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Species of the Week |
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Flower of the Week Critter of the Week Bird of the Week Insect of the Week Wildflowers are going crazy out there! I will feature three flowers this week because I just couldn't choose! I love my job! (June 28 - July 4, 2008) Long-headed thimbleweed Anemone cylindrica (Buttercup Family Ranunculaceae) a.k.a. candle anemone, thimbleweed, long-fruited thimbleweed, long-fruited anemone, nimbleweed
Long-headed thimbleweed is a native perennial that grows up to 3 feet tall, but usually top out at 2 feet. The basal leaves and the few leaves up the stem are stalked and deeply divided into 5 main segments, and the segments are toothed or lobed. The flower grows from a long stalk above the main whorl of leaves, and there are usually several flower stalks per plant. The flowers have white petal-like sepals, each about 1/2 inch long. The fruits develop on a dense cylinder up to 1 1/2 inch tall in the center of the flower. Another thimbleweed, A. virginiana is also found at Crex, but it has short, oval fruiting heads and only 1-3 leaves in the main whorl, while A. cylindrica has more than 3 leaves in the main whorl. Thimbleweed prefers dry, well-drained prairies and sandy areas. It blooms in June and July. The name thimbleweed comes from the shape of the fruiting head, which is initially shaped like a thimble. Some Native American tribes used the leaves for a poultice to treat burns. Hedge Nettle Stachys palustris (Mint Family Lamiaceae) a.k.a marsh hedge-nettle, woundwort
Hedge nettle is a mostly unbranched perennial that grows up to 3 feet
tall. Like most members of the mint family, it has square, hairy
stems and opposite leaves. The stalkless leaves grow up to 5
inches long and 2 inches wide, wider at the base and pointed at the tip.
The flowers occur in several 6-flowered whorls at the top of the stem.
Typically several small leaves occur below each whorl. The whorls
are generally spaced far apart at the lower part of the stem and grow
into a denser spike towards the top. Each flower is about 1/2 inch
long with a 5 toothed, hairy, green calyx and a tubular, mottled,
pinkish-purple corolla with 2 lips.
Hedge nettle blooms from June into September, and is just beginning to bloom in the wildlife areas. It prefers wet prairies and exposed shorelines, with light shade to full sun. It can be found along many of the roadsides near waterways. It was thought that this herb could be used to heal wounds, which is where the name "woundwort" came from. Tall meadow rue Thalictrum dasycarpum (Buttercup Family Ranunculaceae) a.k.a. purple meadow-rue
Thalictrum: from thaliktron, a name used to describe a plant with
divided leaves, and a name given to the genus by Dioscorides, the Greek
physician and pharmacologist who wrote the Materia Medica, which
remained the leading pharmacological text for 16 centuries.
Tall meadow rue blooms in June and July. It prefers moist prairies, damp thickets and wet prairies. Look for them at Crex Meadows and Fish Lake Wildlife Areas along the roadsides near the flowages. Some spectacular specimens can be found along Lower North Fork Flowage on Hilda's Corner Road. Gilmore (1914) wrote of Thalictrum dasycarpum that, among Teton Dakota, "the fruits on approaching maturity in August are broken off and stored away for their pleasant odor; for this purpose they are rubbed and scattered over the clothing. The Indians say the effect is enhanced by dampness. This, like all other odors used by Indians, is of slight, evanescent fragrance. They use no heavy scents; all are delicate and give a suggestion of wholesomeness and of the freedom of the uncontaminated outdoors." BIRD OF THE WEEK (June 21-July 3, 2008) Upland sandpiper Bartramia longicauda (Sandpiper, phalarope and allies family Scolopacidae)
Crex Meadows is ideal habitat for the Upland sandpiper, as it prefers dry grasslands and farmlands with low to medium plant cover, and little bare ground. Research has shown that this bird prefers grasslands of at least 40 contiguous acres (100+ acres is recommended for restoration projects). Unfortunately, these kinds of spaces are in rapid decline, and the Upland sandpiper is becoming rarer across the country. Wisconsin has listed this bird as a Species of Special Concern. In the northeastern US they are primarily found only at airports. Here we are fortunate enough to have them in the barrens.
The Upland sandpiper has a beautiful call, a series of bubbling pip-pip-pips and whreeep whrreows (like a wolf whistle). Listen and look for these at their breeding grounds in the northern part of Crex Meadows perching on posts, near the agricultural fields, along Murphy Road, and North Refuge Road.
