Written by Shia Blocker (August 2024)
It has been a really exciting summer! I had the wonderful opportunity to research many interesting plants, animals, and insect species. In addition, I was allowed to use my creativity to illustrate two of the Nature Neighbors and share them. “Nature Neighbors” originated from my desire to produce a social media series based on my interests in nature. I have learned a lot while creating “Nature Neighbors,” including responsibility, how to engage with the public, and environmental awareness. I’ve learned that you can learn a lot about where you live based on what’s already there. One can learn about things such as food availability, soil conditions, water quality, and land layout. By publishing “Nature Neighbors,” it would be great if others learned this lesson too. And if you already knew these things, kudos to you!
Below, you’ll find the Summer 2024 “Nature Neighbors” installments, compiled and ready to be enjoyed. From beginning to end, we have the Eastern Fox Snake, Butterfly Weed, Eastern Cottontail, Crownvetch, and the Black Swallowtail butterfly. As I progressed, each one has been eye-opening, and I look forward to knowing if you feel the same as well.
Eastern Fox Snake
Nature Neighbors is a new summer series, where we spotlight exquisite animals and plants that you might encounter at your visit at The Confluence. To start, we have the Eastern Fox Snake. An Eastern Fox Snake was spotted alongside our Rock River Birding & Hiking Trail by a touring group recently. They are a rich, sandy brown color with equally rich, coffee-stained spots across their bodies and smaller, faint dots on their heads. These snakes stretch at a maximum length of a fearsome 6 feet and a minimum of 3 feet. They are often mistaken for the venomous copperheads, and unfortunately, many are disposed of because of this mistake. Eastern Fox Snakes are docile, therefore they avoid people unless they feel threatened. Despite their shyness, Eastern Fox Snakes play an important role in gardening. You can think of them as pest police! They feast on pests, such as small rodents, that can disturb our gardens, thereby protecting our crops. In summary, they are docile allies and misunderstood constrictors!
Butterfly-weed
Our next nature neighbor is the Butterfly-weed. It has bloomed at the confluence, and we are delighted to announce one of our dear friends. To begin, they are a type of milkweed plant. They are essential for milkweed specialists such as monarch butterflies, which we are pleased to report have emerged and been released into the wild! Butterfly weed has bright orange petals and can reach 2 feet in length. They are also the only milkweed plant that does not secrete white sap when damaged. However, they are still similar to other milkweeds in that they contain cardiac glycosides. Cardia glycosides is a toxin that is casually ingested by monarch larvae, passing on their toxic traits and making them unappealing to predators such as birds. Please welcome our new milkweed friends, who are home to local monarch larvae!
Eastern Cottontail
The Eastern cottontail is the most common rabbit in North America. They are herbivorous, which means they only consume plants. They are most active at dawn and dusk. They live in open fields with thick brushy cover, feeding on herbs and wild grass. When threatened, they will freeze and blend into their surroundings. To flee, they sprint in a zigzag pattern! To escape danger, they hide in burrows dug by other animals. Though lovable, they are garden pests that eat fresh produce. To deter them, keep your grass short to reduce cover, use strong repellents, and put up wire fences.
Purple Crownvetch
The Nature At the Confluence is home to diverse species of plants, insects, arachnids, birds, and animals, but some are undesirable guests that can spoil it for others. For instance, the elegant purple crownvetch. Don’t be fooled by its beauteous white and purple egg-shaped flowers and trailing 2–6-foot-long stems embellishing oval leaves. It is a tormentor to local plants and a suboptimal alternative to native plants. Crownvetch ordinarily grows in areas of poor soil quality. It can be seen spreading on gravel and waste sites. Crownvetch grows at The Confluence because, before its development, the land previously existed as a dumping site before the land was restored and given back to nature. Crownvetch are also tenacious and can tolerate deep cold and scorching heat. Crownvetch is primarily used for erosion control and is moderately used in grazing for livestock in its early, tender stage of life. Additionally, prey animals will use this plant as a means of shelter and protection from predators. The annoyance with crownvetch arises from their tyrannical nature: in areas where they grow, they plunder nutrients and envelope local plants to steal sunlight. For this reason, local wildlife that relies on native plants suffers from a lack of resources. Despite the plants being fetched with dazzling colors, they are oppressive and should be avoided.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
This week is about the ever-so-stylish Black Swallowtail butterflies! They are sure to steal the crowd with their charm, poise, and flair! Black Swallowtails are medium to large butterflies that are 2.5 – 4.0 inches in size. They are bold and black, with males sporting large yellow dots along the edges of the wings, and females adorned with smaller yellow dots but loud and vibrant blue scales on their hind wings. They inhabit sunny areas with plentiful flora and are regularly found in farmlands. Two generations emerge annually between spring and fall, but the number of generations can increase in warmer climates. Their life cycle begins after hatching from eggs, 10-13 days after being laid. As caterpillars, they are called silly names such as celery worm, carrot worm, and parsley worm because they feed on their leaves. As caterpillars, they share the same color schemes as monarch caterpillars, but lack antennae. On the other hand, they possess an osmeterium: a bright, forked-head organ that releases pungent smells to ward off predators. As a chrysalis, they are pointy and are a rich, brilliant green. Interestingly, if you’re a gamer, the Pokémon Metapod has a striking resemblance to their chrysalis! Lastly, as adults, they drink sweet nectar from milkweeds and purple coneflowers. When mating, males will perform a dance, known as ‘fluttering’, where they flutter around a female, garnering her attention and captivating her with his pheromones. If well received, they shall mate and repeat the life cycle. But, where do they go in the winter? In areas where it’s less warm, they overwinter by encasing themselves in their chrysalis for the winter and emerge in spring. We appreciate our breathtaking neighbors and their colors that are just as bold personalities.
Thank you for reading and supporting Nature Neighbors. To see the neighbors in real life, be sure to plan a visit to our trails!
