Long days and spring rains bring...

... wildflowers galore! The woods are decorated with splashes of color both above and below this week. Warm, wet weather and longer days have coaxed wildflowers out of their slumber. On a recent bike ride along the Rims I spotted shooting stars (right), spring beauties (below), wild white lilies, and a lovely yellow flower in the pea family. In gardens tulips and daffodils are in full bloom. Lilacs are sure to emerge soon and sweetly scented breezes will blow across town.

At this time of year it is hard not to feel happy and full of life. The songs of birds fill the air as they stake out their territories and call for mates. While we have enjoyed our friends the chickadees and woodpeckers for the past few months, other feathered friends have been to southern climes where warm weather and food were abundant. They have now returned, adding their songs and vivid colors to the canopies. Yellow warblers (right), tree swallows, goldfinches (below), house wrens, mergansers, spotted sandpipers, the list goes on and on! As each species returns, I make note of it in my journal. Next year I can compare the birds' arrival and departure times with the weather and their presence/absence this year. The joy of phenology comes from watching patterns emerge and noting aberations from the norm. Nature is full of many a marvel!

Nesting Owls

Recently one of our dedicated volunteers snapped this photo of a great horned owl that is nesting on Norm's Island. The pair is not shy of people, as they have chosen to build their nest right above a main walking trail!
The great horned owl is one of the most common owls in the Americas. We first noticed the pair nesting on the island about a month ago, in early March. They use a variety of nest sites, and typically won't make their own nest, preferring instead to take over a nest made by another species. They will have one to five eggs at a time, and the young owls hatch in a fairly helpless condition. They are one of the earliest mating and nesting birds; the young owls should be hatching very soon. Meanwhile, other birds are still returning from a winter in the south and haven't began to build nests yet.
Stop by to visit us and see the owls soon!

Several Signs of Spring

There has been a flurry of activity in the Yellowstone River Valley as days become longer and the earth warms up. Recent weeks have brought the return of belted kingfishers, mountain bluebirds, great blue herons, sandhill cranes, and red-winged blackbirds. The painted turtles have woken up out of hibernation in the deep mud beneath Will's Marsh.

On a recent trip to look at schoolyard wildlife in Pryor, students found several grasshoppers. There are over 400 species of grasshoppers in the 17 western states. Grasshopper embryos suspend growth in the fall and enter a period of diapause (a dormant period). As the earth warms in the spring, the embroys continue growth and hatch out of their eggs. The diapause ends when soil temperatures reach an average of 50 - 55 degrees F. Grasshoppers undergo simple metamorphosis, as opposed to complete metamorphosis seen in butterflies and the majority of other insects. The insect that hatches out of the egg is called a nymph. It looks like the adult except that it is smaller and does not have wings. Young grasshoppers shed their skin as they grow from the nymph stage to adulthood.
Grasshoppers eat primarily grasses, though some species also eat forbs. They can be a destructive force on farmer's crops during years when the population swells. For a complete discussion of this fascinating insect, visit the USDA's online Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers.