Archive for June 2020

Prairie Update, June 30, 2020

Prairie Update, June 30.  Post and photos by Dennis Plank

Dennis has been getting his knees muddy and his back sore pulling Scot’s Broom on the South Sound Prairies since 1998. In 2004, when the volunteers started managing Prairie Appreciation Day, he made the mistake of sending an email asking for “lessons learned” and got elected president of Friends of Puget Prairies-a title he appropriately renamed as “Chief Cat Herder”. He has now turned that over to Gail Trotter. Along the way, he has worked with a large number of very knowledgeable people and picked up a few things about the prairie ecosystem. He loves to photograph birds and flowers.

Prairie Update, June 30, 2020

The spring rush is over now and the rate of new species coming into bloom has slowed considerably. Mid-April to Mid-June have such a rush of activity that is seems impossible to keep up. There’s not time enough to take a ll the pictures and write something sensible about what’s happening. Suddenly, just about the official start of summer, things begin to slow down a bit, though it’s more of a shift to a different kind of activity. In addition to the new species coming into bloom, there are all the earlier species starting to set seed, creating new looks to the prairie, some of which rival in beauty the blooms themselves.

In the rush of new blooms, it’s easy to miss the seeds of the very early species, such as the Shooting Stars (though I’ve heard from the seed collecting team that they had a bad year for seed production, and indeed, I didn’t see very many of them where they are usually quite abundant). I also missed photographing the Small-flowered Wood Rush in seed, and probably many, many others.

Now the grasses are so high that most of the flowers still coming into bloom have difficulty rising high enough to be easily seen. However, there are several new ones that have been appearing lately.

First is the Showy Fleabane, Erigeron speciosus. This beauty forms clumps and blooms for quite some time. The plant that this spray came from was planted near our backyard water feature and is overcome by grasses almost every summer when I seem to run out of time to control them. Yet it comes back underneath every year and continues to enlarge itself. The purple ray flowers and yellow disc flowers make a very nice showing and it’s a great mid-season nectar source. I accidentally clipped this stem when trying to remove grasses from around it, so I took it inside to photograph where I didn’t have to deal with the wind.

Showy Fleabane, photo by Dennis Plank

Showy Fleabane, photo by Dennis Plank

Another beauty that tens to favor areas with just a bit more moisture and/or richer soil is the local Delphinium, Upland Larkspur or Nuttall’s Larkspur, Delphinium nuttallianum. While the flowers hardly have the size and range of colors of the commercial cultivars, they are still a beautiful plant. Most Larkspurs are toxic, so this is definitely not recommended as a salad garnish. One of our neighbors asked for help in identifying a flower under an old apple tree. It turned out that she had a beautiful patch of these growing there. I’m jealous, as we have none on our property.

Upland Larkspur, photo by Dennis Plank

Upland Larkspur, photo by Dennis Plank

Another recent addition to the bloom scene is Harvest Brodiaea (which I always try to spell incorrectly). The scientific name is Brodiaea coronaria and it’s also known as Crown Brodiaea. The extremely thin and rather long stems make this one difficult to photograph in any kind of wind. By sheer luck, we mowed over a small patch earlier in the season and they still bloomed but at a lower level just above the regrown grass where they weren’t subject to the wind as much. I’ve found quite a few of these buried in dense non-native grasses (we have way too much on our property) and seeming quite happy to do so. The seeds don’t seem to spread too far, so I usually seem to find it in small to medium sized groupings. In the morning, the blossoms start out closed but as the sun gets higher and it warms up the petals keep spreading until they curve back quite a ways and seem to thicken. In any state of opening, it’s a very pretty flower.

Harvest Brodiaea, photo by Dennis Plank

Harvest Brodiaea, photo by Dennis Plank

Another species that is omnipresent on the prairies currently is Self-heal or Heal-all, Prunella vulgaris. This is apparently a combination of an American subspecies and a European subspecies. Pojar and MacKinnon, in “Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast” say that it is now present on all continents (perhaps excluding Antarctica?). The Self-heal label is from traditional medicines. this plant has been used to help heal wounds in cultures all over the world. It’s also a pretty and interesting looking plant and blooms for quite some time on our prairies.

Self-heal, photo by Dennis Plank

Self-heal, photo by Dennis Plank

During the last few weeks, most of the grasses have also been blooming, including the non-natives. Unfortunately, I don’t know my grasses at all well, and haven’t been able to get the pictures I’ve taken identified. However, if you look closely at grass flowers, you’ll be astounded by the beauty hidden in them. This one I know to be Roemer’s Fescue, Festuca roemeri, a native and one of the basic structural components of our prairies when they are in good condition. Please pardon the artsy presentation of this image-I was having fun with the grasses.

Fescue in bloom, photo by Dennis Plank

Fescue in bloom, photo by Dennis Plank

I mentioned above that the seeds have started forming and that I’d missed quite a few species already. I have managed to obtain images of a few.

Spring Gold, Lomatium utriculatum, is one of our earliest bloomers and one of the earliest to form seeds. I took some pictures of the seed head when it was about half developed which gives a good idea of the structure of the umbel and yesterday, I found a few late seeds (possibly sterile?) on one, so most of them have already gone to increase the population.

