July 15tap images for gallery view

Hey man! What do you think you're doing here?
Get lost.
Now. Go. Leave.
Or I'll fly at the back of your head.
I'm a red-winged blackbird and this intruder is making me stressed.

 

 

Hey. I'm a Brewer's blackbird. Me and my partner have a nest in the grape vine. Both of us get caterpillars for the little guys. Our nest is so high and hidden that we don't have to worry about predators.

 

July 16tap images for gallery view

 

Well hello there. You finally noticed me. I'm prairie dropseed, Sporobolus heterolepis. My blades are really fine and grow in an almost perfect circle. Which makes me a bunch grass. My anthers smell like cardamom and birds and small mammals like my pewter coloured seeds.

 

 

Well they got part of my common name right. I'm called peppergrass, Lepidium densiflorum Schrad.. I'm actually a forb, not a grass. But I do make a nice peppery garnish in salads. I'm a member of the mustard family.

 

 

Hey, scratch grass, Muhlenbergia asperifolia, again. They describe me as delicate. That's because I don't grow very tall and my seed panicles are almost invisible unless you look really closely. Tiny though my seeds are songbirds and waterfowl like them.

 

 

Hello. I'm a bumblebee, Bombus sandersoni (possibly vagans). I really like the nectar from this blue lettuce, Lactuca pulchella.

 

July 17tap images for gallery view

 

Yay! You finally spotted me. I've been coming here for years and this is the first time the photog saw me. Oh yeah, I'm a snowberry clearwing moth, Hemaris diffinis. Some entoms say I'm a hummingbird moth and others say I'm a sphinx moth. Regardless, we like snowberries a lot.

 

 

Hi. I'm a western snowberry, Symphoricarpos occidentalis H.. We're sub-shrubs. We get pollinated by bees, butterflies and moths. And, as you can see we're a host plant for snowberry clearwing caterpillars. That's what ate my leaves. Oh yeah, our berries are white.

 

 

Morning. I'm a meadow blazingstar, Liatris ligulistylis. And just like I said my flower heads turn dark crimson just before the pink blaze gets started. When have you ever seen such a pink?

 

 

It's beginning to look a lot like prairie. That's tallgrass praire. We're a grassland ecosystem in the Great Plains of North America.

 

July 18tap images for gallery view

 

Hey, beautiful sunflower, Helianthus pauciflorus, again.
I got started yesterday and will be all set up for butterflies and native bees by tomorrow.

 

 

Hey, Canada milkvetch, Astragalus canadensis, again. I've got funky flowers, too.
I gotta tell you, though, I'm on my way out. This may be my last year. That's because I'm a short-lived perennial. Next year, I'll show up somewhere else. That's how I got started here; I volunteered.

 

 

Good day and top of the morning to you. I'm a purple coneflower, Echinacea angustifolia. I'm just getting set up for the bees, bee flies, butterflies and beetles.
I'm here because Laura Reeves gave me to the tenders of this site. Thanks, I like it here.

 

 

Howdy. Good to see you. I'm a dogbane beetle, Chrysochus auratus. I get my name from the plant I like the most. Lots of people call it dogbane. But around here it's called Indian hemp, Apocynum cannabinum. Hope you like my iridescent shell.

 

July 19tap images for gallery view

 

Well, I've got to tell you: this is such a fine roadhouse. Everything we need. Blazingstar, sage and milkweeds all over the place. Great view, too.
Monarch butterfly (of course) on meadow blazingstar, Liatris ligulistylis.

 

 

Ah, good morning. Just waking up here. Did you bring coffee? Yeah, I know. It's a joke. I've got to tell you I'm growing so fast. Soon it will be chrysalis time. And then I get to fly.

 

 

Yep. I'm here. Look closely. Ah, there you go. I'm that katydid. I'm all grown up now. And they call me a leafhopper. That's because ... well, you guessed it. I also decided, over the years, that looking like a leaf was the best way to avoid the birds.

 

 

Well I know which I am but the tenders of this site aren't sure. They think I'm fowl mannagrass, Glyceria striata. But Laura Reeves suggested maybe I'm G. borealis. And then Kelly Leask and Shirley came by and insisted I'm switch grass, Panicum virgatum.
Well there's nothing like a controversy!