A Summer-Long Residency of Paper Wasps in My Window

Our house is solid, but for some reason there is one storm window that is slightly out of square--just enough that the storm window can't be fully closed. And through that small crack each spring come paper wasps, not to enter the house but to build a nest in the space between inner and outer windows. It starts with a queen--a kind of homesteader, or who in the business world might be called an entrepreneur. I haven't watched closely enough to see if she uses last year's honeycomb of cells or builds new, but at any rate she does the early work herself, as if starting a colony, or a small business, until she can raise young to do most of the work for the rest of the summer. Occasionally I'd take a look to see how they were doing.

The most common species of paper wasp, it turns out, is originally from Europe. A simple distinction between bees and wasps is that bees are vegetarians and wasps are carnivores. Bees raise their young on protein-rich plant pollen, while wasps feed their young other insects. 

My best guess as to what's going on in this picture is that the three wasps with their abdomens sticking out are feeding the young by delivering them food in their chambers. When ready, the larvae cap their chambers, pupate, and then eat their way out as fully formed adults. 

Some types of insects, like butterflies and cicadas, have to remain still after emerging, to let their wings slowly expand and dry. But these wasps emerge with their small, narrow wings ready to go. You can see one of the new wasps at the bottom of the photo, emerging like a chick from an egg. 

One day in July, I heard a scuffling sound at the window, looked up, 

and saw a bird balancing on top of the window. 

It was a red-bellied woodpecker--a bird named after a part of the body one almost never sees, rather than the red hood that is so distinctive.  From its precarious perch just above the crack in the window, it could use its keen eye, flexible neck, and lightning quick reflexes to snatch any wasps coming or going.

Sometimes it stuck its beak right in the crack, as if my house were a tree. 

Finally, the bird noticed me and flew off. Whether this was a singular visit or one of many, the wasp nest was considerably diminished and never regained its earlier hustle and bustle. By the end of August the nest stood empty, which meant I could now open the inside window again.

There are many questions to ask. Do the wasps feed their young regurgitated insect puree, or do they serve sliced and diced versions? Inquiring minds want to know. I spent some time trying to figure out which one was the queen. No wasp stood out as distinctly different from the next. Some of the wasps on the nest were vibrating their abdomens. Others were not. What does this mean? And what impact do the paper wasps have on my garden? Are they responsible for keeping my kale unexpectedly free of caterpillars, and if so, do they nicely limit their diet to garden pests, or are they also preying on the rarer sorts of butterflies and moths we wish there were more of? 

I found a few answers at this Galveston County master gardener site. Here are some excerpts:

Adult paper wasps are efficient predators, mostly of caterpillars. They carry them back to the nest and feed them to the developing larvae. They will collect large numbers of caterpillars from the area around the nest during the course of a season. Adult wasps typically prey on a wide variety of caterpillars including corn earworms, armyworms, loopers, and hornworms. Adult wasps also utilize beetle larvae and flies as food for their young..

Adult paper wasps primarily feed on nectar or other sugary solutions such as honeydew and the juices of ripe fruits. Adults also feed on bits of caterpillars or flies that are caught and partially chewed before presenting to their young.

and:

In early fall, the colony begins to produce males and special reproductive female wasps. These reproductive females, which constitute next year�s queens, mate with males and soon leave the nest in search of protected spots in which they spend the winter. The remaining worker wasps eventually die and the nest becomes vacant. Paper wasps will not reuse their nests the next year.

Even some websites that are trying to sell products or pest control services have useful info, such as this comparison of paper wasps and yellow jackets. 

I sometimes think of fixing the window, but I suspect that, come next spring, a lone queen of the paper wasp variety will come along and still find a suitable spot to take up residence. Maybe that's for the best.

Hurricane Damages DR Canal Towpath--Again

Driving into Princeton the morning after Hurricane Ida swept through, my first thought was to check Princeton High School. Had the school flooded yet again, ruining the performing arts stage for a third time? Fortunately not, judging from appearances as I peered in the windows. 

My next thought was the towpath along the DR Canal. Ten years ago, almost to the day, Hurricane Irene rendered the popular towpath almost unusable for walking, jogging, and biking, eroding it in places, coating its cinder surface with mud in others. Full repair, probably with FEMA money, was not completed until 2019--eight years later.

This is what I found after Hurricane Ida. A combination of fallen trees and thick mud have rendered sections of the towpath impassible, only two years after it was resurfaced.

Here's a closeup of the flood's deposits of silt that walkers and bikers encountered.