Spring gold in seed formation.  The foam is from a Spittle Bug (or Spit Bug), photo by Dennis Plank

Spring gold in seed formation. The foam is from a Spittle Bug (or Spit Bug), photo by Dennis Plank

 

The last few seeds left on the raceme, photo by Dennis Plank

The last few seeds left on the raceme, photo by Dennis Plank

The iconic prairie species, Camas, Camassia quamash, did not bloom very profusely this year and to my eye, it seems that the seed set was even worse than the bloom. My wife has a semi-cultivated patch that seems to have done alright, but I’m finding very little of it on the open prairie either on our property or on Glacial Heritage. We refer to these seed pods as “castanets” because in normal years as you walk through the prairie in July there’s a continual rattle of Camas seeds in their pods. This year it won’t be that way. However, these bulbs survive and prosper under a covering of Scotch Broom for years, so one bad year of seed production won’t affect the population seriously. The picture below shows the empty seed pods of one I stole from my wife’s patch.

Common Camas seed pods, photo by Dennis Plank

Common Camas seed pods, photo by Dennis Plank

Another oddity of this year’s seed production (at least it appears so to me), is that we had a super-abundant bloom of Cut-leaf Microseris, Microseris laciniata, yet I haven’t been able to find a single seed pod on our property. I went out to Glacial Heritage last Thursday to pull Scotch Broom and dig out Tansy Ragwort and I walked over an area that I knew had a great abundance of this species a couple of weeks earlier. I did find seed heads (that’s where I photographed this one), but they were no where near as abundant as the blooms had been.

Microseris seed head with half the seeds already dispersed, photo by Dennis Plank

Microseris seed head with half the seeds already dispersed, photo by Dennis Plank

Though superficially of the “dandelion” form the Microseris seed head looks considerably different from our invasive dandelion look alike, Hairy Cat’s Ear, Hypochaeris radicata.

Hairy Cat's Ear seed head.  Note the differences from the Microseris, photo by Dennis Plank

Hairy Cat’s Ear seed head. Note the differences from the Microseris, photo by Dennis Plank

For those of you who are interested in seeds and think you might want to try wild seed collection, send an email to ssvolunteers@cnlm.org and they can hook you up with the seed collection team. They’re back in business while practicing social distancing, so training might be a bit difficult, but I think they can figure it out. They’re out every Tuesday looking for seeds.

South Sound Lupines

South Sound Lupines, Post by Kelsey King, Photos by Kelsey King et al.

Kelsey King (kelsey.king@wsu.edu): Kelsey is a PhD student at Washington State University. For her dissertation, Kelsey is investigating the potential of resource mismatches between butterflies and nectar plants, as well as demonstrating the ways nectar resources can impact population dynamics.

South Sound Lupines

The typical palmate leaf pattern of the Lupines, photo by Kelsey King

The typical palmate leaf pattern of the Lupines, photo by Kelsey King

 

If you have visited a South Sound prairie lately, you have probably seen blooms of purple-blue peeking over the top of grass. These flowers are probably lupine, which is a leguminous plant with distinctly palmate leaves (a leaf split into multiple lobes or fingers). There are three species of lupine most common in the South Sound prairies, with many more present throughout Washington. The biggest, and most bush like species, is sickle-keeled lupine (Lupinus albicaulis). This lupine is one of the most distinct species because it has prominent keels, part of the flower that is shaped like an upward pointing thorn, that stick out prominently after the flower has been visited by bees. This trait, along with the height of the flowers (up to 3 ft), will help you distinguish it from many lupines without having to dig out a field guide.

Sickle-keeled Lupine inflorescence, photo by Kelsey King

Sickle-keeled Lupine inflorescence, photo by Kelsey King

Sickle-keeled lupine is a host to many arthropods. It is a favorite of bumblebees to pollinate and a nectar source and host plant for some blue butterflies including the Silvery blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) and the Puget blue (Icaricia icarioides blackmorei). Silvery blue caterpillars consume the flowers, while Puget blues consume the leaves, which is part of the ecological phenomenon known as resource partitioning. Resource partitioning is when multiple species use the same resource, say a lupine plant, but consume separate parts of the plant and therefore they do not compete so heavily for their food!

Sickle-keeled with silvery blue butterfly egg, photo by Kelsey King

Sickle-keeled with silvery blue butterfly egg, photo by Kelsey King

The other two lupines on the prairies are small and low to the ground, often not taller than the surrounding grass. Bicolored lupine (Lupinus bicolor) is an annual lupine that typically flowers a few weeks before our other lupines start to flower. It grows in dry areas and has sharply contrasting flower petals in white and blue/purple, which is why we call it bicolored lupine. This lupine is used by smaller bees than you might see on sickle-keeled lupine, and there are typically only a few flowers on each raceme. When the plant is not flowering you might mistake it for a plant in the carrot family until you look closer.

Bicolor Lupine, Lupinus bicolor, photo by Rachael Bonoan

Bicolor Lupine, Lupinus bicolor, photo by Rachael Bonoan

Our final lupine is an amazing plant found in areas that have been recently disturbed. Pacific lupine, prairie lupine, or dwarf lupine are all names for this lupine (Lupinus lepidus), commonly found in grasslands after rockslides, severe wildfire, or as one of the first plants on the pumice plain after the Mt. St. Helens eruption. Historically, you can imagine this plant as one of the first plants to appear after the Cascades volcanoes erupt and create new peaks valleys, and pumice plains. The unique nature of legumes as nitrogen-fixers makes them perfect facilitators. Facilitators are those species that make the place they are found more hospitable for other species. Prairie lupine does this by creating the first leaf litter as a base to the soil and fixing nitrogen, which gets released into this newly created soil. Nitrogen-fixing plants partner with bacteria to take nitrogen gas out of the air and use it to grow. This allows the plants to add nitrogen to soil that is very poor in nitrogen, which over time makes the habitat hospitable for other plants.

