Nature Scoop June 2018
Migratory Warbler in my backyard
My certified yard is 100' X 50', with almost no grass. I walk out of my front door into a garden and have a mini-forest edge in my tiny backyard. In May, I had seven different kinds of tiny warblers refuel in my backyard during their migration. How did I attract them? My native forest edge has trees and bushes that provide cover and are host plants for the caterpillars that warblers eat. The backyard has a recirculating water feature that birds can hear when flying above. A dripper birdbath coaxes them down from my tallest, native Hackberry tree. In one of the photos I took, a Blackburnian warbler is pictured above on a perch made out of small bamboo stakes. The perch is below a native Chokecherry tree and beside my dripper bird bath.
Monarch Watch is predicting that the Eastern Monarch population will increase this year due to favorable weather conditions. A recent ODNR article stated that for the first time in 25 years of Journey North tracking the Eastern Monarch migration, sightings indicate that the Monarchs migrating up the Atlantic coast appear to be coming from Florida, not Mexico. I can't wait to have them back, and here is a great video of the entire Monarch life cycle by Peg Baseden. Encourage your city to remove Milkweed from the noxious weed list if it hasn't already (Columbus and Toledo, Ohio both removed it last year).
If your Milkweed's leaves curl and turn somewhat yellow, it may have a disease called Milkweed Yellows that is spread by leafhoppers. The disease is caused by bacteria (Phytoplasmas). It becomes part of the leafhopper's saliva when a leafhopper feeds on infected plants. In turn, the infected leafhopper transfers the bacteria into healthy milkweed when it feeds on it. Remove infected plants to avoid additional leafhoppers from catching and spreading the disease. See photos and more.
Good news: Three neonicotinoids, which cause bee death and pollute rivers and lakes, have been banned from all outdoor uses in the European Union Member States. Cross your fingers that the United States will follow suit. Read more.
- Organic Lawn Care: Mow grass high (3-4 inches) so lawn shades out weeds
- Look before you mow; Wild Cottontail baby Rabbits are probably not abandoned because adults feed their babies quickly at dusk and dawn and often make their nests in lawn
- Use an electric lawn mower because pollution from one hour of mowing with a gas mower is equivalent to a 100-mile car trip or operating 11 new cars for an hour; help prevent air quality alerts
- Fertilize flower baskets with organic fertilizers, such as a little fish emulsion or kelp emulsion mixed in water
- Deep-water new plantings when dry until they grow their deep taproots (needed year 1 and less in years 2-3)
- Control mosquitoes by removing standing water in your yard; change bird bath water, investigate your yard for places water collects, clear your gutters so they drain properly
- Put 30-day dunks in your rain barrels to eliminate mosquitoes; dunks are available at nursery and hardware stores
- Turn your outdoor light on and off and stomp your feet before taking your pet out on a leash to avoid an unexpected skunk encounter
- What to do about unattended baby wildlife or injured wildlife in your yard
- The Milkweed Stem Weevil killed my swamp milkweed last year. The females chew holes around the top of the stem, lay their eggs in the stem and the larvae feed as stem borers. Cut below the open center (looks like a straw) of the stem where it is solid and put the cut area in soapy water to kill the larvae and sometimes the adult
- Ladybugs eat Aphids in small groups, but if Aphids begin to spread, gently spray them when it's not windy with mild soapy water. Keep a paper towel behind the plant to absorb any stray spray and rinse the soap off after the Aphids are dead
- A 'Possum is related to Kangaroos (not rats), eats up to 4,000 ticks per week, eats venomous snakes, doesn't carry rabies and eats snails and slugs, so they are beneficial to have in your yard. Read more
- Contact your Public Health Department to find out if your city does mosquito fogging and, if so, ask how to opt out. These chemicals kill beneficial insects, including Monarch caterpillars
- Why birds hit windows - and how you can help prevent it
- Keep your pet's distemper vaccines up to date. Distemper can be transmitted if pets come in contact with wildlife that has distemper, and the distemper virus may live on surfaces that infected wildlife touched for up to 14 hours
- Watch for bird fledglings fluttering their wings asking to be fed. I think that they are adorable
Please send your backyard conservation educational event with a link the month prior to the registration deadline (e.g. May 1 for June issue)
- 6/2, Native Plant Saturday with Gale Martin Presentations, Natives In Harmony native plant sale, Create a Wildlife Habitat Exhibit, Huron
- 6/16, NOW Festival (Northern Olentangy Watershed), Create a Wildlife Habitat Exhibit, native plant sale, Delaware
- Reg now for 6/17, Conversations on Conservation: Nature's Fireworks, Garden for Wildlife Exhibit, Fee, Cincinnati Nature Center, Milford
- 6/20, 11-3pm, Pollinator Expo, Presentations, Garden for Wildlife Exhibit, native plant sale, Wright Brothers Memorial at Wright Patterson AFB, 2380 Memorial Rd, Dayton
- 6/23, Pollinator Palooza, Create a Wildlife Habitat Exhibit, native plant sale, Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus
Other Ohio Nature Events
Please send your backyard conservation educational event with a link the month prior to the registration deadline (e.g. May 1 for June issue)
- RSVP now for 6/2, Weed Walk with Naturalist Carol Mundy, scroll down at Cincinnati Wild Ones, Cincinnati
- 6/9, Field Trip to Deer Haven Park, ID native species, Wild Ones Columbus, Delaware
- Reg now for 6/28, Name That Tree, Fee incl Lunch, Ohio Woodland Stewards, Defiance
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