We are excited to have our garden featured on this week's Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' Outdoor Report. These brief videos are weekly news reports about Montana's great outdoors. This segment is a little different than most, since it is about backyard gardening, but we think Winston Greely did a great job making the connection between your landscape and nature. We thank him for putting together a great video introducing people to the concept of using native plants to create wildlife habitat in their own yards.
Showing posts with label wildlife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wildlife. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
We are excited to have our garden featured on this week's Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' Outdoor Report. These brief videos are weekly news reports about Montana's great outdoors. This segment is a little different than most, since it is about backyard gardening, but we think Winston Greely did a great job making the connection between your landscape and nature. We thank him for putting together a great video introducing people to the concept of using native plants to create wildlife habitat in their own yards.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
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| Indiscriminate cuckoo bumble bee (Bombus insularis) |
Last year I started an insect collection in order to document (and learn) all the insects visiting our garden. This project has been so much fun and such a rewarding endeavor. I am constantly amazed by the abundance and diversity of insects using our garden, and I am always fascinated by the ecological interactions going on in our little yard.
Last year I was obsessed with bee mimics- a variety of species, genera, and families that mimic bees and wasps. The ecology of these animals, and deception they employ, are really fascinating. This year, I am fascinated by bumble bees (Bombus species)- the gentle giants of Hymenoptera.
Last year I was obsessed with bee mimics- a variety of species, genera, and families that mimic bees and wasps. The ecology of these animals, and deception they employ, are really fascinating. This year, I am fascinated by bumble bees (Bombus species)- the gentle giants of Hymenoptera.
There has been a lot written about many pollinators, and even bumble bees in particular. Many species of bumble bees have declined for a variety of reasons- and many of them are the usual suspects- habitat loss, climate change, pesticides, etc… but another thing that intrigues me about bumblebees and their conservation is their nesting requirements. This relates directly to conventional landscaping. Bumblebees nest in the ground in underground burrows, so, more than anything, they need access to the ground: bare dirt they can burrow in to. This behavior puts them at odds with lawns, which cover most landscapes.
Bumble bees are not alone in being affected by lawns, indeed most of our native bees (over 75%) nest in the ground. However some species nest above ground in hollow cavities- holes formed by woodpecker drilling, from other insects boring into trees and even in hollow stems of plants like milkweed (Asclepias speciosa). These are the cavity nesting bees, like mason bees (Osmia species), that nest in bee boxes. For our other native bees (like bumble bees), bare ground is what they need. But unlike most of our native bees, which are solitary nesters, bumble bees are social and live in colonies.
Bumble bees are not alone in being affected by lawns, indeed most of our native bees (over 75%) nest in the ground. However some species nest above ground in hollow cavities- holes formed by woodpecker drilling, from other insects boring into trees and even in hollow stems of plants like milkweed (Asclepias speciosa). These are the cavity nesting bees, like mason bees (Osmia species), that nest in bee boxes. For our other native bees (like bumble bees), bare ground is what they need. But unlike most of our native bees, which are solitary nesters, bumble bees are social and live in colonies.
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| The original mason bee box |
So far I have collected and identified 12 species in our garden. Most of these are pretty common species, perhaps with the exception of the western bumble bee (B. occidentalis). Though locally common, the western bumble bee is in decline throughout its range and has even been locally extirpated, making it a species of concern throughout its range now. Historically they ranged from the Pacific coast east into Rockies and south to New Mexico.
Although several guides and resources are available, there is no one guide that is perfect for species found here in Montana. As a result, in order to identify bumble bee species I have been using a combination of guides including this key from Discover Life, a guide to Bumble Bees of the Western United States by the US Forest Service, a guide to bumble bees in North America by bumblebee.org and other online resources, like bugguide.net. Even with all these resources I still have some questions, and I still have a couple of specimens I have yet to satisfactorily identify. This is not to scare people off- it is a lot of fun learning about them and identifying them and many are actually quite easy to identify. One of my best references has become my own insect collection.
The interesting thing is all the diversity that is out there, and all the interesting behaviors and ecology. And all this can be found in your own backyard, provided you remove some lawn, plant some native plants, and take a look at what happens. So, last year, for me it was all about the mimics, and this year, bumble bees have my interest. Fortunately, there are hundreds of more species in my garden to keep my attention for years to come.
The interesting thing is all the diversity that is out there, and all the interesting behaviors and ecology. And all this can be found in your own backyard, provided you remove some lawn, plant some native plants, and take a look at what happens. So, last year, for me it was all about the mimics, and this year, bumble bees have my interest. Fortunately, there are hundreds of more species in my garden to keep my attention for years to come.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Ranger Orientation
Since the planned events don't work with everyone's schedules, several neighbors have requested to do an "independent study" that is, to be assigned tasks that they can work on outside of scheduled clean-ups. We are really excited about this, and those that have volunteered we are calling Pocket Park-Rangers! So, if you'd like to be assigned a task, come by for an orientation. The types of things for the independent studies are dandelion patrol and removal, mowing the horseshoe court, trimming the grasses along the edges of the park and the ditch, trash pick-up, and maybe watering some new transplants.
Here is a little background on the park:
The 8th Street Pocket Park is a small neighborhood park my wife and I have been volunteering our time and donating plants and materials to for over 5 years including planning, landscaping, grant writing and maintaining the park (click here for more information). This was an unused right of way (owned by the city) that was not being maintained, cared for, and had just turned into a gathering area for trash and noxious weeds. We transformed 1/2 of it n 2008, using drought tolerant native plants, and incorporated many wildlife features. In 2009 we received a grant for plants, mulch and other landscaping materials and in 2010, we completed the park. Funding for materials for this project has come from the Missoula Office of Neighborhoods, UM Natural Areas, and Montana Native Plant Society. Materials were also donated by Home Resource (like recycled lumber, fencing, lawn edging and more), and plants and bird, bat, bee houses and interpretive signs were donated by Butterfly Properties (that is, my wife and me).
Our neighborhood is deficient in parks and open spaces. Landscaping this site transformed existing public space from an unusable state into an attractive little park. While the final product meets a community need (more park space), the process of creating the native plant landscape also engaged neighbors visitors to the area.
If you come, bring some gloves and weeding tools if you have them. And don't forget your camera!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
The black-capped chickadees that had been nesting in our garden fledged this morning, and fortunately I was able to watch it all. I took this lousy video of the last two leaving the box. Even though the video quality is not too good, it is still adorable to watch them fly out of the box for the first time.
It is always amazing how quickly they grow- just a couple of weeks ago they were eggs.
There is a good chance they will have a second clutch, and if they do, you can watch all the action inside the nest box on our live streaming video.
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