A couple weekends ago I had the pleasure of joining a field trip jointly sponsored by the
Southern Wisconsin Butterfly Association, the Prairie Enthusiasts, and the local chapter of the Audubon Society. What I like about "multidisciplinary" hikes is the availability of people with a wide variety of expertise (not unlike the experience of writing blog posts for TYWKIWDBI readers).
Our destination was the Pleasant Valley Conservancy, a beautifully restored and maintained site that has a wide variety of ecosystems, including wetlands, prairie, woods, and oak savanna. Within the first fifteen minutes of the walk I noticed this burrow just off the side of the trail, which traversed the boundary between a prairie and a sedge meadow next to a wetland:
I was wondering what critter lived there. The soil next to the burrow was clearly dried mud rather than dirt, so I didn't think it would be the mammals I'm familiar with. Another butterflier was of no help. One of the Audobon birders came by and opined that it might be a reptile or an amphibian; the answer was finally revealed when one of the Prairie Enthusiasts looked at it and said, "Oh, that burrow was made by a *******." (answer at the bottom of the post so you can ponder your own answer for a few moments...)
One of the less common butterflies resident at the Conservancy is this Checkerspot, the dorsal view shown here resembles several other species -
but the underwing pattern is diagnostic; the white crescent and ellipses define this as the Silvery Checkerspot. (All these pix enlarge with a click; this one is particularly nice).
This fritillary (I think a Great Spangled, but need to check) also was very cooperative in posing for its portrait -
- but my favorite of the day were these fellows -
- the Baltimore Checkerspots. Beautiful creatures that frequent wet meadows and the margins of wetlands where their host plant (the turtleheads) grow. These guys are not shy, and it's possible slowly to bring your camera within an inch or two of them for nice macro images.
And that burrow? It was the home of a
crayfish. As a kid, my introduction to crayfish was seeing them under docks and under rocks near the shore; I hadn't expected to find them in a meadow with no open water in sight, but it was pointed out to me that that burrow goes down to the water table, which is all they need for reproduction. They reportedly emerge at night to browse the local vegetation.
You learn something every day.
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