Aug 9, 2009 - Insects, flowers, and a bird

Deptford Pink is one of my favorite wildflowers. I like it because it is a very pretty little flower and also a real survivor. The flower itself is only ¼” to ½” across so if you are not watching carefully, you could easily miss it. It has five bright pink, toothed petals. They are accented by many small white dots all over the petals and a ring of pink dots near the center of the flower. It grows on a grass-like stem which can be up to 24” tall. It will grow in dry, sandy soil and in full sun. The flower closes up at night and might even close up on a cloudy day. It also has one of the longest growing seasons of all our wildflowers. We start seeing blossoms in June and are still seeing them in October.

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I found this insect clinging to one of the posts on the railing of our deck here in northern Minnesota. By submitting this photo to BugGuide.net I found out that it is in the Green Lacewing family. To make a more specific ID they would have needed a photo from a different angle. This is the only photo I took so I’ll have to be satisfied with calling it a Green Lacewing. I think that’s a pretty appropriate name.

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There are at least 30 common names associated with this plant. The one I am familiar with is Butter and Eggs. The yellow part of the flower looks like butter and the orange part looks like an egg yolk. It’s a plant that is found all across the temperate zones of the world and that probably accounts for the many common names it has been given. The orange lips of the flower must be pried open to reach the nectar. Bumble bees and large honey bees are about the only insects strong enough to do this and, as it turns out, they are particularly good at pollinating this plant. So, Butter and Eggs has come up with a very good way to attract the right insect for the job. I found this plant growing in the lawn at our apartment in Shoreview, Minnesota.

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If you couldn’t see this Clay-colored Sparrow and only heard it singing, you might think you were hearing an insect. Its call is a repetitive buzzy sound, not what you would expect from a bird. I found this one singing robustly when I was doing a bird survey near our home in northern Minnesota. They nest in the plains areas of Canada and the northern United States and migrate to central Mexico for the winter. They usually build their nests on the ground or in a low bush (usually less than five feet off the ground).

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This butterfly resting on a Daisy is a European Skipper. According to the book "Butterflies of the North Woods" it is not a native species. It was introduced into Ontario in 1910, first appeared in the USA in 1925, and is expanding its range by about 20 miles each year. There are lots of Skippers, so, I again used BugGuide.net to help me identify it.

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On some summer nights I turn on our porch light, wait for a little while, and then go out to see the moths that have gathered. Some of them are very plain looking but I have been surprised by some of the more colorful ones that have appeared. This is an Orange-barred Carpet Moth.

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