A New Year

The turning of the calendar is always a time for reflection and planning, looking back on the year that was and looking ahead to the year that will be. The blank calendar, a blank slate full of potential. Another opportunity to write your story and move it in the direction you'd like it to go. There are any number of things you can do to help the Sycamore Greenway and other natural areas as you begin the year.

If you are looking to be healthier in 2018, why not strive to get outside and move on one of your neighborhood trails? Getting out in nature is good for your health, and free. It also provides an opportunity to get to know your neighbors, be they of the human, botanical, or ornithological variety.

Volunteering is another satisfying goal that is easy to achieve. You can help clean up various areas around town, help remove invasive species from Bur Oak Land Trust properties, or just commit to picking up trash along the street every couple of weeks. It doesn't take a lot of time to make a difference.

Reducing waste is an admirable goal, and also easy to achieve. Try to reduce dependence on single-use, disposable plastics like grocery bags, straws, and plastic utensils. How silly to extract oil from the depths of the earth and process it until it eventually becomes a single straw, used once and thrown away? Just a little planning can reduce some of the waste that inevitably accompanies our basic existence: carry reusable grocery bags and mesh produce bags in your car so they will always be handy when shopping; skip the straw or invest in reusable plastic or stainless steel straws and utensils.

New hobbies are always fun, and great for keeping your mind sharp. Take up photography, drawing, or commit to learning to recognize a dozen new birds or plants that you encounter outside throughout the year (that's just one a month!). Keep a journal, or write poems using what is outside your window as inspiration.

If you are politically inclined, you can promote bipartisan legislation among both friends and family as well as your state and local representatives to helps places like the Greenway (without wading too far into the divisive mess of current national politics). Support strengthening and expanding the bottle bill, to keep trash off of our streets (and out of the Greenway). Encourage lawmakers to Fund the Trust, to help pay for clean water and wildlife habitat that will benefit all Iowans.

Even if you are not a gardener, you can easily commit to planting a few native flowers in your garden this spring or summer to provide habitat for our pollinator friends. Small things go a long way toward improving your little corner of the world, and what better time than now to start making your plans?

Reproductive Craftsmanship

Ootheca of a Chinese mantis

At first glance I thought it was an oddly-placed oak apple gall (having just passed a tree with several of the papery brown orbs dangling from its branches like rustic Christmas ornaments). This one was a little less spherical, and was wrapped around the small twig instead of hanging.

Closer inspection revealed it to be an ootheca, the egg case of a praying mantis. The rounded shape of this case and its placement around the twig indicates it is probably a Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis), a common non-native. Other mantids' egg cases appear more narrow/long and lay more closely along a branch.  

Side view

Female mantids may lay several of these egg cases each fall, each containing several hundred eggs (with several individual egg chambers sandwiched between each layer). The eggs will overwinter in these cases, protected from the elements, before tiny baby mantids hatch and flow out of the ootheca as temperatures warm in the spring.

Oak apple gall for comparison

Praying mantises of several species are popular both as pets and as garden visitors (the latter for their habit of voraciously devouring a variety of pestiferous insects). The eager gardener may order ootheca online in the hopes of unleashing a ferocious mantid army to protect their tender plants over the summer.




Video of the adorable nymphs hatching (video by Alice Friedman on YouTube):

Lunchtime at the Greenway Diner

It seemed like a quiet afternoon on the Greenway near the Sycamore Apartments, but a few steps along the trail and a quiet cacophony erupted. Apparently, I arrived just in time for the avian midday meal as an assortment of birds took advantage of the warm sunshine to stuff themselves with seeds (and I assume any errant bugs that happened to be out).

First was a bevy of female cardinals, rustling among the the dry stalks as they hopped from stem to stem. Their chunky, bright orange beaks were in constant motion as they selected seeds and worked them for a moment to remove any unappetizing shreds or bits of fluff before sending them down the hatch. They stayed close to one another, flying off together in the same direction when I passed a little too close for comfort.

Tiny goldfinches, emitting thin, squeaky-wheezy titters, were a bit harder to see with their dull tawny winter plumage. They were particularly fond of singing as they flew off far into the distance, just as I was bringing my camera up to my eye.

A couple of downy woodpeckers could be heard here and there, taptapping the rattly stems of cup plant, in search of tasty larvae attempting to make it through the winter in the thick, pithy stems.

In the distance, occasional quacks and honks erupted from the waterfowl hanging out in the wetlands. A single bluejay let out a few squeaky-pump whistles before flying off to the west.

Several little juncos were foraging on the ground along the edge of the trail, their white tail stripes flashing as they scattered to the nearby conifers. Unseen, they continued to berate me with metallic squeaks and tsks as I walked past.

I was hoping to see a few mourning doves, who usually hang out near the apartments, but there was no sign of them. They must have declined the invitation to the luncheon on the Greenway this afternoon.