FRIENDS OF THE LAKESHORE NATURE PRESERVE
  • Home
  • What We Do
    • Volunteering
    • Field Trips >
      • Self-guided Field Trips
    • Community Outreach >
      • Science Expeditions 2021
    • Friends Projects
    • Newsletter
    • Research
    • Citizen Science
  • People & Events
  • The Preserve
    • Stories
    • Maps >
      • 1918 Marsh
      • Eagle Heights Woods
    • Birds >
      • Bluebirds
      • Purple Martins
    • Animals
    • Plants
    • Lichens
  • Support us
  • About
    • Mission and Goals
    • Annual Report
    • Committees & Contact
  • Blog

Great new trail from Frautschi parking lot to Biocore Prairie

7/23/2018

1 Comment

 
What a pleasant surprise it was! I was prepared to walk along the road from Frautschi Point parking lot to the driveway of the Madison Water Pumping Station No 19 and on toward the narrow gap in the chainlink fence and then to  scamper down the hill to the Biocore. Instead I found a new path that opened into the quiet Frautschi Woods—a few yards toward the right from the Preserve Kiosk. Dappled sunlight was dancing on the comfortable wood chip path winding down toward the Biocore Prairie. Not only was this a shortcut, but it was beautiful. The path is wide enough for two people to walk next to each other. Try it out!!! Thank you Preserve staff for this lovely path. Gisela Kutzbach
1 Comment

The secret of the Goldenrod Gall Fly

7/15/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
When we think of Goldenrod, at least two things might come to mind—its colorful bloom and those enormous round balls that we often see on the stem of these plants in fall. They are so prominent, these balls, and have such interesting features that they have been studied widely. On our walk through the Biocore Prairie last Saturday with Seth McGee as our leader of the Biocore Program, we observed one in its beginning stages and had a 101 lecture on “what happens here.”
 
We noticed a gall in the making on a rosinweed, which also attracts the goldenrod gall fly (Eurosta solidaginis) or ball maker. Earlier in spring a goldenrod gall fly inserted a fertilized egg into the bud of the plant.  After the larva emerged, in a week or so, it ate its way to the base of the bud and into the spongy middle of the stem and induced a gall. The hormones in the saliva of the larva interacted chemically with the plant tissue, resulting in the growth. Seth  cut the growing gall open to show us the little larva inside. The larva had grown, feeding off the plant. The plant tissue around also expanded in response to the chemicals exuded by the larva. Before the gall ball would harden later in the year, the larva would dig an escape tunnel with its pair of mouth hooks all the way to the plant’s epidermal layer that surrounds the gall. It would survive the winter without freezing to death by emitting further chemicals that act as anti-freeze. In spring after pupation,  the new fly would turn its head in direction of the dermis, pump all its blood into its head to strengthen it, and ram with all its might through the dermis into the open, free to fly. Next time you see a gall on a goldenrod with a hole in it, you will know how the fly escaped. Photos and text, Gisela Kutzbach
Picture
0 Comments

Sandhill Cranes colts growing leaps and bounds

7/8/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Everything you can do I can do better - two sturdy walkers
Three weeks ago Mike Bailey photographed these two juveniles near the Biocore Prairie. And since then they have grown in leaps and bounds. It's a good year for sandhill cranes at the Preserve, with two pairs raising each a family of two.They are regular visitors to the Community Gardens, where gardeners are very much used to them and where cranes find abundant food. 
0 Comments

    Author

    Gisela Kutzbach and contributors

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    RSS Feed

Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve
 P.O. Box 5534
 Madison, WI 53705 

UW-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve website

Documents
Picture
Related websites:
UW Nelson Institute
UW Arboretum
Clean Lakes Alliance
Groundswell Conservancy
Pleasant Valley Conservancy
Pheasant Branch Conservancy
​
  • Home
  • What We Do
    • Volunteering
    • Field Trips >
      • Self-guided Field Trips
    • Community Outreach >
      • Science Expeditions 2021
    • Friends Projects
    • Newsletter
    • Research
    • Citizen Science
  • People & Events
  • The Preserve
    • Stories
    • Maps >
      • 1918 Marsh
      • Eagle Heights Woods
    • Birds >
      • Bluebirds
      • Purple Martins
    • Animals
    • Plants
    • Lichens
  • Support us
  • About
    • Mission and Goals
    • Annual Report
    • Committees & Contact
  • Blog