Bill Dunson 7/31/16 Bill Dunson 7/31/16

Deciphering Nature's Signs

So much is happening in nature and in our human constructed world that we tend to ignore some of the most obvious events of the natural world. Plus there are literally thousands of sights and sounds vying for our attention and it takes a significant effort of will to focus and be observant. A certain training of the mind helps in watching even subconsciously for important clues and selecting them from the background "noise."

Here are a few examples of what you might see while walking around our VA farm in the middle of summer. As I was toiling up a steep hill along my neighbor's barbed wire cow fence, I was shocked to notice three green June beetles impaled on the wire! This was exciting since it was unexpected, and because I knew immediately what this must mean. It revealed that a loggerhead shrike was feeding in the vicinity; they are famous for impaling their extra prey on thorns and barbed wire. Yet I had not seen the bird, only interpreted its presence by this sign.

Our common milkweeds are in bloom in large numbers and I am on alert for signs that monarch caterpillars are present. Caterpillars are eating machines so the best indication they occur is the presence of their feces or "frass" and bite marks on the leaves. Since caterpillars often hide under the leaves, these two signs are crucial in finding them.

In June and July I often see strange white foamy patches in certain of our ponds. I know from experience that these are the remnants of bullfrog breeding from the previous night and there will be hundreds of embryos in these areas. They quickly dissipate as the eggs hatch and tadpoles disperse into the pond.

Within a mile of our farm there is the New River, which is said to be the second oldest river in the world (after the Nile). It has different aquatic fauna than our small spring fed streams and ponds and I often go there to see new species. This cobra clubtail dragonfly is a fierce predator on small insects; on a hot summer day it was "obelisking" or holding its abdomen in a vertical position to minimize heat gain from the sun. Nearby there was a damselfly that I never see on our ponds, a ruby spot damselfly. The male is much more brilliant than the female and is quite a spectacular fellow. Both of these species are characteristic of larger streams and rivers, presumably due to some specific but generally unknown requirements for the larvae and/or adults.

This tiger swallowtail was perching on dung and extending its proboscis, a clear sign of "puddling" behavior. This is well known to represent drinking of fluids from vertebrate digestion and excretion that contain needed salts, especially sodium, which are scarce in the diets of herbivores. I have become a big fan of horses on trails since their poop attracts beautiful butterflies and holds them for close observation.

We have planted cup plants (Silphium) which have large yellow blossoms in mid-summer attractive to butterflies. Here a pipevine swallowtail is finding nectar in the flowers while being protected from the attacks of birds by its black and blue coloration which advertises toxicity obtained as a caterpillar from its food plant (Aristolochia species). There are many other butterflies that mimic this coloration in an apparent bid to inhibit birds from attacking them. One of the most beautiful is this red spotted purple, a type of brushfoot butterfly (kin to admirals and buckeyes).

So remain alert in nature and you will observe a tiny fraction of what is actually happening, and be awe struck by the intricate and complex lives that our fellow creatures are engaged in. Trying to understand some of these remarkable stories enriches and enlarges our own existence beyond measure.

Bill Dunson
Galax, VA and Englewood, FL

Aaron Floyd 5/6/15 Aaron Floyd 5/6/15

Seed Pods of Matthews State Forest by Galax High School Art Program

The Seed Pods of Matthews State Forest poster has been completed! It is the fourth in an ongoing series of posters from the Blue Ridge Illustrated program.

The Seed Pods of Matthews State Forest poster has been completed! It is the fourth in an ongoing series of posters from the Blue Ridge Illustrated program. Young artists Adian Chapman, Julio Hernandez Cervantes, Kayleigh Funk, Alondra Ramirez Perez, Kyla Revolorio, Cody McMillon, and Derek Spraker went out into the field last fall and collected seed pods in the forest and along the forest edge. They returned to the classroom where they studied the species with detailed colored pencil illustrations over the winter. Under the tutelage of art instructor, Jarrod Wilson, the students illustrated: Smooth Sumac, Evening Primrose, Sweet Birch, Black Oak, Mockernut Hickory, American Holly, Eastern White Pine, Bull Thistle, Eastern Redbud, Goldenrod, Oriental Bittersweet, Pitch Pine, Common Milkweed, Chestnut, Horse Nettle, and Mountain Mint. You can get a copy of their illustrations at Matthews State Forest or at one of our events for $5. All proceeds go towards funding the Blue Ridge Illustrated program. Program Guides were Scott Jackson-Ricketts and Aaron Floyd of BRDC and the program advisor was Zach Olinger, Education Specialist at Matthews State Forest.

Bill Dunson 8/8/10 Bill Dunson 8/8/10

Marvelous milkweeds

I am a huge fan of milkweeds due to their special attraction not only to monarch butterflies but also to a considerable list of other insects that are milkweed specialists, and some generalists who use milkweeds as a community to forage in. But the problem is that those of us that own hay fields will cut the grass including the milkweeds once or usually more per year, slaughtering the marvelous milkweeds. However I have come up with a compromise that I think both feeds the cows, and preserves the milkweed community. See what you think of my solution.

My plan is to cut the grasslands only once per year and that is in mid to late June in our location here in the SW Virginia mountains. This serves not only to harvest the grass for use in fodder but removes woody vegetation that invades the grasslands, and removes a layer of cold-season grasses (such as fescue) that are primarily exotic to this area. This releases the warm-season grasses and allows them to grow and produce a crop of seeds by Fall for use by native birds. But you may ask what about the milkweeds and their fate? It appears to me that this regime may actually be beneficial to the milkweed community in the following way. I retain a certain number of fields that are not cut except very occasionally (they are burned every three years in late Winter) and which have natural populations of milkweeds (in this case mainly the common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca). The fields that were cut this year on June 17 began about seven weeks later in early August to produce a wonderful crop of milkweed flowers, while the uncut milkweeds are setting seed and are no longer blooming. The leaves of the uncut milkweeds are old and tough whereas the cut and regrown milkweeds have young tender leaves. Thus my single-cut method of harvesting hay fields stretches out the milkweed season but does not obliterate it, as would happen if the fields were to be harvested a second time, a common practice among farmers to maximize hay production. Also I have noticed that the monarchs often do not arrive in this area in time to fully utilize the naturally cycling milkweeds, and indeed seem to use the "second crop" milkweeds extensively.

Some illustrations of the re-grown milkweeds are shown in photos of an adult monarch gathering nectar from a "second crop" flower, of a female yellow morph tiger swallowtail also nectaring on a re-grown plant, and a monarch caterpillar feeding on a re-grown leaf. Surely there is much yet to learn about the characteristics of milkweeds that are cut and then sprout again- do they provide proper food at tolerable levels of toxins, and in a timetable that is appropriate? Certainly it appears from my observations that this is a win-win situation that can preserve the habitat of many species that depend on milkweeds while also providing some income for the farmer. Of course subsequent hay cuttings must be sacrificed for the pleasure of observing and fostering the milkweed animal community, and providing enhanced food and cover for birds in Fall and Winter.

One of the other lesser known insects that I encounter among our milkweeds is a bit sinister- the famous assassin or wheel bug (see photo)! It is a predator with a wicked beak, a poisonous bite and a reputation for delivering a painful zap with its tubular mouth. It eats insects that come to the milkweeds and it would be interesting to observe whether it is capable of devouring those that are protected by the milkweed toxins, in contrast to others such as tiger swallowtails that are not.

So many puzzles and so little time! So get out there and check out the milkweeds and their fascinating inhabitants.

Bill Dunson

Galax, VA

Englewood, FL