Slugyard

Wild Ginger- Where Are the Flowers?

Mike B. — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:46:04 +0000

My Rain Garden is now in its second spring and it is doing very well. The plants are growing quickly and spreading out. I couldn’t be happier with it!

This green mound is sitting in the corner of the garden. It is Wild Ginger. It is evergreen, although in the winter these bright green leaves will have turned into a much darker shade of green. Right now this plant is in full bloom. Wait, where are the flowers?

They are hiding underneath! These pale purplish bulbs are Wild Ginger flowers. As described by Ellen Sousa in a very interesting post on Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens (where I contribute), these flowers bloom close to the ground underneath the leaves. Ellen is wondering what pollinators come to visit the flowers- maybe ground crawlers? According to Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Pojar and MacKinnon, these plants grow in the forest with their flowers sometimes partially buried in leaf mold. Maybe underground crawlers?

Any guesses?

Bee Fly Won’t Bother Me

Mike B. — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:00:17 +0000

Sunshine! My Camas flowers are in full bloom and today a strange visitor stopped by.

What in the world is it? At first I thought it was a Bumble Bee since it was large and very hairy. But look at that pointed mouthpiece. And its eye looks much more like a fly eye than that of a bee.

It is a Black-tailed Bee Fly! I have never seen one of these before. It hovered like a Hover Fly, constantly flapping its wings while it used its long proboscis (the long, sharp, mouthpiece) to drink nectar. According to the National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America, the “females lay eggs at the tunnel entrance of ground-nesting solitary bees; larvae parasitize bee larvae and eat their food stores.” The insect world is not for the meek.

Globe of Water

Mike B. — Sat, 05 May 2012 17:32:36 +0000

Rain, rain go away. That’s what most of us here in Oregon have been saying over the past couple of months! The forecast is calling for some sunshine over the next few days, but I got outside anyway to take some wet photos.

We think of water as a liquid because it is one. But in the above photo the surface of the big glob of water isn’t level. And in the photo below…

The water drop looks like a ball! Why does this happen?

Check out this previous post of mine for an explanation… basically, water is sticky!

Wolf Spiders Basking

Mike B. — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:20:35 +0000

When I approach my garden boxes in my backyard, I notice a lot of dark spiders start to scurry around and hide from me. See one in the photo above?

Here is a closeup. It looks like it is a Wolf Spider. Wolf Spiders generally do not spin webs. This spider is easy to see while it sits on grass, but imagine how hard it would be to see when it sits on soil or rocks on the ground. That is where Wolf Spiders live.

I also think that this is a Thin-legged Wolf Spider. According to the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders, “it hunts over a limited territory and often basks in the sun…” Seems like a possibility.

Blue Bottle Fly

Mike B. — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:24:23 +0000

This large fly was lying still on my Vine Maple tree. I was curious about its shiny blue abdomen (the rear body segment).

It is a Blue Bottle Fly, which is a type of Blow Fly. When I looked it up in my insect books, I discovered that its scientific name is Calliphora vomitoria. Yes, vomitoria. It only gets worse from there. Apparently, they like to feed on wounds and rotting meat and the larva like to drink “juice from decaying flesh” according to the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders.

Yecchh!

All Is Well

Mike B. — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:17:12 +0000

Sorry folks- I sort of went silent for a while without any explanation. A couple of you wrote to me to check-in. Everything is fine. I just decided to take a small break from updating the blog. It has been almost 2 years since I started it and I was in need of a rest.

I’ll be returning to action shortly! Sorry again for causing some worry. For now, enjoy the above photo of a banana slug I found in my yard this week.

Bird Feeders Everywhere

Mike B. — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:30:09 +0000

We had some new birds at our feeder the other day- House Finches! The female is looking at the camera and the red-headed male is behind her. It feels like I notice House Finch pairs more than other birds, but maybe that’s because the male and female look so different?

Then there’s the Red-breasted Nuthatches. Here’s one landing on the feeder. They grab a seed and then fly with it to a nearby tree where they break it open. I love their calls too- they remind me of an old-time car horn.

My friend Jeff lives in central Oregon and one of his neighbors took the picture below.

Feeding frenzy! Above are two male Red-winged Blackbirds, a male and female Evening Grosbeak, and a bunch of Starlings. Beautiful. How do I know the blackbirds are both males? Females actually look very different. Pretty soon when spring arrives these two males will be competing for territories.

Spider Frenzy

Mike B. — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:54:36 +0000

The area near our front door is spider heaven. We generally leave them alone- it gives us something fun to look at every time we walk through the front door, and it keeps other insects away unless they want to become spider food.

The spider shown in the above photos lives on our front porch light. It “hides” like this almost all of the time- probably waiting for an insect to get trapped in its web. What kind is it?

I believe it is a type of “Orb Weaver”. According to BugGuide:

Orb weavers are typically nocturnal. During the day, the spider will prefer to either sit motionless in the web or move off the web. If the spider moves off the web (but does not abandon it), she will be nearby in some cover (rolled up leaves, or on a branch) with a trap line nearby. If prey becomes ensnared in the web, the trap line will vibrate, indicating a possible meal. The spider will investigate; if it is “meal worthy”, she will bite it to immobilize it, and wrap it with silk to either eat later, or to continue to subdue the meal while eating. If the trapped insect is not meal worthy, she will ignore it or eject it from the web. At night, the orb weaver will become more active, working to repair any damage on the web, and sitting in the middle of the web. For some species, once morning starts to arrive, the spider will tear down the web and eat most of the silk (reabsorption of moisture plus consuming any dew that might have settled on the web). They will rebuild their web at dusk/night.

This is exactly the behavior I’ve seen from this spider. It hides in its little silk lair just next to its web. At night I’ve surprised it a few times while it was walking around the orb web- each time it quickly ran back to its lair.

A short distance away was this spider with an egg sac. This is not an orb weaver- instead I believe it is a relative to the American House Spider.

And then there was this spider- I don’t remember ever seeing one quite like it. What is it?

It looks to me like a MALE orb weaver spider. Apparently, the males are rarely seen! Take a look at this photo on BugGuide and judge for yourself.

Moss Loves the Rain

Mike B. — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:30:06 +0000

Here in western Oregon, moss is practically a way of life. It rains so often here in the fall, winter, and spring that moss grows almost everywhere. This patch is in my front yard.

So what’s with the red stalks? Everyone knows moss is green, right?

These tall stalks are called sporophytes. Moss reproduces by creating spores, which are then released from the tops of these stalks. When the spore lands somewhere that is moist, it begins to grow into a new patch of moss.

This is likely Red Roof Moss which, according to Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Pojar and MacKinnon, is the most common moss in the world. So it might be in your yard too no matter where you live.

Awake Garter Snake

Mike B. — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:30:07 +0000

Recent sunshine has awoken a Garter Snake!

My son spotted this one while we were working in the backyard. It looks to me to be a Northwestern Garter Snake. They spend the winters huddled together in hidden crevices, waiting for the sun to drag them back out- kind of like the rest of us in this part of the country!

It was surprisingly still. It let me get quite close to take this photo above- I wonder if it was still a bit sluggish since it was early in the day and not too warm. Remember that snakes are cold-blooded so they need warmth to get their bodies moving.

Above is a wide view of the snake and its surroundings. Since snakes eat invasive slugs, I am more than happy to let them stick around my yard. Having shrubs and cover near the edges of your yard is a great way to attract them. Give them a place to hide and they’ll probably pay your yard a visit! Since Garter Snakes are completely harmless to humans, there’s really no reason not to.

Slugyard

Wild Ginger- Where Are the Flowers?

Related posts:

Bee Fly Won’t Bother Me

Related posts:

Globe of Water

Related posts:

Wolf Spiders Basking

Blue Bottle Fly

Related posts:

All Is Well

Bird Feeders Everywhere

Related posts:

Spider Frenzy

Moss Loves the Rain

Related posts:

Awake Garter Snake

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