National Pollinator Week

Posted on June 20, 2016 by admin

“Buzz Inn” bee hotel mounted in my yard, and some occupied “rooms”

June 20-26, 2016 has been designated National Pollinator Week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior. Our yard is pollinator friendly. We use no insecticides. We provide plants that produce pollen and attract pollinators to our vegetable garden.

This year, we put up a bee hotel now called the “Buzz Inn.” Our plans came from a helpful guide, Managing Alternative Pollinators: A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers and Conservationists, SARE Handbook 11, NRAES-186 by Eric Mader, Marla Spivak, and Elaine Evans.

SARE is Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education.

Mason Wasp at nest holes

Mason Wasp

Eleven cells are currently occupied—meaning capped with mud. Five others have already hatched. A Mason Wasp (Symmorphus cristatus) has moved in. They are in the 3/16 inch [4.8mm] diameter holes. We hope other pollinators will move in and use other sizes. The inn’s largest holes are 3/8 inch [10.0mm] diameter. I installed the inn four weeks ago. We may need to add more rooms.
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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Robert Gasiorowski: Naturalist

Posted on June 17, 2016 by admin

Bob Gasiorowski leading Nature Walks 1975

Royal Oak’s nature community lost a good friend last month with the passing of Robert (Bob) Gasiorowski. I met Bob in the summer of 1972 when a notice appeared in the Royal Oak Daily Tribune announcing a series of morning hikes in Quickstad Park. Bob served as the city naturalist and led the hikes. Each session began with a lecture by Bob in his classroom in Kimball High School and then we would head to Quickstad for a nature walk. Topics included: pond life, insects, birds, trees, wildflowers, mammals, and more. Bob shared his infectious passion for all facets of the natural world. The nature program ran for several years, adding summer evening walks and an evening lecture program. I made my first public speaking presentation, with much encouragement and coaching from Bob, to this group.

Tenhave Woods in Quickstad Park still exists because Bob fought for its preservation. The city was under pressure to remove the undergrowth and thin the trees so the park would become “safer”. Bob and John Lindell, the director of Royal Oak Parks and Recreation, protected these marvelous woods from destruction. As a compromise Tenhave Woods was fenced.

Blue-headed Vireo, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Magnolia Warbler

Blue-headed Vireo, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Magnolia Warbler in hand during bird banding work in the 1970s.

Bob’s data from the 1970s provides a baseline for us to measure the health of the woodlot. We have several decades of his bird banding records. These form the base of our bird list. As part of a 1971 NSF Summer Institute for teachers at U of M Dearborn, he identified and measured hundreds of trees in Tenhave Woods. This quantitative analysis allows us to measure the changes in tree species composition. Under Bob’s direction, the first vascular plant list for the park was compiled.

Naturalists of Bob’s caliber are rare. Most people specialize in one facet of natural history. They study birds, or plants, or insects. Bob studied everything. I’m lucky to have had many people who instructed me about the natural world. Bob taught me to diligently observe nature. To measure and record the world around me. Get out a stopwatch and time how many calls a minute a Robin makes. Measure the size of that tree or flower. Use a thermometer and discover the difference in temperatures between the sunny and shady sides of a rock. Quantify Nature but never lose the wonder of Nature. Do not overlook the beauty of a spring woods in full bloom or the music of a wren’s song. He taught me to put Nature into the hands of children. Share with them the wonder. Bob was happiest when he was teaching and especially loved to teach young children. He told me, “If a child sees a bird through binoculars then they probably will not look at one through a B-B gun sight.”

Bob Gasiorowski receiving the first “Robert Gasiorowski Lifetime Achievement Award” in 2007, presented by Don Drife and Bob Muller, and watching in 2008 as the award is given to another recipient.

The Royal Oak Nature Society would not exist without Bob’s program as an example. It is fitting that their highest honor is named the “Robert Gasiorowski Lifetime Achievement Award” and that he was the first recipient. Bob spent a lifetime learning and then teaching about Nature. I will miss him.

Thanks to Robert Muller for providing photos from the 1970s.
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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That’s not a Duckweed

Posted on May 31, 2016 by admin

Purple-fringed Riccia

Purple-fringed Riccia (Ricciocarpus natans) is not a flowering plant. It is an aquatic liverwort. It is found worldwide except where there is permanent ice. Floating on a pond it resembles a Duckweed and often grows with them. It differs in its butterfly shape and the fringe of purplish scales on the underside of the plants.

Purple-fringed Riccia upper and lower surfaces

Duckweeds are flowering plants, capable of producing seeds. Purple-fringed Riccia reproduces via spores or plant division. Spores are produced inside the thallus. A thallus is a flat plant body not separated into stems and leaves. The plants are buoyant because they have many air chambers. A nice colony is found in Dragonfly Pond, Tenhave Woods, Royal Oak, Michigan. This is an interesting plant which should be sought in ponds throughout Michigan.

Purple-fringed Riccia section showing air chambers and developing spores

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Michigan’s Mistletoe

Posted on May 8, 2016 by admin

Dwarf Mistletoe witch’s brooms

Dwarf Mistletoe (Arceuthobium pusillum) is a parasitic flowering plant found on Black Spruce (Picea mariana) and rarely on other evergreens. It is related to southern Christmas Mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum). I learned about Dwarf Mistletoe from Billington’s Shrubs of Michigan when I was a boy. He writes, “To include such a little, inconspicuous plant among the shrubs may be stretching things too far. But it is a shrub, and to discover it may provide the discoverer with a greater thrill than locating many of the larger and more conspicuous plants.” I have looked for this species for decades, never being certain that I found it. It often forms distorted branches termed “witch’s brooms.” Fungi and insects also cause these growths. I looked at the witch’s brooms in this colony before and I was never sure what the cause of their abnormal growth was. When I saw the flowers for the first time last weekend, I knew exactly what they were. I have never walked into Diane’s Bog this early in the growing season.

Male Dwarf Mistletoe flowers

Dwarf Mistletoe is one of our first species to flower. It flowers at the same time as Red Maple (Acer rubrum). I found 16 Black Spruce hosts. Male and female Mistletoe grew on separate hosts. The flowers are 10mm (3/8 inch) high but each host had many blooms. The species is insect pollinated; however, I observed no pollinators at work. Mistletoe does damage or kill host trees.

Female Dwarf Mistletoe flowers

Billington was right, it was thrilling. I seldom find native plant species that I have not seem before. My pulse quickened. I stood and stared at the plant for several minutes, forgetting my cold feet. My sense of wonder renewed. I found the male (staminate) plants first and then looked for the more inconspicuous female (pistillate) plants. I returned an hour later and the sunlight was reaching the plants. I spent several hours just photographing and studying the plants. What a memorable day. You never know what you will find when you go out into nature and look.

May 7, 2016
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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Soft Maple Flowers

Posted on March 29, 2016 by admin

Red Maple male flowers

Many people are surprised to learn that trees have flowers. They apparently have not thought through how seeds can develop if there are no flowers. I have been interested in tree flowers since I was given a copy of Norman Fassett’s Spring Flora of Wisconsin when I was a boy. It is a handy little guide to plants that flower in Wisconsin before June 15th and useful throughout Michigan. From it I learned that Red Maple (Acer rubrum) flowers have petals and Silver Maple (A. saccharinum) flowers do not. I began to look for tree flowers.

Red Maple perfect flowers

There are additional characters used to distinguish flowers of the two species. Red Maples have separate sepals and on Silver Maples they are connected. The ovary on Red Maples is hairless and on Silver Maples it is hairy. The soft maples flower before their leaves develop and often I find flowers on the forest floor so it is nice to be able to identify the trees from only their blossoms.

Silver Maple L – male flowers R – perfect flowers

Soft Maples normally have separate male and female flowers. They can be on the same tree. Perfect flowers are known but are rare.

Get out and look at the maples while they are flowering. Watch what is pollinating them. Enjoy one of the first flowers of the year.

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Springtime

Posted on March 21, 2016 by admin

Crocus blooming in lawn in March

Spring is beginning to explode in Southeastern Michigan. I saw the first Woodchuck (Marmota monax) of the year in our yard. It is a healthy looking female. I watch her burrow entrance every spring. This morning it was filled with winter debris but is now cleaned out. A thousand crocus bloom in our front yard. However, there are no pollinators on this early nectar source. Turkey Vultures are heading north in their spiraling kettles.

I decide to visit Seven Ponds Nature Center to look for Skunk-cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). I hear Red-winged Blackbirds trilling when I pull into the parking lot. This is one of the best signs of spring. I can hear Sandhill Cranes calling, another first for the year. A small V of seven cranes flies over, heading toward the calling cranes. They fly with their necks out-stretched and they quickly upbeat their wings and slowly downbeat. I can see the red on the tops of their heads.

I charge down the trail, scarcely aware of my surroundings, heading to the boardwalk where I observed Skunk-cabbage last fall. I need to slowdown. I need to take in Nature. I need to decompress and enter fully into her world. I force myself not to hurry.

Skunk Cabbage flowering in standing water

Along the trail to the boardwalk I see Skunk-cabbage blooming. This Jack-in-the pulpit relative is one of the first plants to bloom. Its flowers consist of a center ball (spadex) which is a cluster of individual perfect flowers. It is surrounded by a spathe with an opening to allow pollinators to enter. The flowers are foul smelling and remind me of rotting meat. This smell attracts their main pollinators, flies.