While some areas were covered in mud, others were scoured, stripped of the cinder surface that made for a comfortable walk.

At Rogers Refuge, the hidden floodplain preserve upstream of Carnegie Lake, a plaque marking the high water mark ten years ago was exceeded by an inch by Hurricane Ida. 

Elsewhere in Princeton, Mountain Lakes reportedly sustained damage to its bridges. In Herrontown Woods, the trails remained in good condition, but the power of the rain and runoff was evident in the widespread scouring of ground and the flattened vegetation. 

As our machines pour more CO2 into the air, the warmed atmosphere can hold more water, leading to rains that are extraordinary in their density and weight. The raising of CO2 levels by 50% represents a militarization of the atmosphere, where clouds can now carry tremendously heavy payloads of water. 

The need to build and maintain more and better waterbars to divert runoff from trails--a local form of "climate resilience"--is only adding to the workload faced by the largely volunteer organizations that care for Princeton's open space. More than a decade ago, working on habitat restoration at Mountain Lakes, I began thinking of climate change as a dark cloud on the horizon threatening to cast a shadow over our work in local preserves. The incredibly heavy rains are one example of how what once was foreboding has become a reality. 

Of course, one reason so little is being done about climate change is that the episodes of extreme weather quickly pass, segueing often into pleasant weather. Hurricane Ida seemed to sweep away the hot, humid summer, leaving in its wake refreshingly cool air. 

This hurricane's most lasting legacy may be a change in our relationship to water, perhaps the beginning of a retreat from the shorelines we so dearly love. The plight and uncertain future of the towpath--that wonderful waterfront trail--is only the most dramatic example of how a climate of our own collective making is beginning to threaten that which we hold dear. 

Past posts about Hurricane Irene's damage in 2011:

Towpath Seeks Mule Team After Flood

Repairing the Towpath and Nature Along the D-R Canal

My First Public Planting--a Prairie Circle in Ann Arbor, MI

Each time I travel to Ann Arbor, where I lived off and on for 20 years, I make a pilgrimage to several special spots. 

One of them is a small demonstration prairie I planted just a few years before leaving. It was my first public planting and, incredibly, it continues to flourish. I say incredibly because I've seen many idealistic native meadow plantings degrade over time, overrun by any number of aggressive plants, be they trees, shrubs, and native blackberry, or a host of nonnative weeds like mugwort and Canada thistle. 

One reason it has survived is the native plants themselves, growing densely together, leaving no room for incursion. A tallgrass prairie is a robust plant community. In sunny conditions, flowers like rosinweed and purple coneflower can hold their own.

The gray-headed coneflowers--a species much like the cutleaf coneflowers we have in Princeton--have hung in there with the big bluestem and Indian grasses. There are also some wonderful goldenrods--"showy" and "stiff-leaved"--that stay in one place and don't encroach like many other kinds of goldenrod do. Even the nonnative queen Anne's lace, which you'll see taking over along midwestern roadsides, is somehow remaining limited in its aggressiveness. It's possible that a well established planting like this could need little more tending than a late winter mowing to keep the woodies at bay, but there may be some low-key TLC going on to keep things in balance.

I planted it in the early 1990s. The county naturalist at the time, Matt Heumann, helped with seed and design. His successor, Shawn Severance, sent me a very nice note about the prairie:

"That prairie planting has gone on in time to spread seed into the surrounding 4 acres and has enriched the diversity of the park far beyond the original footprint. It’s a continual reminder of the power of small actions. Since you did that planting, we have restored several acres of prairie habitat nearby and so what you set in motion has expanded."

Heartening to think that focusing attention on one small planting could ultimately have a ripple effect on its surroundings. The prairie even made it onto the preserve's map, as the "Prairie Circle." There's another advantage this prairie has. Ann Arbor is a progressive town that has invested in the management of its open space. In addition to the county staff, the city has a Natural Areas Preservation Manager who oversees restoration of diverse habitats, controlling uber-invasives like buckthorn and conducting prescribed burns to bring back bur oak savannas and other historically prevalent habitats.

Having absorbed that culture and brand of wild horticulture, I was able to take what I learned in Ann Arbor and apply it in subsequent migrations to Durham, NC and then here in Princeton. It wasn't a matter of taking favorite plants along on the trip, but rather getting to know the species indigenous to any locale, and finding public places where they could be encountered by people otherwise surrounded by generic, nonnative landscaping. 

There's a bench nearby that faces the Prairie Circle. I don't know who Omry Ronen was, but his loved ones must have thought he'd like an enduring view of tall grasses and wildflowers flowing with the breeze.

More Kinds of Dragonflies and Damselflies Found at Rogers Refuge

What wonderful names have the dragonflies and damselflies that Mark Manning and his son are finding at Rogers Refuge. Known mostly for its birdlife, this patch of floodplain along the StonyBrook below the Institute Woods also is home to other diversities. My ecological assessment of the refuge from 2007 includes a plant inventory, and now we have an expanding list of Odonata as well, totaling 36 different species. Below are the Mannings' photos of a few, and their full list to date. The names make one want to write an ode to Odonata. 

Now Dasher, now Dancer, now Skimmer and Jewelwing!

On, Bluet! on, Glider! on, Darner and Clubtail!

To the top of the sedge! To the top of the cattail!

Now fly away! fly away! fly away all!

The names--Fragile forktail, pondhawk, meadowhawk--are as vivid and full of action as the insects themselves.

Ebony Jewelwing

Blue Dasher

Painted Skimmer

Unicorn Clubtail

Blue-tipped Dancer

Lancet Clubtail

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

Rogers Refuge Odonata List as of 7/17/2021-Mark Manning

 

Ebony jewelwing

Blue-fronted dancer

Violet dancer

Powdered dancer

Blue-tipped dancer

Azure bluet

Double-striped bluet

Familiar bluet

Turquoise bluet

Stream bluet

Slender bluet

Fragile forktail

Eastern forktail

Common green darner

Comet darner

Unicorn clubtail

Black-shouldered spinyleg

Lancet clubtail

Ashy/dusky clubtail

Prince baskettail

Common baskettail

Halloween pennant

Eastern pondhawk

Slaty skimmer

Widow skimmer

Twelve-spotted skimmer

Painted skimmer

Great blue skimmer

Blue dasher

Wandering glider

Spot-winged glider

Eastern amberwing

Common whitetail

Autumn meadowhawk

Carolina saddlebags

Black saddlebags

 

Total: 36

Update: at season's end, in early September, the Mannings added one more species to the list: 

the russet-tipped clubtail

Suburban Monocultures and Insect Decline

Thoughts about insect decline and some field observations came together at the corner of Harrison Street and Terhune the other day when I headed to the optical shoppe to get my glasses adjusted. 

The lawn outside the building could be described as an ecological desert, a large expanse of closely cropped grass whose only purpose is to flatter the building. And yet it seems right to our culturally conditioned eyes, which view it as greenspace even if it constitutes an ecological void. 

Whereas a lawn is an intentional monoculture enforced directly by people, this expanse of Sericea lespedeza, also called Chinese bushclover, is enforced by the aggressiveness of the plant itself. I've watched this field, on land next to the shopping center, gradually become overwhelmed by the introduced species, whose foliage is spurned by the local wildlife, including insects.

Thirty feet away, the Japanese stiltgrass is having its way along Terhune, as it does along so many roadsides. This displacement of diverse flora, whether suddenly in the form of a development, or gradually along roadsides or in abandoned fields, surely is playing a big role in the diminished habitat for the insects upon which ecosystem foodchains depend.

Interesting to see the patch of lighter green in this photo. That's native sensitive fern, which is clearly holding its own against the stiltgrass. But this is one small victory in a landscape that has shifted dramatically towards monoculture. Imagine what it would be like to walk into a supermarket and find only cardboard on the shelves. That must be how an insect experiences so much of the suburban landscape.

Note: Just noticed that local birder and Princeton professor David Wilcove recently co-wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post entitled "We need to figure out what's happening to the bugs--before it's too late."

Monarchs and a Mid-Summer Multitude of Wildflowers at the Barden

So, I was at the Barden today, that being the Botanical Art Garden in Herrontown Woods, and amidst all the positive energy of budding flowers I had a cynical thought. There are a couple spots around the Veblen Circle of wildflowers where milkweed has been spreading. Lots of leaves and none of them being eaten by monarch caterpillars--an all too common observation over the years. People say to plant milkweed to help the monarchs, but the monarchs aren't helping themselves to the milkweed. What gives? 

As if on cue, a monarch appeared an instant after I had that thought. Only the third I'd seen this summer, it was checking out the milkweed and other plants growing in the sunny openings of the Barden. There are many kinds of native flowers blooming right now, which I'll show photos of later in this post, but the monarch headed over to one in particular,

a buttonbush, whose tiny flowers form the shape of a golfball--a convenient surface upon which the pollinator can go from flower to flower, sipping nectar. For an insect it must be like an assemblage of Hold the Cone miniature ice cream cones, but no need for a freezer. 

Moments later, another monarch butterfly caught my eye, and this one was showing a more intense interest in the milkweeds. There are two types at the Barden--purple and common. Both kinds spread underground, creating clones with many stems--enough to support a whole gang of hungry caterpillars. The butterfly was landing on the edge of the purple milkweed leaves and dipping its abdomen under the leaf to lay an egg. 

After doing this a number of times, it headed elsewhere, allowing me to take a look. Not easy to see. There, in the lower left. 

Here's an egg a little closer up.

There's actually quite a bit going on underneath a milkweed leaf. Here was a whole cluster, which I'm guessing are the eggs of the milkweed tussock moth--another Lepidoptera that can stomach milkweed's cardiac glycosides. 

Of course, it's a hopeful sign to see a monarch laying those single eggs, but we saw this last year, and it didn't lead to any sightings of caterpillars later on. It's possible the eggs are getting eaten by ants and spiders. A complex food web can have its perils, and it's interesting to note that milkweed that once grew in farm fields (in the days before Roundup-Ready corn and soybeans) might have had better monarch survival due to there being less predators in that simplified landscape. 

Still, we can hope that this is the year when the Barden does its part to build monarch numbers in preparation for their perilous flight back to Mexico in the fall.

Another sweet sight today, again not captured in a photo, was the pair of hummingbirds that landed on a wire cage just five feet away. Hummingbirds, in my experience, actually spend a lot of time perching, which makes sense given how intense is their flight. Their presence was the answer to a question overheard at the checkout counter at the Whole Earth Center: "Has anyone seen any hummingbirds?" Like monarchs, they also have to negotiate a difficult migration every year.

Maybe they were attracted to the tubular flowers of wild bergamot, 

or beebalm, or jewelweed.

What follows here is a documentation of all the flowers seen blooming right now in the Barden, as the midsummer diversity kicks in. After all the work of weeding and planting, there's pleasure in simply walking the paths and appreciating all that is growing so enthusiastically. 

There's a lot to document. These signs, created by Inge Regan, offer four species to look for. When learning plants, it's good to focus on a few at a time. 

For those more familiar, we've brought together some 40 species that bloom in mid-summer, some of them shown below. Maybe you can walk the pathways and see how many you can find. We're trying to figure out how to pot up all the excess and make them available to visitors to take home.

To see some of the other species showing their stuff this time of year, click on "read more", below.

Some Early July Flower and Insect Sightings at Herrontown Woods

Though the bottlebrush buckeyes in this photo have been blooming in the Botanical Art Garden (Barden) for a couple years now, this photo could not have been taken last year. The gazebo in the background is a new arrival as of last December, and the pin oak behind it can be seen heavily flagged this year by the egg laying of periodical cicadas. 

Those features were not the reason for the photo, however, which was taken because of an insect that requires a zooming in to see.

The Bottlebrush buckeye blooms attract clearwing moths, which do an excellent imitation of a hummingbird in appearance and flight.

Another plant named for the bottlebrush shape of its flowers is bottlebrush grass, also blooming now at the Barden. The wind-pollinated flowers of grasses and sedges lack color, but can still be appreciated for their shape. Bottlebrush grass is called a cool season grass because it greens up early in spring and blooms before the depths of summer. Many other native grasses are of the warm season variety, like Indiangrass, big and little bluestem, broomsedge, and switchgrass. Dominating tallgrass prairies of the midwestern states, they get a late start in the spring and grow through the summer, reaching maturity in the fall. (Turfgrasses have the same categories, though the grasses aren't native. Most lawns around here are cool-season grasses, with bermuda grass being a warm season grass that turns brown in winter.)

Though many species at the Barden have been planted, narrowleaf mountainmint apparently found its way in on its own, growing along one of the paths.

Necessary for the prospering of these summer wildflowers is an opening in the tree canopy where sunlight can reach the ground. Though people often equate habitat health with trees, we actively remove many young trees in the Barden that would otherwise grow up to shade out all these herbaceous species that insects depend upon for summer sustenance. 

Because of this active management, you can look up from the Barden and see some open sky--rare in Princeton open space lands.

Growing on its own, in what few openings occur naturally at Herrontown Woods, is a very subtle green-fringed orchid, here protected from the deer by a small cage. 

And what's blooming in summer in the deep forest that makes up the great majority of Herrontown Woods? I found this one tiny flower in a stream. Local botanist Elizabeth Horn helped me identify it as Water-pimpernel--Samolus valerandi in the

Theophrasta Family. 

