"Welcome to our World" love Nature

Throughout this past week I have spent careful attention on the plants in my yard. To be honest I was quite surprised at the variety my yard holds when left untamed for quite some time. Many starflowers and canada mayflowers fill my yard along with lots of goldthread. I found some bunchberry yesterday which was exciting, I have never seen it before in my yard. I noticed that the ants climbing all over the ferns, I was curious to whether they help the ferns open and they seemed to be sipping on some sort of nectar from them however it doesn't seem that ferns have flowers so where does the nectar come from? Paratism is the kind of relationship I have seen the most of recently. Annoying mosquitoes and black flies have been biting me a lot since I have a small wetland near by. I have at least 8 annoying bites by now. I have seen galls on all sorts of plants like maple bladder gall and cherry galls from mites and other insects. I have a birch tree and noticed that some sort of insect has been eating it's leaves and rolling them. I think it could be some kind of leave roller moth or beetle. I believe this would be an example of commenalism because it doesn't cause mortality to the tree. Mutualislm between the insects and Azure bluets have been one of my main focuses. More than five different species of insects rely on bluets for nectar. The ones I see most often are American coppers, bumblebees, Eastern pine elfins, Spring Azures, honeybees and that beautiful Snowberry clearwing. Many flies also visit, big and small. Some of them are so tiny and quick that I am unable to snap their picture however I been able to identify houseflies and Greater bee flies. I do believe that in some way or another I have seen all of these different relationships and it's just fascinating to watch. The birds also in their hiearchy to whom gets the food first and what part of the tree or yard is their territory and what is not is fascinating to observe.
I also have found a few nests by watching the parents carrying nesting material or food to the same area more than once however all of these nests were too high for me to reach so I will not be fully able to use nest watch.
I love watching and listening for new things while the days get warmer such as katydids and crickets now joining the evening chorus of gray treefrogs,spring peepers and american toads with the occasional hooting of a barred owl. Hearing the chimmney swifts twittering high in the sky on warm afternoons, the warblers singing off and on. Becoming more observant is like becoming part of nature, entering a whole new world and having a whole new perspective and respect for the relationships and coming and goings all around you. It's just absolutely wonderful!!

Posted on 27 de maio de 2020, 02:34 AM by jobird