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June Nature Notes

posted on 6/2/23

June Nature Notes

It’s almost Summer!

June 21 will officially be the first day of Summer. The Strawberry Moon will be the last full moon phase of the spring season, June 18.  

This month will bring more of a ‘calm’ from the speed of spring. Numerous birds are going through their nesting season and the 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.

Bass and crappie have spawned. Bluegill are currently spawning.  Little fish are gathering in pools feeding on small insects that thrive in the water. Pond lily leaves are 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.

Marion County Conservation staff monitors dragonflies and damselflies to document occurrences in our areas. The information and data are recorded to help the state’s conservation organizations of these indicator species of critical habitats. 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.

National Pollinator Week will be June 19-25, 2023. Pollinator Week was initiated and is managed by Pollinator Partnership, and fifteen 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. As you know, many of us continue to promote pollinator health promoting our valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats, beetles, moths, wasps, and flies. 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, and least skippers, question marks, black swallowtails, and Viceroy. The Melissa blue butterfly is a great find, but encounters are not real common and a few have been located in the past few days.

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. This month should be a great month for foraging 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