September: Week 1

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Bellflower
Creeping Bellflower
(photos from Freckmann Herbarium)

What's Blooming?

Creeping bellflowers are also blooming near the road to Minister Lake. These tall plants have tiers of purple, bell-shaped flowers and are originally from Europe. Along the hillsides of Minister Lake, you're likely to find white snakeroot blooming. Early settlers used to believe that the roots of this plant cured snakebites. Unfortunately, the plant is actually toxic and can cause "milk sickness." This occurs when the plant's toxins pass through the milk of cows into humans!

Learn more: Freckmann Herbarium-Creeping Bellflower

                  Freckmann Herbarium-White Snakeroot

 

What is That Strange Looking Fruit?

Wild Cucumber

The Latin name for the wild cucumber, Echinocystis lobata, means hedgehog bladder and perfectly describes the strange fruit of this plant.

Inside the fruit are 4 brown or black seeds that are eventually shot out of the plant by hydrostatic pressure at speeds up to 25 mph!

This viney plant is a member of the gourd family and has tiny, white flowers from July to late August. It's found in moist soils near the trails at CWES.

jack in the pulpit 

​Jack in the Pulpit

When the pulpit of jack-in-the-pulpit withers away in fall, a red cluster of berries is seen. These berries are best avoided, as they create an intense burning in the mouth if eaten.

This odd plant blooms from April to June in the shade of woods and forests, and can actually change sex from one year to the next! If it is a plentiful year and the plant has stored lots of food, the next year it will produce female flowers and two sets of leaves. If the plant has not had a good growing season, the next year it will produce male flowers and one set of leaves. The female plants produce the stalk of red berries that we see in the fall.

White Baneberry

​White Baneberry

White baneberry is also called doll's eyes because of the strange and poisonous berries it produces. The word "bane" actually means to cause death.

This plant likes the damp, shaded woods of CWES, and produces a stalk with a cluster of tiny white flowers from May to June.

Photo by Emmet Judziewicz
All images were taken from the Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium

 
garter snake

The Common Garter Snake Gives Birth!

Garter snakes mate in early spring in a huge mass, usually one larger female with dozens of smaller males-only one of which will successfully breed. By late August and early September, garter snakes give live birth. A single female may produce up to seventy young!

As the temperatures cool, these creatures look for good places to hibernate. Sometimes they are found in our basements and garages as they search for ideal spots.

Common garter snakes are found in every county of Wisconsin. They eat frogs, toads, salamanders, fish, earthworms, and insects. They can bite, but have no fangs or poison. Instead, they protect themselves by producing a very stinky musk to deter predators. If they can evade their enemies, they may live up to ten years!

Learn more:  Animal Diversity Web

 

Super Snakes

EYES: Did you know that snakes have no eyelids? Instead they have clear scales that cover their eyes. These scales are shed along with the other scales on the snake's body. A good way to tell when a snake is about to shed is to look at their eyes, if the scales covering them are a cloudy color they will shed soon.

EARS: Snakes have no ears, instead they hear by feeling vibrations on the ground. This is similar to the way that humans can "feel" music when we are near a speaker that is turned up.

TONGUE: Have you ever noticed that snakes often stick out their tongues? They do this to pick up scent molecules from the air on their tongue which get transferred to an organ on the roof of their mouth called the Jacobson's organ. This special organ then delivers information to their brain and tells the snake what is around them.

snake diagram
 
 
Yellow-rumped warbler 
 
​Yellow-rumped warbler photo by Laura Erickson
Hear this bird's song

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is Moving

From early August until mid-October, warbler species are in migration mode. Like most small songbirds, warblers usually migrate at night. Most of these birds are smaller than a black-capped chickadee. They usually flit quickly among the trees in groups and can be tricky to identify in fall when they have molted from their bright breeding plumage into drab fall colors.

This week there is a good chance that you will see a mixed flock of several species of warblers in the woods at CWES. The one that you are most likely to see is the yellow-rumped warbler, who will be working its way toward Mexico and Central America for the winter. The yellow-rumped warblers will be searching for insects and fruit to fuel them on their journey.

Learn more:  Cornell Lab of Ornithology