Lupinus lepidus, photo by Dennis Plank

Lupinus lepidus, photo by Dennis Plank

These three lupines of the South Sound prairies are pops of color on the prairie, but also important components of the ecosystem. You can find all three of these in the same prairie, but each might be abundant in different locations. The native insects often rely heavily on lupine for pollen or other resources as these lupines can sometimes stay very abundant even when there is a high invasive species component in the prairie; generally, this leads to native plants being pushed out. However, the invasive plant Scotchbroom (Cytisus scoparius) is especially harmful to lupine dominated prairies as this plant disrupts the microbial community lupines rely on and may also alter the nitrogen cycle into one that favors the non-native plants. Prescribed burns are one of the tools often used to promote lupine and native plants. Watch for new posts soon to learn more about prescribed burns and other land management!

Sickle-keeled Lupine in all its glory, photo by Kelsey King

Sickle-keeled Lupine in all its glory, photo by Kelsey King

The Colors of Gold

The Colors of Gold, an essay in images.  Post and photos by Dennis Plank

Dennis has been getting his knees muddy and his back sore pulling Scot’s Broom on the South Sound Prairies since 1998. In 2004, when the volunteers started managing Prairie Appreciation Day, he made the mistake of sending an email asking for “lessons learned” and got elected president of Friends of Puget Prairies-a title he appropriately renamed as “Chief Cat Herder”. He has now turned that over to Gail Trotter. Along the way, he has worked with a large number of very knowledgeable people and picked up a few things about the prairie ecosystem. He loves to photograph birds and flowers.

The Colors of Gold

an essay in images

Goldfinches that is. To be specific, American Goldfinches to differentiate them from the Lesser and Lawrence’s Goldfinches that are also present in North America, though rarely in this area. We have had a Lesser show up once or twice. Goldfinches are an edge species. They get their sustenance from mostly open country plants (well known for liking thistle and, as the seed farm can attest, Balsamroot seeds). However they build their nests in trees and shrubs.

It seemed to me that we were getting more grayish looking female Goldfinches than normal this year, and we also have a partially leucistic male coming to our feeders. That got me to thinking about the variations in plumage I’ve seen in this species over the last 15 years of living with a woman who’s been catering to them for a long time and attracts hordes every summer. I’ve been photographing those birds since at least 2008 and it occurred to me that I probably had a reasonable record of plumage variations. That thought led to the idea for this post.

So here they are in all their glory.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

As a person who likes to think of himself as a gentleman, well give the ladies precedence here.

Female Goldfinch 1

Female Goldfinch 1

 

Female Goldfinch 2

Female Goldfinch 2

 

Female Goldfinch 3

Female Goldfinch 3

 

Female Goldfinch 4-a grayish variation from this year

Female Goldfinch 4-a grayish variation from this year

 

Female Goldfinch 5-another grayish female from this year

Female Goldfinch 5-another grayish female from this year

 

Female Goldfinch 6

Female Goldfinch 6

 

Female Goldfinch 7

Female Goldfinch 7

 

And the Males:

Male Goldfinch 1

Male Goldfinch 1

 

Male Goldfinch 2

Male Goldfinch 2

 

Male Goldfinch 3

Male Goldfinch 3

 

Male Goldfinch 4

Male Goldfinch 4

 

Male Goldfinch 5

Male Goldfinch 5

 

Male Goldfinch 6

Male Goldfinch 6

 

Male Godlfinch molting

Male Goldfinch molting

And my favorite plumages  and to my eye the only really “gold” finches, the juveniles:

Juvenile Goldfinch 1

Juvenile Goldfinch 1

 

Juvenile Goldfinch 2

Juvenile Goldfinch 2

 

Juvenile Goldfinch 3

Juvenile Goldfinch 3

 

Juvenile Goldfinch 4

Juvenile Goldfinch 4

 

To round things out here are some images showing two or more together:

Two Female Goldfinches

Two Female Goldfinches

 

Male and Female Goldfinches-courting behavior

Male and Female Goldfinches-courting behavior

 

Male and Female Goldfinches

Male and Female Goldfinches

 

Adult Male and Juvenile Goldfinches 1

Adult Male and Juvenile Goldfinches 1

 

Adult Male and Juvenile Goldfinches 2

Adult Male and Juvenile Goldfinches 2

The mob at a feeder:

Late Summer mostly Juvenile Goldfinches

Late Summer mostly Juvenile Goldfinches

 

Special Announcement: Webinar to Celebrate Pollinator Week June 22-28, 2020

Webinar to Celebrate Pollinator Week, June 22-28,  Notice from Mary Phillips and Caitlin Maraist

Mary Phillips is Senior Director, Conservation Innovation, Garden for wildlife.  Caitlin Maraist is Habitat Stewards Program Coordinator, AmeriCorps Member, National Wildlife Federation.

Please Join the Garden for Wildlife and Communities Teams in sharing how to’s and pollinator information during Pollinator Week.

Please share this webinar with your interested networks!  Thank you Dave and team for organizing this!

Saving Pollinators One Garden at a Time

Bees, butterflies and other pollinators are on the decline worldwide, but you can make a difference for them right in your own garden. Celebrate Pollinator Week and join National Wildlife Federation naturalist David Mizejewski for a fun and informative talk on how to plant a beautiful garden that also helps declining pollinators. David will introduce the different kinds of pollinators, give his expert tips on how to make your own space pollinator-friendly and show you how you can get it recognized as an official “Certified Wildlife Habitat.”

Thursday, June 25 from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Eastern time (12:00-1:00 Pacific time)

Please register HERE.

 

 

Shotwell’s Landing Has Begun the Colorful Flourish of Flowers Once Again

Shotwell’s Landing has begun the colorful flourish of flowers once again, Post and photos by Forrest Edelman.

