Naturalist Notes

October 2017

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Fall has officially arrived at Lakeshore State Park, and our plants are beginning to seed. While there may only be a few forbs (flowering plants) left, the park remains beautiful as the wind can be seen sweeping through the drying grasses. Insects and birds are starting to make preparations for the colder weather, and are migrating through or scavenging for seeds, a primary source of food for winter months in the Park.

The beginning part of fall is prime viewing time for the Aster family of lowers (genus: Symphyotrichum). These can be seen throughout all prairie areas of the Park.

The Double Crested Cormorants have made their way south, with only a few lingering behind into October. New migratory birds this month include the American Coot (Fulica americana), American Pelican (Pelcanus erythrorhynchos) Common Yellowthroat Warbler (Geothlypis triches), and Black Bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) in winter plumage. Watch carefully for new species coming through they normally only stay for up to 2 weeks before their fall migration is done!

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Lakeshore State Park
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Naturalist Notes

September 2017

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As summer comes to an end and fall begins, our native warm-season grasses can be seen swaying in the wind. These grasses provide many ecological benefits to the park. While they may not attract as many pollinators as our prairie forbs, they are, undoubtedly, an equally important asset to the Park.

• Habitat: During warmer months, these grasses provide excellent nesting sites form small mammals and birds. The cover of their long blades provide an excellent buffer between animals and the cold winters we experience here atthe park. Some of the grasses can remain upright, even with a foot of snow on top!
• Protection: The tall grasses also provide a hiding place for young animals and insects. It is estimated that the establishment of a tallgrass prairie can increase the bird life of the area by 10x!
• Food: The blades, roots, and seeds provide food for a variety of wildlife. Walking past the prairies, you are bound to hear many insects and birds that are attracted to this food source.

• Erosion Prevention: The deep roots help to keep the soil in place, especially when we experience the gusty lakefront winds. A single acre of tall grass prairie can have up to 24,000lbs of roots!
• Nutrient Cycling: The roots of these native warm-season grasses die off and decompose, returningnutrients to that soil during winter. The grasses rely on seeds dropped in early fall to re-emerge in spring. This is unlike short cool-season grasses which maintain their roots throughout winter (the grass in your front lawn is a cool-season grass).

We have some exciting events happening at the Park this month and we’d love to have you here! In addition to our usual events, we have our 10th Anniversary Beach Bonfire on September 20th (7-9pm) and SturgeonFest on September 30th (11am-3pm; sponsor a sturgeon to release yourself at SturgeonFest.org!)

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Lakeshore State Park

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Naturalist Notes

August 2017

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As we transition from July to August here at Lakeshore State Park, our Green Darner Dragonflies (Anax junius) have metamorphosed into adults. These dragonflies are one of very few species that are migratory to Wisconsin. In the spring, adults from the south fly to our lakes to mate. The female will then lay her fertilized eggs in the water, which will hatch in roughly 2-5 weeks. Unlike non-migratory species, which can spend up to 4 years as a nymph, our Green Darners will only spend up to 3 months in this stage. The nymph remains in the water, feeding on zooplankton and breathing through internal gills until it is large enough to crawl onto land, shed its exoskeleton, and emerge as an adult. Temperature and nutrient conditions play a large part in how long they remain as a nymph, and in Wisconsin, that means they often hatch during the month of August due to the warmer temperatures.

Our prairies are undergoing their own kind of metamorphosis as well. Our Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and Common Milkweed  (Asclepias syriaca) are beginning to drop their flowers and create their seed pods. Our False White Indigo (Baptisia lactea) pods can be seen as well, as their white flowers have started to drop. Please don’t pick the seed pods from these plants. As tempting as this may be, they form our seed bank for next year’s prairie flowers.

As these begin their final stages before fall, some of our flowers and grasses are just beginning to bloom. Keep an eye out for the yellow flowers of Stiff Goldenrod (Solidago rigida) and Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciose) in the upcoming weeks. Our Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), Little (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Big Bluestem (Andropogon geratdii) ,and Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) have grown significantly in the last month and are beginning to dominate our prairies throughout the park. We’re glad you’ve stopped by to see all these changes as they occur, and hope to see you at our upcoming events!

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Lakeshore State Park
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Naturalist Notes

July 2017

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Our Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) has caused an explosion of color in the park this month. While much of it is bright orange in color, there are some variations from prairie to prairie, and plant to plant. In our demo gardens on the north end of the park, you can observe some that are more of a reddish hue, and some that are a lighter orange (a bit more yellow). These plants are loved by many of our pollinator species, such as the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) in the picture to the right. The orange coloration also attracts monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) who utilize their stiff foliage as they move from caterpillar to chrysalis form.

While monarchs may transform on butterfly weed, they exclusively eat common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and other milkweed species in their caterpillar stage. Similar to other insects that feed on milkweed, their diet gives them an unpleasant taste that deters predators. Decreases in common milkweed populations, as well as disease and predation, are directly linked to decreases in monarch populations. In 1996, it was estimated that over 1 billion monarchs resided in the US (during summer months), which had decreased to 35 million in 2013. We will be maintaining a few areas of milkweed to help address this issue here in the park.

Look closely at the milkweed throughout the park and see if you can find these other insects that call milkweed a home:

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Lakeshore State Park

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

 Naturalist Notes

June 2017

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As we approach the first day of summer here in the park, we have many young birds that will be hatching. Recently, USGS stopped by to check up on our nesting boxes. Every one of them is being used, particularly by tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), and many have eggs that they are carefully tending to. During the early evening, a pair of Canadian geese (Branta canadensis) and their gosling are often seen swimming near the pebble beach. Keep an eye out for the young ones, but don’t get too close. The parent birds are protective of their young. While they won’t attack you, they may squawk or hiss, and it puts stress on the birds.

On the northern end of the park, our prairies are starting to really bloom. The heavy rains in May and the warmer temperatures this month have produced large blooms of white penstemon (Tradescantia ohiensis). In the prairie near the north entrance, our blue false indigo (Baptisia australis) is also in bloom. The bluish purple flowers will only last a few weeks, so check them out while they’re here! Our butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) has begun growing quickly and is expected to bloom before the end of the month. Watch out for their yellow, orange, and red flowers in prairie restoration areas.

Our park naturalists are starting to get busy conducting and planning education programs for the summer. We are fortunate to have wetland, prairie, urban, and lake ecosystems all within our park. We will be working with several community groups, schools, and summer camps to help encourage stewardship and appreciation for nature in our youth. We will be expanding our programs focusing on concerns in Lake Michigan. If you would like to observe or volunteer with any of the educational programming at Lakeshore this summer, please contact our park naturalists, Angela and Anne at (414) 274-4282. We hope you will join us for our monthly beach bonfires, the urban beach party (August) and Sturgeon Fest (September) this year!

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Lakeshore State Park
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources