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What was Spotted at Riveredge This Week?
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Fall colors have started to arrive throughout RNC’s sanctuary! Many of the native grasses such as Indian grass, side oats gramma, and big bluestem are blooming. Come out and see what’s happening!!
This week’s Spot-Light items include…
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 Indian Grass
(Sorghastrum nutans) (photo by Mandie Zopp)
Indian grass is one of the beautiful, and often dominant, autumn grasses often seen prairie ecosystems. This native perennial grass grows 3-7 ft. tall and displays a reddish-golden brown color. The blooming period occurs during late summer to early fall. Several species of grasshoppers feed on the foliage of Indian grass; these grasshoppers are an important source of food to many songbirds and upland gamebirds.
Click the image to enlarge...
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 Swamp Lousewort
(Pedicularis lanceolata) (Photo by Mandie Zopp)
Swamp lousewort can be confused with a related plant, wood betony. Swamp lousewort, however, is a taller, more upright plant, and its leaves have no stalk or only a very short stalk. These plants typically grow between 1-2 ft. high in wet meadows and swamps. Flowers are typically off-white or light yellow in color and bloom from August to September.
Click the image to enlarge...
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 Beechdrops
(Epifagus americana) (Photo by Mandie Zopp)
Beechdrops are parasitic plants on beech trees. Due to the lack of chlorophyll in this plant, it finds it’s nutrients not from photosynthesis but from the roots of beech trees. The plant grows 6-20 inches and produces very small reddish brown flowers. Bloom time for beech drops is from August to October. Beechdrops look like the dying stems of some small forest herb and are easily overlooked – especially since they only appear aboveground to flower for a few weeks in the fall.
Click image to enlarge...
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 Indian Pipe
(Monotropa uniflora) (Photo by Mandie Zopp)
Indian pipe, also known as Corpse Plant or Ghost Plant, is one of the easiest plants to recognize. Unlike most plants, Indian Pipe doesn’t have chlorophyll, the stuff that makes plants green. Indian pipe is waxy, whitish color turning black as it ages and only grows 4-10 inches tall. This plant can typically be found from June to September growing in shady woods in areas near dead tree stumps and decaying plant matter. Due to the lack of chlorophyll, this plant parasitizes fungus growing on decaying material (or trees) to acquire its energy.
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| NEW SPECIES AT RIVEREDGE! |
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Green-Legged Grasshopper 
(Melanoplus viridipes) (photo by Roy Brown, http://bugguide.net)
This grasshopper is part of the large genus Melanoplus, also known as spur-throat grasshoppers. The largest grasshoppers of this genus can reach nearly 5 cm (2.0 in) in length, but most are smaller. The green-legged grasshopper has solid green forelegs and midlegs, a black lateral stripe running full length of the pronotum (area behind the head), and short wings covering less than half of the abdomen. In addition, it is typical to see distinct brown or black markings on the hind femur. This grasshopper can be found on the ground or low vegetation in open woods or wood edges, with adults becoming identifiable between May and August. They feed on the leaves, and sometimes fruit, flowers, and buds, as well as tree bark.
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| NEW BIRD SPOTTED AT RIVEREDGE! |
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 LAWRENCE’S WARBLER Banded at Riveredge MAPS Program on July 1, 2012!
A Lawrence’s Warbler was banded at Riveredge Nature Center on Sunday, July 1, 2012. They have never been seen before at the Center much less banded. It was caught in a net on the east side of Shorebird Pond around 9:00 AM. After being extracted from the net it was quickly banded by licensed bander, Al Sherkow. Information was taken about its age, sex and general health before pictures were taken and it was released.
Lawrence’s are hybrids between two closely related species, the Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers. David Sibley in his book  The Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America states that “these warblers hybridize regularly. Hybrids paired with either species produce a variety of back crosses (including the Lawrence’s). Backcrosses show a continuum of variation between the parent species. Songs may be like with parent or, more often, an abnormal combination of both.”
Golden-winged Warblers are listed by the DNR as a species of Special Concern in Wisconsin. They’re Endangered in Indiana, Ohio, Massachusetts and Georgia and Threatened in Kentucky. Golden-wings have been replaced by Blue-winged Warblers across many areas where their breeding ranges overlap. Hybridizing effectively reduces the number of “pure” individuals in populations of each species. Studies indicate considerable genetic mixing between the species where they co-occur. The level of threat posed by hybridization is unclear, but it is potentially a local problem where both species occur.
Submit any observations of Golden-winged Warblers to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird at www.ebird.org. Look for individuals with unique color band combinations on their legs. Report the combination to the USGS Bird Banding Lab at http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/. |
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| NEW SPECIES AT RIVEREDGE! |
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Swamp Darner
(Epiaeschna heros)
Riveredge Volunteer, Kate Redmond, found and photographed a new species at RNC yesterday. The Swamp Darner (Epiaeschna heros) is a species of special concern in WI that rarely strays into our area.
Kurt Mead in Dragonflies of the North Woods describes it as “a large brown dragonfly with green thoracic stripes and green abdominal rings. The female has leaf-shaped abdominal appendages (cerci). Wings may be tinted (“tea-stained”). Their head is very broad. Eyes are bright blue. No other darner is brown with green abdomen rings.”
It is one of “six species that do not occur regularly in WI but live around its periphery. None of them are rare in their home ranges but are notable finds in WI. A species range is not set in stone, but may move over time in response to environmental changes like global climate change and habitat destruction.”
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