Forrest Edelman manages the the Shotwell’s Landing Facility for the Center for Natural Lands Management.

Shotwell’s Landing has begun the colorful flourish of flowers once again

Shotwell’s Landing is a site that grows bulbs and seeds, as a part of the Nursery Program in the Center for Natural Lands Management. It is also the primary processing site for the harvested seed, collected from farm or field sites.

This year I noticed a detail in the shooting star genus Primula (Formerly Dodecatheon). This is that the red line on the yellow collar of the flower is different between the two species we grow. For Primula hendersonii the line is broad and of a crimson color.

Primula hendersonii, Broad-leaved Shooting Star, photo by Forrest Edelman.

Primula hendersonii, Broad-leaved Shooting Star, photo by Forrest Edelman.

 

While for Primula pulchellum the line is fine and bright red.  

Primula pulchellum, Few-flowered Shooting Star, photo by Forrest Edelman.

Primula pulchellum, Few-flowered Shooting Star, photo by Forrest Edelman.

 

Two regions of Plectritis congesta spp. congesta are being grown at Shotwell’s Landing this year and each have distinctive shades of pink. Otherwise known as Sea Blush, the South Sound Prairies region has a full pink color when compared to the Lower Olympics region which looks relatively pale.

Plectritis congesta, ssp congesta, Sea Blush from the South Sound Prairies Region, photo by Forrest Edelman.

Plectritis congesta, ssp congesta, Sea Blush from the South Sound Prairies Region, photo by Forrest Edelman.

 

Plectritis congesta ssp congesta, Sea blush from the Lower Olympics region, photo by Forrest Edelman.

Plectritis congesta ssp congesta, Sea blush from the Lower Olympics region, photo by Forrest Edelman.

 

The Violet Trial is blooming nicely; the picture does not contain the sweet smell like there was when taking that photo.

Viola adunca, Hookedspur violet, Early Prairie violet, photo by Forrest Edelman

Viola adunca, Hookedspur violet, Early Prairie violet, photo by Forrest Edelman

 

Deer fencing has been completed, which is a relief. I’ve tried explaining the importance of the endeavors here to the deer but I’m glad to see that predation averted, and for full flower beds to bloom fully.

The bed shown below contains four species:

Castilleja hispida (harsh indian paintbrush) Orange
Armeria maritima (sea thrift) Pink
Camassia quamash (camas) Light Blue
Camassia leichtlinii (great camas) Purple

Background of four flowers is Primula pulchellum (few flowered shooting star) Pink

The Four Flowers bed, see above for species, photo by Forrest Edelman.

The Four Flowers bed, see above for species, photo by Forrest Edelman.

 

Looking forward to many more forms of flashy foliage in the coming months. Here’s a sampling of the species being grown:

Triodanis perfoliata, Clasping Venus's looking-glass, photo by Forrest Edelman

Triodanis perfoliata, Clasping Venus’s looking-glass, photo by Forrest Edelman

 

Lithophragma parviflorum, Smallflower woodland star, photo by Forrest Edelman.

Lithophragma parviflorum, Smallflower woodland star, photo by Forrest Edelman.

 

Arabis hirsuta, Hairy rock-cress, photo by Forrest Edelman

Arabis hirsuta, Hairy rock-cress, photo by Forrest Edelman

 

Leptosiphon bicolor, True babystars, photo by Forrest Edelman.

Leptosiphon bicolor, True babystars, photo by Forrest Edelman.

 

Quercus garryana, Garry Oak, photo by Forrest Edelman.

Quercus garryana, Garry Oak, photo by Forrest Edelman.

 

Collomia heterophylla, Variable-leaf collomia, photo by Forrest Edelman.

Collomia heterophylla, Variable-leaf collomia, photo by Forrest Edelman.

 

 

The Vampire Orobanche

The Vampire Orobanche, Post and photos by Ivy Clark

Lauren ‘Ivy’ Clark studied the hybridization of Castilleja levisecta and C. hispida in restoration sites for their Masters thesis at the University of Washington before becoming a restoration technician for the Center for Natural Lands Management.

The Vampire Orobanche

A look back on the dark story of a prairie parasite for the stormy days.

The Vampire Orobanche uniflora below the ruins of a bracken fern. Photo by Ivy Clark

The Vampire Orobanche uniflora below the ruins of a bracken fern. Photo by Ivy Clark

It was a dark and stormy prairie. The oscillating early spring was in turmoil from emergence, newly burning sun streaks, and the biting chill and rain. And something underground. Something underground that lurks silently: unseen, unheard, but always there. If you know where to look. And if you dare. From coast to coast of states united, from southern border to up beyond the northern, across our whole nation and more it hides. Unseen by most. Waiting. It has been known by many names, including “the plant that should not be named”. In this day its name incites unease. What is in a name? An identity? A history? Or something deeper?

Colony of naked broomrape among a Lomatium utriculatum. Photo by Ivy Clark

Colony of naked broomrape among a Lomatium utriculatum. Photo by Ivy Clark

There are hundreds of its kind scattered all over and yet seldom encountered, and each a different flavor of wicked. Some have always been among us, feeding on the locals slowly and gently. Some are new comers to these shores, wreaking havoc upon our crops, draining their sustenance before they reach our lips. One stalks our Northwestern lowlands, only seen by the patient eye that looks very low, very close to their resting bed. It is Orobanche uniflora, the “one flower” (uni-flora) because she erupts singular smoky purple pipe-like flowers while all other Orobanches sprout clusters like multi-eyed beasts of the fairy realm. Their names are spoken in hushed tones and hurried whispers; Orobanchaceae the broomrapes. Whether naked, spiked, or one flowered, Orobanche species’ dark secret is encompassed at the very name, for “orobos” in Greek refers to vetch plants and “anchein” means “to strangle”. Hence it is the plant that strangles vetches. From Latin, the broomrape once had a much different meaning than it conjures today. “Rapum” was the name for tubers like turnip, or any such plant akin to the sharp and bitter mustard plants. You now know what seeds we steal rapeseed oil from. Brooms are another name given to vetch plants that are often seen growing alongside their strangling namesakes. So the broomrapes were thought of as tubers off these vetches, and possibly stranglers of mustards. The olden time naming ones, scribbling titles in the ancient books branded these small unassuming plants with names that would then mutate and darken. They didn’t know the family’s subsurface secret. But when they learned to call them cancer roots, that is when the shade became lifted from their widened eyes. For the broomrapes, the cancer roots, the Orobanche, are pure parasites. The “cancer” refers to the ominous knobs they emerge from and is not a reference to any person’s cancer.

Close-up for scale of about 2” tall Orobanche uniflora, clearly lacking leaves. Photo by Ivy Clark.

Close-up for scale of about 2” tall Orobanche uniflora, clearly lacking leaves. Photo by Ivy Clark.

Where the small and unassuming Orobanch uniflora grow, no daisy, legume, or sedum is safe whether in a damp wood or open exposed field, even in your own lawn. Unlike the better known facsimile of the Indian pipe, similar only above the dark soil surface, Orobanche is a vampire. Indian pipes are an eerie looking harmless type of saprophyte, merely eating the dead remains of others and releasing what nutrients are locked within death’s cold embrace. But Orobanche is a true vampire, a full parasite feeding upon others as they live and breathe and grow. Though growing slower with the earthly bite of Orobanche soft and stubbornly laid upon their roots.

Young newly emerged flowers. Photo by Ivy Clark.

Young newly emerged flowers. Photo by Ivy Clark.

Mature enough hosts unknowingly release a biochemical lure that triggers the minute long-waiting Orobanche seeds to erupt from their shells, initially scattered far by the whipping prairie winds. They grow first as little more than transparent wisps that will perish if further than 3mm from a needed host root. Deep below the soil where the damp holds for ages, the fleshy somewhat tubular mass sends out a searching tendril that clasps at unsuspecting new hosts. Once the haustorium makes its predatory bond (think of them as vampire teeth in snaking root form) there is no hope for the unwilling host. They lay a strangle hold upon the victim’s root in an underground, unseen, slow-motion dance as their haustoria penetrate and seal connections over the goldenrod or saxifrage root. Then they draw at will upon the vasculature, the life blood, of the victim.

Orobanche long ago gave up on producing its own food, not bothering to make chlorophyll with its leaves mutated and shrunken to little more than reptilian scales. It is a relative of the often hemi-parasitic and fellow haustoria-producing family of Scrophulaceae like paintbrushes (see golden paintbrush below), though they look entirely different and hemi-parasites can go a full lifetime without feeding on others. But Orobache needs to feed from the very start to their last days. Their first root or radicle sniffs out the biochemical exuded from their victim like a blood hound tracks a scent, and must be close to quickly start its feeding before it runs out of its small seed-store of nutrients.

Castilleja levisecta, golden paintbrush, distant relative to broomrapes. Photo by Ivy Clark.

Castilleja levisecta, golden paintbrush, distant relative to broomrapes. Photo by Ivy Clark.

Once locked upon a root to suck from, the vampire Orobanche quickly engorges the upper portion into a nodule, swelling like a tuber. Then it sprouts new reaching tendrils that lurch towards the host roots, attaching in new places, and locking a firmer and firmer hold, ever feeding and draining. Yet a mature enough host may barely show a strain, like the vampire bat lapping an insignificant amount of blood from a full size cow. Soon the mass swells higher into a shoot, looking more like a docile photosynthesizing plant we well know.

The next flowers emerging below a fully open Orobanche pipe. Photo by Ivy Clark

Colony of naked The next flowers emerging below a fully open Orobanche pipe. Photo by Ivy Clark

After several weeks of feeding and swelling and distending, briefly they erupt above the crumbling soil purely to reproduce and spread their seed. And the search for more victims begins anew. They lay in wait for years, quietly and patiently sniffing for their next prey to happen near. Careful where you step my dears. If fear grips you as an exotic noxious Orobanchacea species feeds too much upon your tender crops, a few species of alluring biochemical-producing plants may trick the pest into germinating its seeds but not be able to connect and sap life from their roots. These plants include bell peppers and coat buttons (Tridax procumbens) and thus act as does garlic to bloodsucking undead, reducing a noxious infestation. The native vampire Orobanche uniflora is still beautiful and a beguiling uncommon wicked little gem. Be glad they don’t feed on us, and dare to take a peek into the small throat of the singular naked hairy purple pipe flowers. I’m pretty sure they don’t bite, but best to not poke even a little bear, don’t you think? A rose by any name still has thorns after all.

