Prairie Update and Mima Mounds Visit, Blog and images by Dennis Plank
Prairie Update and Mima Mounds Visit
Spring is proceeding apace. The camas appears to be quickly approaching it’s peak. A visit to Mima Mounds on the 5th was a bit disappointing in that respect, with not a lot of camas visible (see below). I’ll be checking Scatter Creek on the 7th. However, lots of other plants are coming along nicely. I’ve spotted Yarrow in bud all over the place:
Yarrow in Bud, photo by Dennis Plank
Oregon Sunshine, so aptly named, is also starting to form buds. You’d never guess from this rather drab bud:
Oregon Sunshine Bud, photo by Dennis Plank
that flowers like this could develop:
Oregon Sunshine in Bloom, photo by Dennis Plank
Better yet, the plant forms an extensive mat and blooms profusely.
In addition to those, my Balsamroot is showing it’s first blossom. The plants are only three years old and don’t produce much that’s very luxuriant, so I haven’t bothered to photograph it. Hopefully, I’ll find some good stands at Scatter Creek.
The native Columbine in my gardens is also starting to form buds, so it should be blooming in the next week or so and will be showing up on the prairies shortly thereafter. Look for it in the swales as it likes a little extra moisture. I planted one under a small group of fir trees on our property where I have a bird photography setup and keep it watered. It grew to over four feet tall and bloomed all summer (though I had to fence it to keep the deer away).
The birds are proceeding with raising families. All our swallows seem to have gotten their nests built and we’ve started to see them mating. We watched both the male and female Western Bluebird taking bugs to their box, so they must have their first batch of young out of the egg. This image was taken in mid-June five years ago, but conveys the idea:
Western Bluebird with Spider for Young, photo by Dennis Plank
There’s a Black-capped Chickadee that set up housekeeping in a swallow box, but the swallows are still perching on it and acting like it’s theirs. We’ve even seen the female swallow go in the box, but the chickadee is taking insects into it. This evening we saw the male American Kestrel land on a tree with a snake and call it’s mate from the box to get it, so we’re pretty sure she’s sitting on eggs (it takes their eggs about a month to hatch, so we’re pretty sure they don’t have young yet).
Also yesterday I found my first Silvery Blues of the season. These are actually two different butterflies.
Silvery Blue, photo by Dennis Plank
Silvery Blue on Lupine, photo by Dennis Plank
As mentioned above, with access to state lands reinstated, I went to Mima Mounds Natural Area yesterday morning. It’s open 8:30 am to 8:30 pm this time of year and I got there about 8:40 in the morning. Only one other car was there, but I suspect it will be packed later this week with the predicted warm weather. Since I want to do a post later this year on the theories of formation of the mounds, I stopped at the concrete kiosk (I refer to it as the Mushroom), to take some pictures of the excellent displays there.
Mima Mounds Display, photo by Dennis Plank
Since I had limited time, I stuck to the concrete loop where I took the pictures of the Yarrow and Oregon Sunshine bud above. I think the asphalt path holds enough heat to make the plants along it bloom a bit earlier than elsewhere. At least they were a few days ahead of anything on our property that I’ve found.
I kept looking for that elusive “sea of blue” from the camas, but it doesn’t appear to be a good year for it on Mima, so I settled for stopping at the viewing platform and shooting a couple of panorama shots that I’m sure won’t show up very well on the blog-they really need a huge screen.
Mima Mounds, Panorama I, photo by Dennis Plank
Mima Mounds Panorama 2, photo by Dennis Plank
The stretch of the path that goes through the woods was spring fresh and full of birdsong and fully worth the trip for its own sake.
