May 28 Wisconsin's Desert

Out in the Driftless area, pockets of sand-dominated land that face the hot afternoon sun create xeric conditions that support sand prairies. These prairies feel different than the wetter prairies many of us are used to, but the harsh conditions support unique life, including an unlikely Wisconsin plant- the prickly pear cactus. Prickly pears grow in many places, and Wisconsin has two species, the more common eastern prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa) and the state-threatened brittle prickly pear (O. fragilis). We arrived too early for the yellow flowers on these spiky plants, but the buds look ready to bloom soon. Luckily, some hairy puccoons (Lithospermum caroliniense) were showing their yellow flowers already.

May 27 Spittlebugs Appear

Today I encountered a sure sign of summer- the wet feeling of spit on my legs as I walked through some plants. Spittlebugs are out! Spittlebugs are the nymphs of froghoppers, which are insects in the superfamily Cercopoidea. While I don’t particularly love the feeling of spit on my leg, this ingenious protection that the nymphs produce helps to hide them from predators, insulates them against heat and cold, and prevents them from drying out. As we see the spit of the nymphs on plant stems, the nymphs are busy piercing the plants and sucking the sap, fortunately causing little damage to the plant. While we’re all used to bumping into the spittlebugs, it’s also worth keeping our eyes open for the adult froghoppers who can jump amazing distances (100 times their length) to get from plant to plant!

May 26 Pollinator Refuge

Touring around Wisconsin with a soil science class, I found myself at the edge of a reed/sedge wetland-turned-cornfield. While I was impressed by the thick organic soil (over 5 feet of highly decomposed organic matter!) we explored, I also noticed a bright patch of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) with seedpods and dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis) with flowers at the edge of the field. At first I was disheartened to see yet another patch of invasive plants, but then I realized that this lone patch of flowers was bustling with red admiral butterflies (Vanessa atalanta). In the middle of an agricultural landscape, these weeds provided a much-needed refuge for pollinators. While the adults were foraging on the dame’s rocket, red admiral caterpillars might be found on nettles where they use silk to pull a leaf together to form a protective barrier against predators.

May 25 Pin Cherry Blooms

On a cloudy day in Duluth, I was wandering on the edge of a patch of woods looking for warblers. I spotted a blackburnian warbler and a Canada warbler, but beyond that the shadowy woods only revealed sounds of black-throated green warblers, ovenbirds, and white-throated and chipping sparrows. Turning back to the open area, I noticed another late-blooming (at least compared to Madison!) plant. A scraggly looking pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica) had just opened its flowers next to its unfurling leaves. While the flowers of this member of the rose family aren’t as fragrant as other roses, they provided a glimpse of summer on this cloudy spring day.

May 24 Spring's Progress

About a month ago in Madison, I remember marking the beginning of warm spring days with numerous sightings of small purple flowers cropping up in lawns all over town. Well, it looks like Duluth is at least 3 weeks behind for these Siberian squills (Scilla siberica), due to its more northerly latitude and proximity to Lake Superior. Although these small members of the lily family are tolerant of snow and freezing temperatures, they still need a certain amount of warmth to bloom. Back in Madison, where leaf-out seems near complete, we still have new things to look forward to. For instance, monarch butterflies are likely to return in force soon, an event that you can track on the Journey North website and by keeping an eye on the nearest milkweed patch.

May 23 River Rainbows

Another journey to the shores of Lake Superior brought me to the mouth of the French River. I spotted some common mergansers and a double-crested cormorant out on the lake before turning my attention to the river. There, at the mouth of the river, I saw several rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with their very visible pinkish-red stripes. Rainbow trout are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, but they were introduced in Minnesota in the late 1800s. Much like their anadromous western cousins who migrate from the ocean back to streams to spawn, these potamodromous rainbow trout migrate from Lake Superior back to their natal streams to spawn. Rainbow trout that follow such a migratory life cycle are called steelhead, perhaps because they need a mind of steel to find their home streams.

May 22 Gifts from Lake Superior

I grew up in Duluth, MN and spent many hours along the shore of Lake Superior with my family searching for bright red spots among the rocks. Tonight, as I arrived in Duluth for a visit, we returned to our old ways. Although we were hoping to spot a red-throated loon rumored to be along Park Point, we were instead rewarded with this pretty, banded agate. Lake Superior agates, like most rocks I suppose, have a long history. About a billion years ago, the North American continent began to split apart, creating lava flows that eventually became the Lake Superior basin. As the lava hardened into rock, gas bubble became trapped, and turned into molds for the lovely agates. As groundwater (filled with various minerals like red iron and white quartz) slowly seeped into the holes, the ground water solutions crystallized, creating the different colored bands for which agates are known. Thanks to the glaciers, which moved rocky material, these Lake Superior agates can now be found far away from the shores into central Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin.