Monarch Resources

Milkweed Talk Title Slide

Milkweed Community Title Slide showing clockwise from upper left–Great Spangled Fritillary, Black-sided Pygmy Grasshopper, Monarch, Red-Blue Checkered Beetle

The Milkweed plant community is a fascinating place to just stand around in and watch what comes by. I have a talk “The Milkweed Community: More Than Monarchs (but Monarchs are cool!) on the many members of this community and the following are resources mentioned in that talk.

Websites about Monarch Butterflies

Monarch Watch has a helpful guide for identifying, and growing milkweeds. They also have information on Monarch conservation, biology, and different research projects including their Monarch tagging project.

The National Wildlife Federation’s Monarch Butterfly page is a good source of general Monarch information.

Monarch Joint Venture has general information including great life-cycle information.

“Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) and milkweeds (Asclepias species): The current situation and methods for propagating milkweeds” by Tara Luna and R. Kasten Dumroese. This publication explains the international program underway to conserve populations of Monarchs. It describes the migration of the butterfly and also has information on propagating Milkweed.

Monarch Butterfly Journey North has general information but also tracks the population size and migration of Monarchs

Watch for tagged Monarchs

Watch for tagged Monarchs

Websites for Identifying Members of the Milkweed Community

Bug Guide is a site for “Identification, Images, & Information For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin For the United States & Canada.” The Iowa State University Department of Entomology provides this great resource. This is the first site I look at when I identify an insect.

The Herbarium of the University of Michigan provides the Michigan Flora Homepage with keys, range maps and photos of all flowering plants and ferns known in the wild in Michigan.

This site is dedicated to the conservation and identification of Bumble Bees. They have helpful drawings of the color patterns of different Bumble Bee species.

Author in a stand of Common Milkweed

Author in a stand of Common Milkweed

Books for Identifying Members of the Milkweed Community

Brenda Dziedzic. 2019. Raising Butterflies in the Garden. Firefly Books.

Jason Gibbs, Ashley Bennett, Rufus Isaacs and Joy Landis. 2015. Bees of the Great Lakes Region and Wildflowers to Support Them: A guide for farmers, gardeners and landscapers. Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E3282. (An excellent and inexpensive guide to Michigan’s bees. My review can be found here.)

Jeffrey Hahn. 2009. Insects of the North Woods. Kollath+Stensaas. The entire North Woods series is excellent and useful for the entire state of Michigan. (see Larry Weber’s book cited below)

Mogens C. Nielsen. 1999. Michigan Butterflies & Skippers. Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E-2675.

Ba Rea, Karen  Oberhauser and Michael A. Quinn. 2010. Milkweeds, Monarchs and More: A Field Guide to the Invertebrate Community in the Milkweed Patch (Second Edition). Bas Relief, LLC. This 80 page book is a great guide for the beginner and it would make a good student field guide for classroom use.

Larry Weber. 2013. Spiders of the North Woods. (Second Edition). Kollath+Stensaas.

Paul Williams, Robin Thorp, Leif Richardson and Sheila Colla. 2014. An Identification Guide: Bumble Bees of North America. Princeton University Press.

Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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A Visit to a Fen

Fens are fascinating. They are sedge peat areas with little, if any, standing water. Groundwater flows through a peat layer that is close to the surface. Less acid than a sphagnum bog, fens host a different community of plants and animals. Unfortunately, Glossy Buckthorn is invading many of our southeast Michigan fens. Recently we checked on a favorite fen, looking for invasive species. Thankfully, none were found but we had a reason to explore the fen for several hours.

Cambarus polychromatus

Paintedhand Mudbug

Walking into the fen on a narrow trail Joyce came across a crayfish. It stood defiantly in the center of the trail, reared up on its tail, pincers waving, antennae flexing through the air. Joyce got her walking stick too close and the crayfish lunged at it. Joyce stepped over him and the crayfish spun to face me. I felt as if I was Tolkien’s Balrog facing a mini lobster Gandolf. “You cannot pass.” [Note: It is only in the movie that he says, “You shall not pass.”] As I stepped over him, he charged my boot. I looked back and he was still guarding his path.

Physocarpus opulifolius

Ninebark

Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) flowered along the trail holding some of its flower clusters at shoulder height. Five-petaled flowers, lobed sepals united at their bases to form a calyx tube, and its many stamens tell me that this is a member of the Rose Family (Rosaceae). Half spherical clusters of white to pinkish flowers with petals dotted in black result in this being one of our showier native shrubs. Its exfoliating (separating into layers) bark is said to give rise to the common name although I have never seen one with nine layers. Another explanation is that it is a corruption of the German word “nein” meaning no. “No bark” better explains the look of this plant.