The shallow throat shows the pollen laden stamen within. Photo by Ivy Clark

The shallow throat shows the pollen laden stamen within. Photo by Ivy Clark

Additional reading including a similar page on their haustorium connections and semblance to vampires.

http://westerncascades.com/2015/05/02/attack-of-the-orobanche/

https://www.britannica.com/plant/broomrape

http://wssa.net/wp-content/themes/WSSA/WorldOfWeeds/orobanche.html

http://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2017/5/3/broomrape-whats-in-a-name

https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/orobanche/uniflora/

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rsg/profile.html?action=elementDetail&selectedElement=PDORO040F0

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/nyregion/parasite-flower-orobanche-uniflora.html

Gracie, Carol. April 2020. Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast: A Natural History. Princeton University Press, pg. 146-148

Wolf Haven, a magical place for plants and wildlife

Wolf Haven, a magical place for plants and wildlife, Post by Theodore B. Thomas, Photos Courtesy of Wofhaven

Theodore B. Thomas is Vice President of the Wolf Haven Board

Wolf Haven, a magical place for plants and wildlife

Wolf Haven is a special, magical wolf sanctuary in south Thurston County, WA. With its wolves, mysterious Mima Mounds and habitat suitable for a threatened plant (golden paintbrush, Castilleja levisecta), threatened and endangered wildlife (Mazama pocket gopher, Thomomys mazama) and several additional species of critical conservation value. Wolf Haven is truly a landscape microcosm of the south Puget Sound prairie ecosystem.

Wolf Haven was founded by Steve and Linda Kuntz in 1982 to provide a safe haven for captive displaced wolves in need of a home.

Bart

Bart

London and Kiawatha-Rescued Gray Wolves

London and Kiawatha-Rescued Gray Wolves

Shali, a rescued gray wolf and camas

Shali, a rescued gray wolf and camas

 

As recovery programs were launched for the highly endangered Mexican and red wolves, Wolf Haven became a captive breeding facility to support those programs. Wolf Haven is one of only three prerelease facilities in the country for Mexican wolves. Three families of Mexican wolves originating at Wolf Haven have been released in the wild in the Southwest and Mexico.

Gypsy, A Mexican Wolf

Gypsy, A Mexican Wolf

Red Wolf

Red Wolf

 

Concern over development encroaching on the sanctuary caused Wolf Haven leadership to purchase nine adjacent lots. They were covered in scotch broom and the mounds were barely discernible. So much has changed!

While we have sequestered ourselves, sheltering at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the prairie of Wolf Haven has come alive with rich color, texture and diversity and the wolves have flourished during their first winter of undisturbed quiet. The Wolf Haven prairie has been intensely managed for more than 2 decades. As our knowledge of how to best manage Puget Sound prairies has increased, the condition of Wolf Haven has shown constant improvement. Tree removal, control of invasive grasses and shrubs, the implementation of regular prescribed fire and heavy planting of locally propagated seed collected from native plants has created a high-quality prairie, which highlights our Puget Sound prairies on a relatively small footprint.

Prescribed Burn, Sanders Freed, Center for Natural Lands Management

Prescribed Burn, Sanders Freed, Center for Natural Lands Management

 

At this time, if you were to visit our local prairies virtually or at Washington DNR or DFW properties at Mima Mounds or Scatter Creek you might see late blooms of common camas (Camas quamash), but more likely you will see their seed pods developing.

Cams covering the prairie

Cams covering the prairie

 

Early blue violet (Viola adunca) may be found blooming now and continues to bloom into the fall. In the wetter portion of prairies, you might find giant Camas (Camas leichtlinii). Also, in the wetter areas of the prairie you will find shooting star (Dodecatheon pulchellum or D. hendersonii). Our local lomatiums or biscuitroot, Spring gold (Lomatium utriculatum) may be blooming now and later this spring, nineleaf and barestem biscuitroot (L. triternatum and L. nudicaule) will show up. Pink microsteris (Microsteris gracilis) can be found blooming on areas recently disturbed such as road cuts or trails, it is a native annual that behaves like a nonnative in its ability to establish abundantly in disturbed areas. Our annual lupine (Lupinus bicolor) can be found now and will be soon followed later in the season by sickle-keeled lupine (Lupinus albicaulis), which is developing large buds at this time. One of my spring favorites that is blooming now or may be completing is bloom is our lovely, graceful red columbine (Aquilegia formosa). And lastly I will speak of our native paintbrush species, which bloom at Wolf Haven. The golden paintbrush, Castilleja levisecta), as mentioned earlier is a Federally threatened species that has received tremendous conservation interest for the past several decades and is doing well on prairies where it receives management to promote its continued existence, like Wolf Haven. If you are out on our local prairies try to make sure you see this species; it is well represented at Wolf Haven and Mima Mounds.

Golden Paintbrush

Golden Paintbrush

 

The red or harsh paintbrush (Castilleja hispida) is equally beautiful, but has been found to hybridize with golden paintbrush, thus creating hybrid populations that reduce the conservation purity of golden paintbrush. We are therefore, doing our best to keep these species separate. At Wolf Haven, we do have small clump of polyploid harsh paintbrush, which has been shown to not hybridize with golden paintbrush. To find it and observe this clump at Wolf Haven is a treat as it is spectacular specimen.

The diversity of plants found on our south Puget Sound prairies is astounding and has been well described in the recent treatment by Bowcutt and Hamman 2016 “Vascular Plants of South Sound Prairies”. As many as 278 vascular plant species are known to inhabit South Puget Sound prairies, nearly 60% of them are considered native species (Dunwiddie et al. 2006). This means we have many nonnative plants occupying our prairies, many are of Eurasian origin and are common to Wolf Haven. Many of these are pasture grasses such as orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata), sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), which are both in great abundance at this time of spring. Other grasses like tall oatgrass (Arrhenatherum elatius), velvet grass (Holcus lanata) and colonial bentgrass (Agrostis capillaris) may be dominant later this spring/summer and compete for space with our native grasses and forbs. Some common nonnative forbs include hairy cats-ear (Hypochaeris radicata), English plantain (Plantago lanceolata), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), oxeye daisy (Leucathemum vulgare) and St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum). Each of these will become more abundant and noticeable as the season progresses, but their vegetative parts are evident now as we walk across the prairie. Another nonnative I have noticed blooming is common stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium).

