What to See This Week

Sometimes the evidence of caterpillars is more obvious than the caterpillars themselves initially! Pictured here are tons of milkweed tussock moth caterpillars hiding beneath a milkweed leaf, most freshly hatched with one older individual alongside them. Unlike in monarchs, the eggs are all laid alongside each other and the newly hatched caterpillars all feed alongside each other. As seen on the older caterpillar, these caterpillars have a very distinctive appearance! Like other insects that eat and sequester toxins from plants, milkweed tussock moth caterpillars display aposematic coloration. Just like monarch caterpillars, these caterpillars should be welcomed visitors to your milkweed plants.

Another insect doing a lot of munching this time of year is the dogwood sawfly larvae. Dogwood sawfly larvae also tend to stay in groups. While the larvae look a lot like caterpillars, these insects are much more closely related to wasps! 

The new Red Barn Wetland is full of life already during its first summer! Pictured here is a belted kingfisher, a bird that has often frequented nearby ponds and the Dawes Lake area. They are impressive hunters of aquatic prey. Even if you don’t see a kingfisher right away, you may hear their loud rattle call.

A few species of swallow are also spending time around the new wetland. Pictured here are barn swallows, recognized by the rusty red under their chin as well as their forked tails most easily seen in flight. Barn swallows are incredible birds with essentially a worldwide distribution. They also most often nest in and around man-made structures and have distinctive and interesting nests made of mostly mud.

Prairies around The Arboretum are really starting to look incredible. Standing out right now is the pinnate prairie coneflower, a plant with plentiful blooms in any prairie habitat around The Arboretum and even in some garden areas. It is popular with pollinators now but the benefits continue into the fall as the seeds are eaten by birds like goldfinches.

There’s always something new in the Learning Garden. A new addition is this Midnight Marvel hibiscus planted in a new foliage focused flower bed. Although the deep purple foliage may have been a draw, the huge red flowers are also a bonus and stopped me in my tracks while visiting the garden. Be sure to stop by and see what else is growing!