Strawberry Moon this year is a Solstice Full Moon, which happens about every 20 years when the moon coincides with summer solstice.
This month will bring more of a ‘calm’ from the speed of spring. Numerous birds are going through their nesting season and young are going to be out and about with their parents learning the ropes of woodland, prairie, and wetland ecosystems. The young eagles will be branching soon and will be entering their next journey of learning flight, hunting experiences, and trying to figure out why their presence creates issues with songbirds. They may get a few bonks on the head and a major “chewing out’ from red-winged blackbirds and other birds that are raising a family in the area.
Mammals continue to rear their young. Young fawns and does were spotted the latter part of May.
Bluegills are currently spawning. Little fish are gathering in pools feeding on small insects that thrive in the water. Pond lily leaves will be unfolding, and blooms will be on their way to create a shaded haven for dragonflies, damsels, butterflies, Northern water snakes and frogs. The Boreal chorus frogs have been changing from their tadpole stage and gaining lungs and finding wetland homes within the vegetation. Many toad tadpoles are currently in the shallows.
Numerous turtles have been seen crossing the roads to their summer ponds and laying eggs.
This is a favorite time of year when our real-life dragons and damsels begin appearing. Now that we have had rains and filled ponds, wetlands, creeks, and streams, I will gear up to monitor these extraordinary insects in our areas. Dragons and damsels provide information about our water quality and issues of Iowa environmental concerns within our watersheds. The first part of June seems to a great time to begin noting the diversity of species and will continue through Fall.
National Pollinator Week will be June 17-23. Pollinator Week was initiated and is managed by Pollinator Partnership and sixteen years ago the U.S. Senate’s unanimous approval and designation of a week in June. This marks a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations. Bees, birds, butterflies, bats, beetles, moths, wasps, flies and hummingbirds play an important role to ecosystems, economies, and agriculture. Take a walk in the prairie, meadows, and woodland edges and see what you can find. If you are looking for family or public activity ideas, you can find it at www.pollinator.org
The first generation of monarchs have been seen on occasion, but not in good numbers. Butterflies that have been observed and will continue in our areas include summer azures, wood satyrs, hairstreaks, tiger swallowtails, silver-spotted skippers, peck’s skippers, least skippers, sootywings, pearl crescents, question marks, black swallowtails, American Snouts and Viceroy. The Melissa blue butterfly is a great find, but encounters are not real common, but will keep an eye out.
The prairies and cliff areas around the lake are home to many wildflowers. These flowers have been located around Cordova Park; alumroot, spiderwort, blue-flag iris, beardtongue, daisy fleabane, yarrow, yellow pimpernel, four o’clocks, Venus looking glass, and the Iowa State flower the wild rose. Prairie and prairie restorations are boasting foxglove beardtongue and we will be seeing the native pale purple coneflower this month. Keep your eye out for the common milkweed and purple milkweed blooms as they attract many of our insect species. June is great month for foraging mulberries, wild raspberries, with blackberries following.
Non-native plants that are currently blooming are Queen Anne’s lace, and the wild parsnip. The wild parsnip impacts our environment, but the largest concern is the ability to inflict burns to skin of people if they happen to encounter the sap from the plant. The sap causes your skin to be extra sensitive to ultraviolet light, called phytophotodermatitis. If you are out in the pastures, roadsides, or any disturbed areas, wear gloves, long sleeves, and long pants. This plant was brought to North America by European settlers and grown as a root vegetable.
Happy earth walking…
Marla