Enjoy the prairies, they are a blessing for us to observe. We all should be thankful that our south Puget Sound prairies have received the attention and the management they require to sustain themselves. Many thanks to our Natural Resource agencies (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington Departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife and JBLM), the private landowners (including Wolf Haven) who conserve their grasslands and to organizations like the Center for Natural Lands Management who plan and implement the great conservation skills needed to sustain our local prairies.

Local Bird Update, June 7th

Local Bird Update, June 7th.  Post and photos by Dennis Plank

Dennis has been getting his knees muddy and his back sore pulling Scot’s Broom on the South Sound Prairies since 1998. In 2004, when the volunteers started managing Prairie Appreciation Day, he made the mistake of sending an email asking for “lessons learned” and got elected president of Friends of Puget Prairies-a title he appropriately renamed as “Chief Cat Herder”. He has now turned that over to Gail Trotter. Along the way, he has worked with a large number of very knowledgeable people and picked up a few things about the prairie ecosystem. He loves to photograph birds and flowers.

Local Bird Update, June 7th

It’s been quite some time since I gave the status of the birds that inhabit the prairies of the South Sound and I certainly don’t know what’s going on with all of them, but I can cover some of the more local ones that we see more or less regularly.

The pair of Western Bluebirds that nested in a box on our property fledged their first brood on May 23rd. We watched one come out and a second kept everyone in suspense until we gave up. However, they were all out the next morning. We’re not positive, but they fledged either 3 or 4 young which are now coming in with the adults, but still being fed by them. That won’t last long as the adult female has been carrying new nesting material to the box for the last three days.

A fledgling Western Bluebird from last year.  This year's haven't been as cooperative thus far.  Photo by Dennis Plank

A fledgling Western Bluebird from last year. This year’s haven’t been as cooperative thus far. Photo by Dennis Plank

Evening Grosbeaks showed up that same day in a group of about half a dozen and one pair seems to have stayed on. There are also two male Black-headed Grosbeaks coming to our feeder station and at least one female-I suspect there are two of those as well, but haven’t seen them together.

Cedar Waxwings have been popping in now and then to take a quick bath. I had one in point blank range of my camera a few days ago and then through a glitch managed to accidentally delete the files before I downloaded them.

A Cedar Waxwing in place of the one I accidentally deleted.

A Cedar Waxwing in place of the one I accidentally deleted. Photo by Dennis Plank

Earlier this spring, there was a pair of Violet-Green Swallows that had obviously claimed one of the boxes in the back yard, but weren’t ready to actually start raising a brood yet. As nearly as we can figure out, when the swallows were out foraging one afternoon a pair of Black-Capped Chickadees discovered the box and liked its looks even though it’s huge for them. For awhile it was completely confusing with both species perching on top and going in and out of the box. Eventually, the Chickadees seem to have prevailed and have raised a brood (my wife saw an adult feeding a fledgling) and are working on their second. Hopefully the swallows found another box as there were several still available.

The Chickadees have been very circupspect about approaching the nest box, so I don't have any shots of the birds approaching the box, but this is from earlier this year.  Photo by Dennis Plank.

The Chickadees have been very circupspect about approaching the nest box, so I don’t have any shots of the birds approaching the box, but this is from earlier this year. Photo by Dennis Plank.

Some of the Tree Swallows have already fledged and there’s a box in front of the house with young sticking their heads out, so it won’t be long for them. Though the books say tree swallows aren’t supposed to double clutch, most of ours appear to do so, though we don’t monitor them really closely and it is possible that it’s couples that lost their first brood.

Tree Swallow getting anxious to fledge.  It probably has another few days.  Photo by Dennis Plank.

Tree Swallow getting anxious to fledge. It probably has another few days. Photo by Dennis Plank.

Judging by the number of shell fragments on the ground, most of the Cliff Swallows in their colony on the end of our garage have hatched young some time ago and they will be starting to fledge before long. Interestingly, we have six nesting cups on the garage for them and I’d put cedar roofs over a couple of them because they seemed to like a close overhead save mud. This year we have seven pairs because one built their nest on the roof of another.

The Cliff Swallow Duplex.  Photo by Dennis Plank.

The Cliff Swallow Duplex. Photo by Dennis Plank.

 

Cliff Swallows on nest cup from last year.  Photo by Dennis Plank

Cliff Swallows on nest cup from last year. Photo by Dennis Plank

The American Goldfinches are here in force and we’ve started seeing mobs of males chasing females around, so it looks like they’ll be settling down fairly soon. They’re later to breed than most of the songbirds as they don’t feed their young on insects but Goldfinches feed theirs a strict diet of regurgitated seeds, so they have to wait until sufficient seeds are available.. We have a partially leucistic male this year and it seems like a lot of the females are more grayish than normal, though I have no idea why that would happen.

Partially leucistic male American Goldfinch.  Photo by Dennis Plank

Partially leucistic male American Goldfinch. Photo by Dennis Plank

A very gray female American Goldfinch.  Photo by Dennis Plank

A very gray female American Goldfinch. Photo by Dennis Plank

The Purple Martins are starting to nest and lay eggs. At last count, one gourd had 5 eggs, another 3 and a singleton. The Martins are rather odd in that we have six gourds, but always seem to have more than 12 adults hanging around. This morning we counted 20 and there may have been more.

I count eighteen in this image.  There are only six gourds.  Photo by Dennis Plank

I count eighteen in this image. There are only six gourds. Photo by Dennis Plank

We’ve seen young Juncos and young Savannah Sparrow for the last week or so, but I hear Savannahs singing on territory, so they’re probably working on a second brood.

Our pair of Kestrels still seems to be doing fine, with regular visits from the male to bring food to the female. It’s been going on long enough that the chicks should be hatched by now and I’m expecting both adults to be foraging for the young pretty soon.

Kestrel on box.  Taken last year.  After last year's nesting failure, I'm being very cautious with them.  Photo by Dennis Plank

Kestrel on box. Taken last year. After last year’s nesting failure, I’m being very cautious with them. Photo by Dennis Plank

Further afield, with things opening up now, I’ve been able to go out on the Glacial Heritage Preserve a couple of times to pull Scotch Broom even though formal workdays haven’t resumed yet. While out there I’ve seen a Meadowlark fledgling and heard a number of males still singing on territory. I had the privilege of hearing one male singing unusually softly and going through his entire repertoire. It was a marvelous experience. When I told my wife, who is really into Meadowlarks, about it, she said it was a kind of contact song to his females to let them know he was about (and probably that he’d protect them from that ugly two-legged monster).

I have a tough time getting near our local Meadowlarks.  This was from Northern California in February.  Photo by Dennis Plank

I have a tough time getting near our local Meadowlarks. This was from Northern California in February. Photo by Dennis Plank

Butterflies, Cows and Caterpillars: Can Cattle Grazing Help Butterflies?

Butterflies, Cows and Caterpillars: Can Cattle Grazing Help Butterflies?, Post by Samantha Bussan, Photos by Samantha Bussan and Christopher Jason.

Samantha Bussan is a PhD Candidate in Cheryl Schultz’ Conservation Biology Lab at Washington State University Vancouver. Her work is focused on conserving native species in working lands. She can be contacted with further questions at samantha.bussan@wsu.edu.

Butterflies, Cows and Caterpillars:  Can Cattle Grazing help Butterflies?

Curious cattle inspecting us in the pasture. Photo by Samantha Bussan

Curious cattle inspecting us in the pasture. Photo by Samantha Bussan

Fields full of cows are a familiar sight around the South Puget Sound. But did you know that much of what is now pasture used to be prairie? South Puget Sound prairies have suffered a dramatic decline since European settlement due to fire suppression, urbanization, and conversion to agriculture. This severe habitat loss puts many native plants and animals at risk of extinction. Some people believe that the only way to provide habitat for these plants and animals is to remove cattle grazing and restore the prairies.

However, there is research showing that cattle grazing may benefit grassland butterflies, plants, and many other groups by increasing plant community diversity and the proportion of flowering plants, and by preventing the encroachment of woody plant species which would shade out grassland plants. Much of the research on cattle grazing and butterflies has taken place in semi-natural grasslands in Europe. There is comparatively little work in the US, and most of the US-based studies have focused on Midwestern prairies.

My work aims to understand whether there is a potential for cattle grazing to contribute to prairie butterfly habitat in the South Puget Sound. I have two main projects related to cows and butterflies.

My two study species. Left: Silvery blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) male. Photo by Samantha Bussan. Right: Ochre Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia eunomia). Photo by Christopher Jason.

My two study species. Left: Silvery blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) male. Photo by Samantha Bussan. Right: Ochre Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia eunomia). Photo by Christopher Jason.

The first project used butterfly behavior as an index of habitat quality under different types of management. The first type was “conventional” grazing, which I defined as cows having access to the whole pasture throughout the season. The second type was “conservation” grazing, which I defined as rotational grazing, where cows are moved around to give the plant community more time to recover between grazing periods, and a spring rest period, where cows are kept off the pasture in early spring when many plants (and caterpillars) are more vulnerable to grazing. There were also two native prairie sites, Johnson Prairie on Joint Base Lewis McCord, and West Rocky Prairie which is owned by WDFW. I followed adult butterflies of two common native species (silvery blues, Glaucopsyche lygdamus; and ochre ringlets, Coenonympha tullia eunomia) to see how they behaved under the different management types. Anecdotally, I found that as long as the host plant and nectar resources that they needed were present, the butterflies seemed to use them regardless of grazing management. This tells me that there is a potential for conservation grazing to contribute to butterfly habitat in the landscape.

My second project, which I am working on this summer, is comparing adult butterfly habitat preference with larval performance. I am working on a ranch with two different grazing treatments that are similar to the conventional and conservation grazing types described above. I release butterflies along the border between treatments to see if they have a preference for one type of habitat over another. I will also place caterpillars in the treatments and compare their residence times (how many days we were able to observe them), which is a proxy for survival. I am currently about halfway through data collection for this project, so stay tuned!

While more analysis is needed before I say for sure, conservation grazing may help maintain or improve habitat for butterflies by increasing nectar and host plant availability, which butterflies seem to recognize as good habitat.

Pastures that are managed in a way that provides resources for butterflies as well as cows may have a potential to contribute to butterfly habitat in the landscape.  Left: A pasture with lots of Camas bloom.  Camas is an important nectar plant for early season butterflies.  Right: A female silvery blue butterfly lays eggs on lupine in a pasture.  Both photos by Samantha Bussan.

Pastures that are managed in a way that provides resources for butterflies as well as cows may have a potential to contribute to butterfly habitat in the landscape. Left: A pasture with lots of Camas bloom. Camas is an important nectar plant for early season butterflies. Right: A female silvery blue butterfly lays eggs on lupine in a pasture. Both photos by Samantha Bussan.