Did you know bumble bees have pockets? When they get full of pollen they use their legs to comb the pollen off of them & mix it with nectar and stick it into their pollen baskets. What’s in your pocket bumble bee?
What’s in Your Pocket Bumble Bee?
The wildflower field on the walking path is full of all sorts of critters today. There are also some newly blooming plants.
Monarch Feasting on Milkweed
A Monarch butterfly feeding on one of the 12 varieties of milkweed found in Wisconsin. You can see that this plant has been a host plant for Monarch butterfly caterpillars, although I didn’t see any little ones roaming around. The second generation female Monarchs will be laying eggs again soon. If you are curious about the lifecycle of the Monarch butterfly, read this detailed post.
Burdock
Burdock blooms from July through to October. Burdock flowers provide essential pollen and nectar for honeybees around August when clover is on the wane and before the goldenrod starts to bloom.
The Eastern Harvestmen
Around our parts of the nation we call the above creature daddy longlegs, but the real name is the Eastern harvestmen. There are 6,650 species of harvestmen worldwide.
The Eastern Harvestmen are similar to and often misidentified as spiders. But they are not. They are Opiliones which have extremely long legs compared to their bodies and lack the venom glands of spiders.
You will find harvestmen slowly moving around leaf litter and among the leaves in the woodland areas.
Do you notice the red dot on his oval body? There can be many of those dots on their bodies, they are parasites.
Spiderwort is Blooming
The flower clusters of Spiderwort will continually bloom for up to four to six weeks in summer and are normally found in Wisconsin during June and July.
Red Admiral Having Lunch
This red admiral butterfly is snacking on Witch Hobble which has just opened.
Cottonwood Trees Are Spreading Seed
See that white fluffy stuff floating in the air lately? Thankfully, the cottonwood tree season is almost over. The female cottonwood trees produce cotton and the males the pollen. It is impossible to tell the male from the female trees, unless they are in bloom.
Fuzzy Bishop’s Lace
The wind takes the seed of the female cottonwood trees and whirls it around until it happily finds a place to call home. “Home” in this case happens to be dried bishop’s lace.
Bullhead Lilies Gonna Pop
Oh, yes. Soon! Soon the water lily flowers open and that means we can start looking for tadpoles here in the Midwest. If you have never tracked down and watched the process of the frogs growing their legs – put it on your list of things to do and see.
That wraps up another week of changes. Mother Nature has been one busy woman managing her to-do list.
