May 30, 2021
Flowers at Fort Ridgely
Some of the spring ephemeral flowers were shown in the last update. These were mainly in the woods and came before the leaves formed on the trees. We are now in the transition from them to the prairie flowers. Several flowers are still blooming in the woods even though the leaves are almost all completely open in the trees. The most evident one is Virginia waterleaf. It is found along the edges of the woods but also throughout the woods.
Red columbine is also found by the office and at various places in the woods. The picture above shows it and a close up of Virginia waterleaf..
For more information: Aquilegia canadensis (Red Columbine): Minnesota Wildflowers
Showy orchis is a more rare flower that is from the orchid family is found in a few places in the park.
For more information: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/showy-orchis
You may find some later violets (especially yellow), jack in the pulpits, and blue phlox still blooming. It is interesting that most of these woodland flowers are pink to purple and red. Many of the prairie flowers that are coming out right now are yellow. Bitter wintercress is found in the prairie between the office and the chalet. Notice the honeybee on the flower!
A more common yellow flower in the prairie in late May is golden alexander. The flowers are smaller and the cluster is more flat-topped than other flowers. The picture is a close up of the flowers and shows a much smaller (than honeybees) native bee. The diversity of sizes and colors of pollinators will be explored a little later in this update.
For more information: Zizia aurea (Golden Alexanders): Minnesota Wildflowers
Last update I showed the orange hoary puccoon and below is a fringed puccoon which is yellow and from the same family of flowers. For more information: Minnesota Seasons - fringed puccoon
A very interesting and unusual flower is the downy paintbrush. I have only seen it on the hillside near the overlook at airplane hill. For more information: Castilleja sessiliflora (Downy Painted-cup): Minnesota Wildflowers
A common member of the daisy family called fleabane is just starting to bloom now. It has very thin petals and many more than other daisy flowers that come later. For more information: Erigeron strigosus (Prairie Fleabane): Minnesota Wildflowers
Black raspberries and bee diversity.
Black raspberry bushes are blooming throughout the park. There are lots of pollinators on them. The one below is a very small green sweat bee. Notice its size on the blossom as I will compare it to other bees that frequent raspberries. There should be lots of berries to pick in a month or so!!
A huge bumblebee called a black and gold bumblebee was on some black raspberries at my wife's family farm near Kasota. Notice how it dwarfs the blossom in size.
We have a red raspberry patch at our home and the last few years I have seen mostly these smaller brown bees pollinating the blossoms each spring. They are called Milwaukee miner bees.
I found a red nomad bee pollinating some raspberries at Fort Ridgely. There are over 4000 species of bees in North America and the app called iNaturalist on the internet that I report my findings and pictures to a smaller local group called the Minnesota Bee Atlas. They have 153 bee species reported and identified in the last few years just in Minnesota.
Other pollinators spotted
Bees are not the only pollinators visiting the flowers of plants. Butterflies also get nectar for food from plants and sometimes deliver pollen on their legs and pollinate them . I saw my first monarch a few days ago on a hoary puccoon and exploring the area for other ready plants.
Not far away I saw another smaller butterfly and it turned out to be called an American lady.
An even smaller butterfly was in a prairie area below in the Minnesota river valley part of the park. It was appropriately called a meadow fritillary. It looks big in the picture but it was smaller than your thumb.
Bees and butterflies are not the only pollinators. Wasps and flower flies are often seen on flowers and mistaken for bees. Below is a picture of a small flower fly called a tufted globe tail on golden alexander. Notice the intricate striping and shape of this tiny fly.
Birds seen in May.
A variety of birds have been passing through or coming to nest in the park. Here are a few that I have seen.Yellow warblers are pretty both in their bright yellow color and in the cheery song that they sing. They are the size of a small sparrow.
A slightly larger and more commonly seen bird is the American goldfinch. It too is yellow but also has black on its wings and is slightly larger. They come to many of our bird feeders, especially if you have thistle seed for them.
There are a huge variety of different sparrow species. One that I have seldom seen but took this picture of one recently is called a Lincoln's sparrow.
An interesting bird that is very common in the summer is the grey catbird. It makes many sounds besides the familiar cat sound. It is about the size of a robin.
Two colorful birds are the redstart and the rose breasted grosbeak. The redstart is smaller than a robin and the grosbeak is about the same size as a robin.
A much bigger bird that many of you have seen is the turkey vulture. It is almost the size of an eagle but is darker in color and has a red head. I had never seen the white under its wings until this picture
Upcoming Interpretive Programming – June 12th (Saturday)
o 1 p.m. Ask the Naturalist: 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.
o 4 p.m. Nature Hike / Wildflowers: 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 early summer blooming wildflowers along with the history and importance of the prairie ecosystem. There is limited capacity and pre-registration is required. Details will be given once you pre-register. Sign-up deadline in 5 p.m. on June 11th. To pre-register send an email to scott.kudelka@state.mn.us
o 7 p.m. Explore Fort Ridgely Creek: Cutting through the heart of Fort Ridgely State Park, this creek has seen major flooding events over the last few years causing damage to the facilities. Explore some of the plants and mammals found along the creek including the stocking of rainbow and brown trout. Fort Ridgely Creek also holds some interesting macroinvertebrates (aquatic insects). There is limited capacity and pre-registration is required. Details will be given once you pre-register. Sign-up deadline in 5 p.m. on June 11th. To pre-register send an email to scott.kudelka@state.mn.us