The take-home lesson here is that woodland openings are important for summer biodiversity. Given the lack of natural disturbance by wildfire or the long-gone megafauna, it's up to us to create and sustain it. 

The Dragonflies and Damselflies of Rogers Refuge

I still remember the astonishment I felt when I first climbed the observation tower at Rogers Refuge in Princeton, and looked out upon this vista, so unlike anything else in town. This expanse of cattails and wild rice, long valued as a birding mecca, remains a gem primarily due to the work of a small group of volunteers, currently led by Lee and Melinda Varian. Grants from the Washington Crossing Audubon help keep invasive species at bay, and Laurie Larson has compiled the site's history and features at rogersrefuge.org, including lots of bird info and an ecological assessment I did back in 2007.

This summer, Hopewell Valley science teacher Mark Manning and his son are working on a new list for Rogers Refuge, this time of Odonata, a.k.a. dragonflies and damselflies. Mark's knowledge of nature is broad and deep, as became evident during a wonderful walk he led at Herrontown Woods a couple years ago. Below is a preliminary list of species he and his son have found during their explorations this summer. The photo is of a black-shouldered spinyleg.

Rogers Refuge Odonata List as of 6/26/2021-Mark Manning

Ebony jewelwing

Blue-fronted dancer

Violet dancer

Powdered dancer

Blue-tipped dancer

Double-striped bluet

Familiar bluet

Turquoise bluet

Fragile forktail

Eastern forktail

Common green darner

Comet darner

Unicorn clubtail

Black-shouldered spinyleg

Lancet clubtail

Common baskettail

Eastern pondhawk

Slaty skimmer

Widow skimmer

Twelve-spotted skimmer

Painted skimmer

Great blue skimmer

Blue dasher

Eastern amberwing

Common whitetail

Carolina saddlebags

 

Total: 26

"Among Trees" Theater Event July 15, and Weekly Yoga at Herrontown Woods

The Friends of Herrontown Woods will be hosting its first ever outdoor theatrical event, "Among Trees"--an evening of songs, scenes, and more--next to Veblen House in Herrontown Woods on Thursday, July 15 at 7pm. The event is free and all are welcome. Actors of some renown, Vivia Font and Ben Steinfeld, are organizing the event, which is co-sponsored by the Friends of Herrontown Woods and Princeton Public Library with additional support from The Lewis Center for the Arts and Small World Coffee.

Submissions of scripts are also welcome, due by July 5. Here is the actors' submissions request:

Share a short piece of writing (scene, poem, passage)--in english or espanol--on the Herrontown Woods, trees, nature, or conservation and if selected, have it performed by professional actors in a live celebration of nature and space at the Herrontown Woods in Princeton, July 15, at 7pm. Email submissions to amongtrees2021@gmail.com. Submissions accepted through July 5.

WEEKLY YOGA CLASSES: On July 3, Gemma of Gratitude Yoga will begin leading weekly yoga classes at Herrontown Woods next to Veblen House. The classes will be on Saturdays at 11am, and are free.  Registration is encouraged. All donations will go to support the work of the Friends of Herrontown Woods.

 

Spotted Lanternflies at the Barden

While periodical cicadas have been the most noticeable insects at the Botanical ARt garDEN in Herrontown Woods, the nymphs of spotted lanternflies have been congregating quietly on a few select plants. Our observations confirm what's widely stated, that the spotted lanternflies prefer to spend their quality time on Ailanthus, also known as Tree of Heaven, a tree introduced long ago to the U.S. from Asia. 

I've been going around, cutting the sprouts of the Ailanthus in an effort to at least discourage the lanternflies' favorite plant.

Another asian species, the ever so spiny Japanese aralia, is also attracting a few of the lanternfly nymphs, but not nearly as many. That, too, gets cut to the ground.

Princess tree had none, though it too hearkens from east Asia. You may notice this species making dramatic, large-leaved root sprouts along the canal and elsewhere. Scroll down at this post about towpath wildflowers to see a photo of a princess tree's root sprout's improbable growth.

All three of these nonnative species persist in the Barden as sprouts that we cut down. It would be nice to think that reducing the number of ailanthus and Japanese aralia will discourage the lanternflies as well. 

Among native species the spotted lanternfly is attracted to, a friend has a grape vine that is attracting a lot of lanternflies. She tricks the nymphs into jumping into bottles of soapy water. 

Here's a post from last August with more info on the lanternflies.