CRITTER OF THE WEEK (June 21 - July 3, 2008) White-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus (Deer Family Cervidae)
White-tailed deer are common to abundant in this area. They live in the forests and in the meadows and prairies. The do not den or nest, but rather roam wherever food is in good supply. They do not tend to sleep in the same spot each night, but beds may be concentrated in one area. They do not need shelter in bad weather, but may move to a semi-sheltered area with good food supply (yards) in the winter months. They eat grasses, plants, twigs and buds of trees, and acorns. White-tailed deer breed in October and November and give birth in May or June. The mothers generally lay down wherever they happen to be when it is time to fawn, and the newborns, covered in white spots, usually walk within hours after their birth. Fawns may bleat, and males grunt and snort during the rut. They are a much-hunted creature, with the bow-hunting season correlating with the breeding season, and the gun season starting just afterwards and continuing into December for some types of guns, such as muzzleloaders. Their main predator, besides man, is the Gray Wolf, which has made a strong come-back in this area. Despite heavy predation from hunting and wolf predation, the White-tailed deer population remains strong. Go to Previous Critters (mammals, reptiles, and amphibians INSECT OF THE WEEK (June 21-27) American LadyVanessa virginiensis (Brushfoot Family Nymphalidae)
The similar Painted Lady lacks the black spots on the upper hindwing and has four eyespots on the lower hindwing, as well as a different overall orange and black pattern on the forewing above. American Ladies have two to three broods each year in this area. The flight periods are from early May to mid June and again Mid July to October. It overwinters as a chrysalis. It's favorite foods as a caterpillar are pussytoes, burdock and everlasting. The adults prefer clovers, fleabane, chokecherries, lilac, milkweeds, hawkweed, asters, and goldenrods. Newly emerged males often congregate at puddles. If you have any good photos to share with us, please email us - we always give photo credits. Thanks! CLICK HERE FOR WHAT IS BEING SEEN IN THE WILDLIFE AREA THIS WEEK! REFERENCES Coffey, Timothy. The History and Folklore of North American Wildflowers. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, MA. Crudishank and Crudishank. 1958. 1001 Questions Answered About Birds. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, NY. Cutright, Harriman, and Howe. 2006. Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, Inc., Waukesha, WI. Elphick, Dubbibg, Sibley. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. National Audubon Society. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, NY. Janssen, Tesson, and Kennedy. 2003. Birds of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Lone Pine Publishing, Auburn, WA. Ladd, Doug. 2001. North Woods Wildflowers. Globe Pequot Press. Guilford, CT. Ladd, Doug and Oberle, Frank. 2005. Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers, 2nd Edition. Globe Pequot Press. Guilford, CT. Mead, Kurt. Dragonflies of the North Woods. Kollath+Stensaas Publishing. Duluth, MN Tekiela, Stan. 2000. Wildflowers of Wisconsin. Adventure Publications, Inc., Cambridge, MN. Weber, Larry. 2006 Butterflies of the North Woods, 2nd Edition. Kollath+Stensaas Publishing. Duluth, MN http://www.answers.com/topic/crab-spider http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/PUBL/wlnotebook/bear.htm http://www.enature.com/fieldguides
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***This website is brought to you by the Friends of Crex, a non-profit organization dedicated to SUPPORTING WILDLIFE AND WILDLIFE EDUCATION at the crex meadows complex*** FRIENDS OF CREX, INC. 102 EAST CREX AVENUE, GRANTSBURG WISCONSIN 54840 (715) 463-2739 www.crexmeadows.org |
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Anemone:
an ancient Greek name from anemos, "wind"
Stachys: from the Greek
stachus for "ear of grain" or "a spike," in reference to the spike-like
form of the flowers.
The upper lip is hooded and 2-lobed, while the broader lower lip is
3-lobed. This lower lip is used as a landing pad for pollinating
insects, mostly long-tongued bees such as bumblebees, Miner bees, Little
carpenter bees, among others. 
This tall plant of woodland edges and wetlands grows 3 to 5 feet tall.
The stems are often purple, which gives it the name "purple meadow rue"
in some areas. The leaves of Tall meadow rue are alternate
and compound, with 3 parts divided three to five times. The
leaflets are 1 to 2 1/2 times as long as they are wide and mostly 3
lobed (Like other rues). The flowers of Tall meadow rue are
individually stalked, green to white in color and are found in clusters
near the top of the plant. Male and female parts grow on separate
plants. Both are 1/3 inch wide and have 4 to 5 white to pale
purplish petal-like sepals. The male flowers have many threadlike
stamens, and the female flowers have a small bur-like head of ovaries
with a tiny fuzzy stigma. (The one in the photo has male flowers). 
The Upland sandpiper is a medium-sized sandpiper with a small head on a
long neck, a straight yellow and black bill, large brown eyes and long
yellow legs. It is brown overall, with mottled bars on the back
and is cream-colored underneath. But the most obvious
identification key for this sandpiper is where it is found. It is
not like most of it's cousin "shorebirds" and is found mainly in upland
grasslands and prairies. 
The Upland sandpiper arrives at Crex in late May and stays only a couple
months, usually departing in mid-July to travel to it's wintering
grounds in the pampas grounds of Argentina, where it will spend up to 8
months before heading north again. 
The white-tailed deer is reddish-brown in the summer and grayish-brown
in the winter. They have large ears that are white inside and have
black rims. They have white on their eye-ring, nose band, chin,
throat and belly, and their 6-12 inch tail is bright white on the
underside. The males can weigh up to 300 pounds and the females up
to 250 pounds. They are generally 4 to 7 feet in length and 3 to 4
feet tall at the shoulder. White-tailed deer generally live 5 to
10 years. 
The
American Lady is a medium-sized butterfly with a 1 3/4 to 2 1/4 inch
wingspan. It is orange-black above and gray and pink below.
The forewing is orange with black median spots that are not connected.
The hindwing is mostly orange with four black submarginal connected
spots. Underneath, the forewing has a large pink patch and the
hindwing has two large "eyespots" within a mask-like pattern.
There is a saying about this butterfly "American Ladies have big eyes
and an open mind" which refers to the large pale patch inward from the
eyespots.