Cypripedium reginae

Showy Lady-slipper group with last years seed capsules L Closeup of flowers R

A Showy Lady-slipper (Cypripedium reginae) blossomed under a Ninebark. It is our largest native orchid and this plant stood 2 feet (.6m) tall. A pair of flowers topped the plant; one at its prime, emitting a faint vanilla scent, and the other fading. We saw approximately 150 plants. A few Lady-slippers were past flowering, 50 non-blooming, 50 flowering, and 40 in bud. It is a healthy population.

Rhamnus alnifolia

Alder-leaf Buckthorn

Rhamnus-alnifolia

Alder-leaf Buckthorn showing fruit and flower

Our native Buckthorn, Alder-leaf Buckthorn (Rhamnus alnifolia) grew in two small colonies, one with three stems and the other with six. Alder-leaf Buckthorn seldom forms large stands and is not invasive like Glossy or European Buckthorn is. Toothed, strictly alternate leaves, with branches never tipped with spines, characterize Alder-leaf Buckthorn. This plant is seldom over 3 feet (1m) tall. I have seen plants cut and poisoned by over-zealous invasive species hunters. Anyone working to eradicate our invasive Buckthorns should learn to distinguish this native species.

Toxicodendron vernix

Poison Sumac

Poison Sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) flowered in a low, wetter, section of the fen. Shiny leaflets, red petioles, and gray bark are characters of this tall shrub. Urushiol oil, the same oil as Poison Ivy has, is found in all parts of the plant and many people are allergic to it.

Fens are delicate environments and require monitoring for invasive threats. Monitoring provides a great excuse to spend a few hours poking around outdoors.

I later learned that Michigan has eight to ten species of crayfish and this one is a native named Paintedhand Mudbug (Cambarus polychromatus). Crayfish Ontario, part of the Bishops Mills Natural History Centre has a nice guide for Crayfish identification. Mael Glon from Ohio State University corrected an earlier misidentification of this crayfish. Checkout his Crayfishes of Michigan page. Thanks Mael.
Copyright 2015 by Donald Drife

Revised March 2018

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Jack Pine Management

Setophaga kirtlandii

Male Kirtland’s Warbler

In the northern half of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula 150000 acres, approximately 235 square miles, of mainly Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) are managed to provide habitat for the endangered Kirtland’s Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii). At any given time approximately 38,000 acres are suitable nesting habitat.

After an area is logged, it is furrowed and then planted with 6 inch [15 cm] tall Jack Pine seedlings. Some Oaks (Quercus spp.) and some tall Pines (Pinus spp.) are left to provide perching sites for the warbler’s territorial singing. Jack Pines are not planted in continuous stands but contain grassy openings. Kirtland’s Warblers nest on the ground, normally at the edges of these openings. When the pines are 5-8 feet (2-3m) in height nesting begins. Nesting continues as long as there are branches touching the ground and the branches of adjoining trees. Four to eight years are required for the pines to reach nesting size and they are suitable for nesting for 12-15 years. After another 30 years or so, the forest is cut for pulpwood and the cycle begins again.

Photo by Bob Anderson copyright 2009

Figure 1 Photo by Bob Anderson copyright 2009

Figure no. 1 shows a Kirtland planting at the end of its first year. Furrows are still visible and you can see the tops of seedling Jack Pines. Figure no. 2 shows the same area five years later. Oak #1 has grown but the “pine stand” is mostly unchanged. Kirtland’s Warblers started to nest in the Figure no. 2 stand.

Photo by Dave Bissonette copyright 2014

Figure 2 Photo by Dave Bissonette copyright 2014

Management areas produce habitat for other species. Hill’s Thistle (Cirsium hillii) is a state threatened species. At most two feet [.6m] high it has large, pink, flowers that dot the plantings. Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) and Sweet-Fern (Comptonia peregrina) also inhabit the areas.  Northern Apple Sphinx Moth larva (Sphinx poecila) feed on Sweet-fern.

Cirsium hillii

Hill’s Thistle

Sphinx poecila

L Northern Apple Sphinx Moth larva R Wood Lily

The Kirtland’s management areas are helping the warbler to recover. It is also altering the landscape, providing homes for a large number of other species.
Copyright 2015 by Donald Drife

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Hello to Mr. Olson’s class at Coweta High School, Coweta, Oklahoma.