Skunk Cabbage flowers

As I lie on the trail photographing the plants I can hear buzzing insects. Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) are visiting the flowers. I have never observed Honey Bees on Skunk-cabbage before. I could not get close enough to see if the bees were gathering pollen or just visiting the flowers. I later check Frank Pellett’s book American Honey Plants. He quotes G[ilbert]. M. Doolittle who states that he values Skunk-cabbage, “more highly than any other pollen-yielding plant or tree, and that there was nothing with which he was familiar so eagerly sought by the bees, nor any source of pollen which so greatly stimulated brood rearing.”

Variation in Skunk Cabbage spathe colors

The spathe color varies from dark maroon to a yellow-green with reddish speckles. I do not know if the color is related to the age of the plants or is simply a variation. Farther along the trail I smell a few damaged plants. Their odor is unpleasant, reminding me of a skunk’s scent but without the faint sweet smell.

Speckled Alder flowers developing

Speckled Alder (Alnus incana subsp. rugosa) is not quite in flower along the boardwalk. The yellow male catkins are expanding but not yet producing pollen. The small, red, female flowers are developing.

Beaver cut tree stump and lodge

Beavers (Castor canadensis) have a lodge along the shore of one of the lakes. This colony does not need a dam because the lake is naturally deep enough for their needs. They are cutting Speckled Alder for food. Branches from one of the Soft Maples, stripped of bark, are placed on the top of the lodge.

As I walk back to my car my pace is slow. When I surround myself in Nature I unwind. I never know what I will see, even walking in a familiar area. I just get out and look. On this walk I have seen only familiar old friends that I know at a glance; however, it is still rewarding to renew these old friendships.

March 13, 2016
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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A Few Michigan Galls

Posted on February 28, 2016 by admin

Gall are formed by insects laying eggs or feeding on a plant. In response to this damage the plants produces growth hormones resulting in abnormal cell development. Galls normally occur during the plant’s most active growth time. Other parts of the plant remain unaffected.

Creeping Charlie Gall on Ground Ivy

Creeping Charlie Gall (Liposthenes glechomae) is a grape-size gall that develops on Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea) which is also called Creeping Charlie or Gill-over-the-ground. The gall is formed when a cynipid wasp lays an egg in the leaf or stem of the plant. If you cut one of these galls open you will find a small white larvae. Cynipid refers to all members in the insect family Cynipidae. The wasp does no real harm to the plant so it cannot be used to control Creeping Charlie. Both the wasp and the weed are imported from Europe.

Hedgehog Gall on White Oak

Another Cynipid wasp gall is caused by the Hedgehog Gall Wasp ( Acraspis erinacei ). It was on a White Oak (Quercus alba) leaf. This is the agamic generation (they reproduce without males). The female generation emerges from this gall and lays her eggs in the leaf buds where they over winter. It is an interesting looking dime-sized gall.

Vein Pocket Gall on Red Oak

The Vein Pocket Gall (Macrodiplosis quercusoruca) is caused by a larval stage of a gall midge in the family Cecidomyiidae. This gall was on Red Oak (Quercus rubra).

Sumac Gall on Staghorn Sumac

Sumac Gall Aphid (Melaphis rhois) is one of the few aphids that cause galls to form. This one was on Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina). Staghorn Sumac Aphid is one of the woolly aphids. The galls are hollow and occur along the leaves.
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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Monarch Resources

Posted on February 1, 2016 by admin

Milkweed Community Title Slide showing clockwise from upper left–Great Spangled Fritillary, Black-sided Pygmy Grasshopper, Monarch, Red-Blue Checkered Beetle

The Milkweed plant community is a fascinating place to just stand around in and watch what comes by. I have a talk “The Milkweed Community: More Than Monarchs (but Monarchs are cool!) on the many members of this community and the following are resources mentioned in that talk.

Websites about Monarch Butterflies

Monarch Watch has a helpful guide for identifying, and growing milkweeds. They also have information on Monarch conservation, biology, and different research projects including their Monarch tagging project.

The National Wildlife Federation’s Monarch Butterfly page is a good source of general Monarch information.

Monarch Joint Venture has general information including great life-cycle information.

“Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) and milkweeds (Asclepias species): The current situation and methods for propagating milkweeds” by Tara Luna and R. Kasten Dumroese. This publication explains the international program underway to conserve populations of Monarchs. It describes the migration of the butterfly and also has information on propagating Milkweed.

Monarch Butterfly Journey North has general information but also tracks the population size and migration of Monarchs

Watch for tagged Monarchs

Websites for Identifying Members of the Milkweed Community

Bug Guide is a site for “Identification, Images, & Information For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin For the United States & Canada.” The Iowa State University Department of Entomology provides this great resource. This is the first site I look at when I identify an insect.

The Herbarium of the University of Michigan provides the Michigan Flora Homepage with keys, range maps and photos of all flowering plants and ferns known in the wild in Michigan.

This site is dedicated to the conservation and identification of Bumble Bees. They have helpful drawings of the color patterns of different Bumble Bee species.

Author in a stand of Common Milkweed

Books for Identifying Members of the Milkweed Community

Brenda Dziedzic. 2019. Raising Butterflies in the Garden. Firefly Books.

Jason Gibbs, Ashley Bennett, Rufus Isaacs and Joy Landis. 2015. Bees of the Great Lakes Region and Wildflowers to Support Them: A guide for farmers, gardeners and landscapers. Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E3282. (An excellent and inexpensive guide to Michigan’s bees. My review can be found here.)

Jeffrey Hahn. 2009. Insects of the North Woods. Kollath+Stensaas. The entire North Woods series is excellent and useful for the entire state of Michigan. (see Larry Weber’s book cited below)

Mogens C. Nielsen. 1999. Michigan Butterflies & Skippers. Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E-2675.

Ba Rea, Karen Oberhauser and Michael A. Quinn. 2010. Milkweeds, Monarchs and More: A Field Guide to the Invertebrate Community in the Milkweed Patch (Second Edition). Bas Relief, LLC. This 80 page book is a great guide for the beginner and it would make a good student field guide for classroom use.

Larry Weber. 2013. Spiders of the North Woods. (Second Edition). Kollath+Stensaas.

Paul Williams, Robin Thorp, Leif Richardson and Sheila Colla. 2014. An Identification Guide: Bumble Bees of North America. Princeton University Press.

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Our Native Buckthorn

Posted on January 3, 2016 by admin

Alder-leaved Buckthorn

Michigan has a native Buckthorn, Alder-leaved Buckthorn (Rhamnus alnifolia). It normally grows in fens and is seldom found in dry habitats. It is similar to the invasive Common Buckthorn (R. cathartica) but the two species are easy to tell apart.

Alder-leaved Buckthorn showing stipules and leaf characters

Alder-leaved Buckthorn is normally shorter than 1m [3 feet] tall. Its toothed leaves are strictly alternate with 5 to 9 veins per side and are more pointed at the tips than Common Buckthorn. The leaves have stipules at the base of the petioles; however, they are sometimes missing late in the growing season. The flowers lack petals. The petal-like structures are sepals. Sepals are the covering of flower buds; petals are found inside the bud. There are 5 sepals and 5 stamens on each flower. The flowers, and hence the fruits, are in small groups, less than 3 in a cluster.

Alder-leaved Buckthorn flowers, immature fruit, and ripe fruit

Common Buckthorn can reach the size of a small tree. Its toothed leaves can vary from alternate, to sub-opposite, to opposite, on the same branch. Its flowers are 4-parted with both sepals and petals. Flower and fruit clusters are large, seldom as few as 3in a cluster. The branch tips are normally spine tipped and spines can often be found on the along the main trunk.

Glossy Buckthorn (Frangula alnus) is a wetland invasive species but has non-toothed leaves. Its veins are 6 to 9 per side. It has 5 sepals and 5 petals on each flower. The leaf buds are tan pubescent (covered with dense short hairs).

If you are removing invasive buckthorn you should know this native species. One site in Oakland County was almost destroyed by over-zealous invasive species hunters who did not realize that the invasive Common Buckthorn did not grow into the fen at the bottom of the hill.
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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Another Pollinator Book

Posted on December 12, 2015 by admin

Eastern Carpenter Bee

Bees of the Great Lakes Region and Wildflowers to Support Them: A guide for farmers, gardeners and landscapers by Jason Gibbs, Ashley Bennett, Rufus Isaacs and Joy Landis published by The Michigan State University Extension (Bulletin E3282) is a new publication on pollinators. It begins with a short but readable section on “Bees and their biology” and includes descriptions of their nests, and a wonderful photo labeling the anatomy of a bee.
The book contains many helpful hints for identifying bees and was written by people who know the insects. Groups of bees (for example Leaf-cutter, Cellophane, and Mason Bees) are described and then illustrated with high quality color photographs. A section is included on “Wanna-bees” showing Flower Flies, Beetles, and Moths.

Leaf Cutter Bee

The final half of the book identifies native plants that support bees. Color photos show each plant species. Helpful information describing growing conditions, blooming period, height, bee species that use the plant, and recommended companion plants are given for each species. This should prove helpful to gardeners and landscapers as they plan plantings.

Green Sweat Bee

The book is spiral bound and pocket size (3 1/2″ X 5″). It contains 110 pages. Reasonably priced at $10.00, this guide can be ordered from the MSU Extension website. I will be carrying this handy guide in the field next year.

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Author Archives: admin

National Pollinator Week

Robert Gasiorowski: Naturalist

That’s not a Duckweed

Michigan’s Mistletoe

Soft Maple Flowers

Springtime

A Few Michigan Galls

Monarch Resources

Our Native Buckthorn

Another Pollinator Book