Celebrating Tallgrass Prairie

Today, June 3, 2017, is officially National Prairie Day. At least it is in the USA, where the idea originated through the Missouri Prairie Foundation and was officially made a National Day a couple of years ago. Of course tallgrass prairie is a main part of the Missouri landscape, as it is throughout the mid-western USA.

There are a number of high quality remnants across the mid-western US. The features change regularly, and there is always something impressive about them from April through September. I've been to dozens of remnants there over the years. Some of my favourites places during my digital photography era include the following, many of which are in Missouri:

Indian Paintbrush on Diamond Grove Prairie, MO

Indian Paintbrush and Wood Betony on Coyne Prairie, MO

Pale Purple Coneflower on Golden Prairie, MO

 Besides the spectacular flora, there are spectacular fauna as well.

Loggerhead Shrike

Regal Fritillary (Endangered)

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

 Of course there are the mega fauna, including these bison on the largest protected tallgrass prairie remnant in the US: The Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northeastern Oklahoma, which is almost 15000 hectares (37,000) acres in size....

Bison enjoying fresh grass following a spring burn

....and Elk on an eastern Nebraska prairie.

Treaty Line Prairie, MO

Wa-Kon-Tah Prairie, MO

 It is hard not to be impressed with this pink form of Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadii), shown here on the Tucker Prairie in north central Missouri. This site is immediately adjacent to an interstate highway.

This next photo shows Tucker Prairie, with Wild White Indigo (Baptisia alba) scattered across the prairie and Interstate 70 in the background. It is located about 20 km or so east of Columbia.

Here in Ontario, tallgrass prairie does not have the same high profile since it is a relatively small part of the landscape. However in parts of Ontario, such as the tri-county area of Essex, Chatham-Kent and Lambton, it has been a significant part. It has also been a smaller, but still significant vegetation type in places farther east, including the greater Brantford and greater Toronto areas and still farther east in the area of the Rice Lake Plains.

Walpole Island in early July

Walpole Island in early August

Yesterday, Marie and I went to Windsor, partly to explore the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve. It was a major focal point of my career in many ways, beginning in 1976. It has changed some since the time it was first obtained by MNR in the early 1970s. Regular fire is a critical part of its health. Fire in the form of prescribed burns has been challenging to implement as regularly as it really needs, and it is looking shrubbier as a result. In Ontario, tallgrass prairie looks decidedly green at this time of year, but by mid-July and until early October, the colours and hues diversify considerably.

Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve

In spite of the lack of regular fire, there are some fascinating vegetative elements that can be found throughout the growing season, just not in as great abundance as they should. Two of the rare plant species of interest on this visit were:

Two-flowered Cynthia (Krigia biflora)

Purple Twayblade (Liparis liliifolia) an endangered orchid species

This is what OPPNR has looked like at times following a fire, with fabulous numbers of Dense Blazing-star in peak flower. Dense Blazing-star is a Threatened species, although it can be abundant in the limited places where it occurs.

This next species, Gray-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) will be fairly common in another few weeks.

Aside from some of the significant plants, birds are also a significant part of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Both Bobolink and Henslow's Sparrow, both officially Species At Risk in Canada, may be found surviving to some extent in pastures and abandoned fields on the agricultural landscape, but will actually thrive in a healthy tallgrass prairie.

Henslow's Sparrow, digiscoped on an Ontario planted prairie in 2005

Dickcissel has been found nesting on Ontario prairies, grasslands and abandoned fields. This is another feeble attempt at digiscoping, this time on a Dickcissel, discovered on a planted prairie, in 2005.

Ontario's tallgrass prairies deserve more recognition, and that is happening slowly. They are a scientific treasure-trove of diversity. In just the last few years, more than two dozen faunal species new to Canada have been recorded in the Ojibway Prairie area alone!

I encourage you to get out and explore a tallgrass prairie near you!

Prairie patch action, #1

Prairies are great places to explore, for all kinds of reasons. Unfortunately there aren't many left! So sometimes small patches of vegetation that appear somewhat like prairie have to do instead.

I've been to a few of those lately. One place is a narrow strip along an active railway line just east of Thamesville. A few posts ago I highlighted some of my findings. As I was in the area recently, I decided to check it out again. Not surprisingly, the Ironweed that was dominant and highly attractive to butterflies at my previous visit, was just about finished. But as often happens in the natural world, another species takes its place. This time it was Prairie Thistle (Cirsium discolor).

Prairie Thistle is quite uncommon in Ontario, being ranked as S2. It is a much paler purple than the abundant, and not native, Bull Thistle (Cirsium arvense).

Prairie Thistle

And the butterflies loved it! This first image is of a very tattered Giant Swallowtail visiting an equally tattered Ironweed. I was impress by how easily this worn individual could still fly. I am sure that it must have been much more taxing given the lack of lift these wings could provide.

This is another Giant Swallowtail, not quite as tattered as the previous one. During my previous visit I had as many as eight Giants, but there were only about three this time.

 There were at least a couple of Great Spangled Fritillaries around.

Great Spangled Fritillary

And several Monarchs....it was hard to keep track of their numbers as they moved around constantly.

This next image shows not a butterfly, but a day-flying moth known as a Hummingbird Clearwing. In flight it very much resembled a hummer.

Other winged invertebrates included a few damselflies, such as this Eastern Forktail.

But butterflies were the main attraction, and there were the usual common species, such as Viceroy, Black Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and this Peck's Skipper on the much darker Bull Thistle.

I also visited a friend's family farm north of Thamesville, where several hectares have been planted into various mixes of prairie grasses and forbs. There was much the same mix of butterflies, but I lucked out and got a couple of rarer ones, such as the not-so-common Common Buckeye....

Common Buckeye

.....and the even less common Common Checkered Skipper. It has been an excellent year for this species. I have seen more this year than in all my previous years of looking for butterflies!

Common Checkered Skipper

Where there are wide grassy roadsides in rural areas, there are often a few Groundhogs....at least until the predators get wind of them!

Even more recently I have explored some prairie patches and restoration areas in Lambton. I will be highlighting them in a future post.