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Time of the "emperors"
If you have been at Fort Ridgely in the past several weeks you probably have seen lots of small brown butterflies in most of the places on the trails. They are called hackberry emperors and as you can see in this close-up picture they have intricate brown and white coloring.
It blends in nicely on tree trunks. This was a group of them that were on an oak tree trunk. Their wings are shut so you only see the outside of their wings.
They lay their eggs on hackberry trees in the park and their larvae feed off the leaves of only this tree. Evidently the last few years have been bumper crops for these butterflies as they have been all over the park at least the last few years at about this time. They often land on people as you can see in the two pictures below. In addition to landing on my wife's legs as in the picture they have landed on our hats and other parts of our bodies. One landed on my wife's hat and rode there for at least 5 minutes as we descended a trail into the Minnesota River valley. I think the one on her hat in the picture is the one that went for the longer ride.
Amphitheater
On June 18 on a walk through the park we came across men working on dismantling the amphitheater next to the cemetery. They had a number of stacks of bricks besides the ones in the picture. They told me they are going to reuse the bricks to make a smaller but nice replacement for the old amphitheater. It had been in danger of collapsing and had been roped off and covered with plastic for a number of years. Many plays, weddings and other events had been held there for almost 100 years (built in 1927). It was the oldest structure in the park.
Milkweeds
Several kinds of milkweed are blooming in the park. The most evident one is the pink flowered common milkweed. Many pollinators like to visit the flowers. The first two are actually flies and not bees. There are many flies that go to flowers and are even considered flower flies. The first is a yellow shouldered drone fly and the ones in the second picture are bee flies. Bee flies eat nectar from flowers like milkweed but are dependent on bees. They lay their eggs at the entrances to bee nests and when hatched the larvae feed on the bee grubs.
Butterflies also pollinate milkweed and get nutrients from the flowers. The one below is a summer azure. They are small blue butterflies that are often seen near and on flowers.
Another beautiful milkweed is the bright orange butterfly weed. The first picture is a monarch and the second is a banded hairstreak. These butterflies are not the only pollinators coming to butterfly weed.
A brown-belted bumblebee visits it too with gusto.
Notice how much smaller this black sweat bee is than a bumblebee. Use the size of a butterfly weed flower as a reference to compare the size.
There are smaller bees than this sweat bee and larger bees than the bumblebee above. A smaller two-spotted bumblebee was in the same area and on butterfly weed on the same walk as all these pictures.
A few days later than the picture above I saw this crab spider on a butterfly weed flower. They are predators and will kill and eat bees, flies or butterflies.
June birds
We parked above the old primitive campground for a walk a few days before the pictures above and heard a bird singing away on some bushes near the bike trail. It was a dickcissel. These are very common prairie birds but this was the first one I had seen this year in the park.
Just below airplane hill on the winding trail to the campsites I saw a red bird up in a small tree near the trail. It was quick and did not sit still very long so the picture is not very good. It turned out to be a scarlet tanager. I had not seen one of these birds for many years.
Two tree swallows were flirting with each other on the weather station near the bike trail. The female seems to be bracing herself for the impact of the male flying in.
Interpretive Programs on July 10th (Saturday) at Fort Ridgely
Ask the Naturalist (1 p.m.): If you have been wondering about something related to Fort Ridgely State Park whether something historical or natural, stop by Upper Picnic Area near a large Siberian Elm tree. Minneopa Area Naturalist is going to be stationed there from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to answer any of your questions. To register send an email to scott.kudelka@state.mn.us
Nature Hike / Wildflowers (4 p.m.): Explore the tallgrass prairie of Fort Ridgely State Park by going for a hike through both established and restored areas. We talk about some of the mid-summer blooming wildflowers along with the history and importance of the prairie ecosystem. To register send an email to scott.kudelka@state.mn.us
Canoeing with the Cree (7 p.m.): Eric Sevareid and Walter Port paddled the entire length of the Minnesota River on the way to Hudson Bay in the summer of 1930 – a total of 2,250 miles. These two teenagers pushed themselves and their canoe over sixty portages in fourteen weeks or 98 days arriving at the York Factory at the end of September. Their story is told in the book Canoeing with the Cree by Eric Sevareid. We will talk about their journey in particular the Minnesota River section and others who have followed their route. To register send an email to scott.kudelka@state.mn.us
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