In early spring, the striped skunk mated and now the females are caring for their 4-5 young and teaching them to hunt. The little ones will soon learn to eat a little bit of everything: insects, small mammals, birds, eggs, fruits, nuts, and grains. Skunks will even attack nests of bees and ants. They wait for the bees to leave their hive and then grab them out of the air to nibble on. Skunks live in burrows that have been made by other animals or that they create using their long front claws.

Did you know?

Striped skunks are nocturnal and have a wonderful sense of hearing, but not the best vision. A skunk can spray at only one month of age, and can accurately spray a target over six feet away!

Learn more: Animal Diversity Web

White water lilies are blooming all over Minister Lake at this time of year. The plant prefers quiet ponds and lakes, and its plate-sized leaves are great resting places for frogs and insects such as dragonflies. You may even catch a whiff of this common aquatic plant’s fragrant flowers. Their petals unfurl in the mornings and then begin to close again by the afternoon.

Did you know?

Muskrats like to munch on the roots of this plant.

Learn more: Robert Freckmann Herbarium

As you’ve walked along the edges of Sunset or Minister Lake, you’ve likely heard the repetitive call of this small bird. Its call is a distinctive, scratchy “wich-i-ty, wich-i-ty, wich-i-ty” that you’ll probably hear coming from the shrubs around a wetland habitat. The common yellowthroat is a type of bird called a warbler. Warblers spend only a small part of the year here in Wisconsin where they breed and raise their young. Like most birds, the male common yellowthroat with his black mask and bright yellow throat, is much fancier than the female with her brown head and light yellow throat. The common yellowthroat loves to munch on insects and spiders, which it plucks off of plants.

Did you know?

Because these small birds live near water, they are prey to many of the predators that also enjoy that habitat. In one case, a common yellowthroat was found in the stomach of a largemouth bass!

Learn more:  Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Black-eyed Susan is easily spotted with its bright yellow flowers. The plant reaches 2 to 3 feet in height and has a stiff stem and leaves covered in coarse hair. You will see these bright flowers in the fields and open wooded areas from June thru October. In fact, this is one of the most common of all American wildflowers. Many flies and bees love to feed from its blooms, but most other wildlife avoid eating it because of its bristly leaves and stems.

The roots of this plant were used by the Ojibwa, Menominee, and Potawatomi tribes for its medicinal properties as a diuretic, a poultice for snake bites, and a cure for colds.  The black-eyed Susan flower was also used to make a yellow dye. 

Did you know?

This cheerful flower is used to create a blanket of blooms which covers the winning horse at the famous Preakness Horse Race.

Learn more: Robert Freckmann Herbarium

Have you heard a loud buzzing on a warm July afternoon? If you have it was most likely one of the loudest insects around…the cicada. The most common species of cicada in Wisconsin is the dog-day cicada. Cicadas attract a mate with their loud buzzing, which is made by drum-like organs near its belly that are vibrated very quickly. After mating, the females insert eggs into tree branches. When the eggs hatch, the young larvae crawl into the ground where they live and feed on root juices for about 2 years. Other species of cicadas spend more time as a larva beneath the dirt. When the time is right, the larvae will come above ground and split their skins before emerging as large-eyed, winged adults. Chances are good that you will find one of these shed skins (or exoskeletons) clinging to a tree branch or porch railing. After spending all that time in the ground, an adult dog-day cicada only lives a few short weeks.

Did you know?

Some species of cicadas, called periodical cicadas, live in the ground as larvae for 17 years. They then seem to emerge as adults all at once and can make for very noisy time! Periodical cicadas emerge in late spring and early summer, unlike the dog-days cicadas that come above ground in mid-summer.

Learn more: Wisconsin DNR

This delicate, bell-shaped flower has been blooming in the sunnier areas at CWES for a few weeks now. The slender plants are much hardier than they appear and can be found growing even in rocky or sandy areas. The leaves on its upper stem are long and thin, while the basal leaves (leaves growing just at the base of the plant) are round. We will get to see this plant blooming late into summer.

Did you know?

Harebell was once used for a blue dye in Scotland where the plant can also be found.

Learn more:  Robert Freckmann Herbarium

Chances are good that you have seen blue jays in your own backyard. Watch them closely this month as the parents venture out and about with their full-sized young. Most adults bred between April and May, and both males and females prepared the nest and reared the young. Blue jays are not picky about their nest location and will occasionally use other bird’s nests.  Less than three weeks after their 4-5 eggs hatched, the blue jays’ chicks are ready to fly. They will now stay around the parents, learning how to hunt until early fall when they head out on their own.

Listen closely at this time of year and you are likely to hear the sound of young blue jays begging for food from their busy parents. Blue jays are omnivorous and have strong bills for cracking nuts, acorns, and corn while also eating seeds, grain, and insects such as caterpillars and grasshoppers. They have been known to eat the eggs and nestlings of other birds. 

Did you know?

The blue jay has a wide variety of calls and sounds, and can learn to mimic other bird’s calls as well as human speech. 

Learn more: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Ringing the shores of Minister Lake is a plant that has long been used by humans. Boneset has been used to treat a variety of ailments ranging from fevers to influenza. Humans aren’t the only ones to enjoy this plant though, it is also well-used by flies, bees, and caterpillars. This week, take a whiff of its fragrant heads of tiny white flowers. These flowers will eventually give way to tufted seeds that will be moved by the wind. If you take a close look at the rest of the plant, you’ll find that its leaves appear to be pierced right through their middle by the stem. The leaves also have a slightly wrinkled texture.

Did you know?

This plant was never used to heal broken bones as you might guess from its name, instead it was used to cure an illness called break bone fever which caused severe bone and joint pain.

All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. In fact, a bug is a certain type of insect in the order Hemiptera. A true bug has a mouth shaped like a straw. This mouthpart is called a stylus and is used to suck up plant juices or the bodily juices of other insects. Most bugs can fold this tube under their bodies when they aren’t feeding. Another tell-tale sign that you are looking at a bug is its wings. The hind, or back, wings of a bug are usually clear, while their first pair of wings are half leathery-looking and half clear. Examples of true bugs are water striders, assassin bugs, stink bugs, box elder bugs, and water boatmen.

Did you know?

The stink bugs, a true bug commonly found in Wisconsin, gets its name from an odor it produces in glands in its thorax (the middle segment of its body).

Learn more: University of Kentucky Entomology

Watch for the muskrats that occasionally use Minister Lake. This sleek, dark creature is often mistaken for a beaver, but it is smaller (only about half the size of a beaver). A muskrat also has a much thinner tail than a beaver, and it looks very rat-like. Muskrats construct their own homes near the water’s edge from aquatic plants like cattails. These lodges look like small heaps of dead plants and provide the muskrats with warmth and protection. Within these lodges, a muskrat usually has over one litter of 1-10 young each summer. These young can swim at just 10 days old, and are on their own after just one month. This means that over the course of a summer, a muskrat can have quite a few young. If you’re lucky you might just catch a peek of one swimming about the lake in search of food.

This member of the rodent family eats mostly plants, and needs to consume about a third of its weight each day in order to survive! As they swim underwater to nibble plant roots, muskrats can hold their breathe for up to 15 minutes. This helpful adaptation allows muskrats to evade predators such as raccoons, minks, and the humans who use their furs.

Did you know?

Muskrats get their name from a gland near their tail that makes a musky secretion. They use this musk to communicate with one another, especially during the mating season.

Learn more: Animal Diversity Web

Daddy longlegs, also called harvestmen, are fascinating and misunderstood creatures. They are very close relatives to spiders, scorpions, ticks, and mites, and are within the same Arachnida Class. Because of this, daddy longlegs are often mistaken for spiders. So, how can you tell the difference?  Well, if you are willing to take a closer look, you’ll find that spiders have two body segments, a head and a fat abdomen, and daddy longlegs have only one rounded body segment. Spiders usually have about 8 eyes, but daddy longlegs have just 2. Also, daddy longlegs typically eat dead and decaying plant and animal matter unlike most spiders. The 8 long legs that this creature gets is name from are sometimes 30 times the size of their bodies. Daddy longlegs are very particular about these appendages and spend a great deal of time cleaning them. If this tiny creature loses a leg, the leg will continue to twitch for some time, possibly distracting predators while the daddy longlegs escapes.

Did you know?

Myth alert! Have you ever heard that the daddy longlegs is the most venomous creature on earth, but its mouth is just too small to harm us? Not true. In fact, a daddy longlegs has no fangs or venom to speak of. They have no need for either, because most of what they eat is already dead.

Learn more: Wisconsin Natural Resources