ENRTF « The Echinacea Project

Hidey holes and hymenopteran houses

Grass so high
Our vision fails
Of flags off hiding
Who knows where

Holes for hiding
Insects who
Like their grasses
Tall and true

Today we helped dig soil cores for a “pitfall trap” project. The holes were dug near our ENRTF insect collection points and will grant greater insight on how burning prairies can affect insect population composition. The grass was pretty high, though, and we could hardly see the flags that had been placed earlier in the season! Rest assured, the holes were dug.

Also we did emergence traps. We always do emergence traps.

Also Daytona’s pockets are sweaty.

The title of this/Post is a haiku and so/Here are a few more

Watching the weather-

Is this sprinkle the start of

A massive downpour?

–

The weather channel

Does not know the answer yet

I am a bit damp

–

Lilies wet with rain

Look yummy enough to eat

Not allowed to taste

What is that weird shape

In the prairie over there

GPS monster

Waiting to deploy

Tents for bees because

We could be lightninged

Wrong, Yet Welcome, Pollinator

The pollinator team set out to recover some emergence traps (picture 1) this afternoon. While we didn’t find ground-nesting bees, which this project is centered around, we did see another pollinator while sifting through grass that extended beyond our own heads (Jan for scale; picture 2). The viceroy (Limenitis archippus; picture 3) looks incredibly similar to the monarch (Danaus plexippus), except for the black, horizontal line that cuts across their dorsal wings. We hope to see even more pollinator friends as the field season goes on!

Beat the Heat!

To counter expected high temperatures, we started earlier in the morning with GPS points for the ENTRF-funded bee research project and found some cool plants. After lunch, some of the team continued to stake and shoot points, while others planted some green comet milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora) seedlings in a previously burned site. We also saw a baby Pheobe on the deck after it attempted to fledge.