by Ilse Gebhard, KAWO member The closest thing to a “wilderness experience” in Southwest Michigan probably is canoeing some of our rivers and creeks. The floodplain forests along their banks provide valuable habitat for native fauna and flora. These streams are not as exciting as the white-water rivers of the West nor as spectacularly scenic […] Continue reading "Canoeing Southwest Michigan’s Waterways"
by Ilse Gebhard, KAWO member One summer I found a couple of Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) caterpillars on a Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) by our garage and one on a Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) growing in the backyard. Spicebush is my very favorite shrub. Not only is it the caterpillar host plant for Spicebush Swallowtails, but also […] Continue reading "One Thing Leads to Another…and Another"
by Ilse Gebhard, KAWO member Some years ago, I had quite a day in early May. First a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) landed briefly on the feeder on our deck and even came back later in the afternoon. Good sign that she might stay close-by for the summer. I will have to watch closely […] Continue reading "A Day in May to Remember!"
by Ilse Gebhard, KAWO member One of my favorite butterfly books is an old one that my husband found for me at the Friends of the Library in Kalamazoo. Published in 1919, Butterflies Worth Knowing by Clarence M. Weed is more like a book you sit down to read rather than our present-day field guides, […] Continue reading "Heraldic Shield Colors Basis for Baltimore Checkerspot Name"
by Ilse Gebhard, KAWO member Our earliest entry for finding and identifying an American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) is in our first butterfly book, one of those Audubon Society Pocket Guides. This entry is not a happy one: “6/10/91, grill” — car grill, that is — but does remind us of the many ways our modern […] Continue reading "The Vagaries of Vanessa Butterflies"
by Ilse Gebhard, KAWO member At our former home the tops of the screens of the screened-in porch are held in place from the outside by 2 x 4 studs. For years I noticed wasps were boring holes in the underside of these 2 x 4s. Having heard of wood-boring wasps, I never gave it […] Continue reading "An Unusual Pollinator"
by Ilse Gebhard, KAWO member For a long time I did not realize that there are actually two species of moths in our area whose caterpillars spin the easily spotted silken webs in many of our trees. Nor did I realize that one does it in spring and the other in fall. In mid-summer the […] Continue reading "Caterpillars That Spin Webs in Trees"
by Ilse Gebhard, KAWO member Any day that I am presented with a mystery of nature to be solved is a great day. Late May, a few years ago, a friend brought me not only a native plant from her yard but also a caterpillar that was hiding in the soil that she dug up […] Continue reading "Secretive Feeder"
by Ilse Gebhard, KAWO member I know Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) butterflies are not native to the US but when you suffer from CCB (Caterpillar Compulsive Behavior) and Monarchs are all gone for the season, one stoops to even raise Cabbage Whites. Introduced from Europe, it is one of the most abundant butterflies in our […] Continue reading "Some Protein with Your Veggies?"
by Ilse Gebhard, KAWO member One of the most fascinating natural phenomena is the Monarch butterfly migration in the fall. While it was known that Monarchs breeding west of the Rocky Mountains overwinter on the California coast, it was a mystery where the population breeding east of the Rockies overwintered. It took Canadian Zoologist Fred […] Continue reading "Monarch Migration along Lake Michigan"