Heartland Safari

Comma butterfly sits on a bunch of summer berries. Orange wings with black marks and the angular/scalloped rear edges of both pairs of wings that give these animals the name “anglewings.”

Hop Merchants: Comma Butterflies

Updated October 26, 2023

Over 40 species of butterflies visit Owl Acres at various times throughout the year. Their flashes of color and elegant shapes brighten the landscape throughout the spring, summer and fall. Many are nectar-eaters, drawn to flowers throughout the warmer months. And some, like the comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album), fill a different type of niche in […]

Insects and Spiders

Stinging nettle color plate from a book published in Germany in 1885. Shows the plant and details of leaves, stem, seeds and stinging hairs. Upcoming post: a critter that eats this stuff.

Ouch: Stinging Nettle

Updated October 23, 2023

When I bought Owl Acres 20-some years ago, the place had been significantly overgrown. Although it had been regularly mowed, around the buildings where the tractor couldn’t get to, the weeds grew thick and happy. My initial efforts at learning about those weeds ended abruptly when I grabbed a stalk of stinging nettle. That stuff […]

Plants

A fist-sized bunch of the papery cones of Common Hops ripens in the road ditch in front of Owl Acres

IPA Anyone? Common Hops

Updated October 19, 2023

Clancy, our nine-month-old golden retriever, loves to pick things up and bring them to me, or pick them up and eat them, depending on what he has. So the other day when he came bearing a rattly branch of something-or-other, I took it away, identified it as the hops branch we’d brought home from a […]

Plants

Velvetleaf in the summer sun. Heart-shaped leaves and branching stems, terminating in the button-shaped seed capsules that give the plant its common name, buttonweed.

From Friend to Foe: Velvetleaf

Updated October 16, 2023

When I was growing up on an Iowa farm, I thought velvetleaf was a most lovely plant. Its leaves were so velvety soft to the touch. It was so soft I’d want to rub it on my cheek. Even the stems were velvety. And the coolest part was the buttons that formed in the fall. […]

Plants

Sleek green grasshopper-like insect sits on a bright orange-yellow marigold bloom outside the front door of the house. Evidence of an earlier escape from a predator can be seen, as this katydid has lost one of its jumping legs. This is actually a “posed” photo, we‘re not sure the shy katydid would be caught dead in this flamboyant setting. The katydid had been in the house and was captured and removed to the flower where its picture was taken. It didn’t stick around to read the reviews.

Tireless Singer: Common Meadow Katydid

Updated October 12, 2023

Outside my study window, along with the crickets that have been singing there all summer, there’s another voice. The singer starts with a short series of ticks and then melts into a long rasping rattle. For hours he repeats his song, sitting in the same place along the edge of the sidewalk. He is quiet […]

Insects and Spiders

Rump-on view of a Cedar Waxwing displaying all the colorful markings of this beautiful songbird. Slate-grey back with tailfeathers tipped in bright yellow. Red tips of secondary flight feathers peek out from folded wings. Soft yellow green breast, salmon-brown head and feather crest, and a rakish, black bandit-mask with thin white outline.

Berries Please: Cedar Waxwing

Updated October 9, 2023

On a cool morning in early October, Dave and I stopped to enjoy the soundscape on our morning walk. The crickets had center stage, but several birds weighed in as well. One high-pitched clear whistle followed by a high-pitched trill that sounded almost like a cricket came from what my Merlin Bird ID app told […]

Birds

Close-up cluster of 7 shiny black berries hanging from a single stem. American Black Nightshade.

Double-Edged Sword: American Black Nightshade

Updated October 5, 2023

There’s a square cutout in my sidewalk intended to be used as an herb garden. In past years it has yielded lush basil plants and a tomato plant that took over the world. This past spring, between travel schedules, I planted a few marigolds in there and left it to its own devices. Conducting a […]

Plants

Green insect with dark chevron markings on the long hind legs it uses for jumping. Differential grasshopper clings to a sunflower stem in the early morning light. Too cold to move now, it will warm and become active with the sun’s arrival.

Summer Jumpers: Grasshoppers

Updated October 2, 2023

We planted a couple of big sunflowers that a friend gave us, and they have thrived, producing huge flowers and then handfuls of sunflower seeds. On a cool autumn morning, the sunflowers are hosting grasshoppers. The grasshoppers are too cold to do much but sit there and look at the camera while Bryan takes their […]

Insects and Spiders

Karen is dwarfed by a forest giant ragweed, towering overhead in the ditch across from Owl Acres.

Ambrosia, really?: Ragweed

Updated September 28, 2023

When I was growing up, we took our vacations in August. And we usually went north. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada, Michigan. Dad would load up the car top carriers with tents, sleeping bags and camping gear. Then he’d load up Mom and all seven of us kids into the station wagon and off we’d go. The […]

Plants

Monarch butterfly rests, wings spread, on a milkweed. Colors are bold orange with prominent black veining, and white spots. This photo was chosen for its similarity to the photo of the Viceroy elsewhere in the post. There are differences in markings, but they’re easy to miss on casual observation.

Warning, Poison Here: Monarchs, Viceroys, Tussock Moths and Milkweed Bugs

Updated September 25, 2023

My favorite time of the year has just opened its arms to launch a festival of colors and aerobatic displays. Birds are beginning to migrate, and so are the monarch butterflies. Most birds make their migratory trips south and back north all in one generation, but the fragile and beautiful monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) have […]

Insects and Spiders