Even before Isaac was declared a hurricane, long before it reached landfall, central Oklahoma did receive some significant rain. Some places measured rainfall at 3 inches, or just shy of that.
The nights have been significantly cooler, dipping down into the 60s, which is also very helpful in allowing what remains of our wildlife, both flora and fauna to achieve some kind of recovery.
We are on the edge of September, and the daily count of Monarch Butterflies is still in the single digits. In all our hikes, and checking, we have found only 2 live larvae on milkweed in a 4 month period.
The bumpercrop of butterflies we witnessed earlier this spring has long since died or moved where there was more food and cover. But we still occasionally see a Tiger Swallowtail on the wing.
Last night I think I caught sight of one bat, out of the corner of my eye, above my head. What else could it be so late in the evening with only a full moon to light the way? But still, only one? Within a couple yards of a large lake? There should be many, swooping down on the mosquitoes and gnats and moths in the evening hours, and not just one.
Beyond the depressing existence of a 2 year long, extreme summer drought, just dealing with the aggravating level of extreme stupidity in our politics is enough to make me not want to crawl out of my bed. If it weren't for my love of my family, an infernal curiosity, and a passion for nature, I think I might have been catatonic by now, just from watching the massive flail of our own, home grown idiocracy.
This is in part, how I cheer myself up, when it gets to be too much.
And even though we still cannot swim in some of the lakes due to algal blooms, and other pathogens, at least this bit of rain brought us some flowers.
The best news I have, is that it appears in spite of the early bloom of the asters, that the rain has caused them to start a second round. I was really worried about that. That like some determinate plants, they would just bloom and be kaput. So we are getting some reblooming action from those Golden Crown and Beards.
This is an aster being visited by a Leaf Cutter Bee. Unlike other bees that have pollen baskets on their legs, these leaf cutter bees carry their pollen on the underside of their abdomen. You will know right away when you see them, because they wave their hind parts in the air. It's my understanding that this method of pollen collection is 20 percent less efficient than pollen baskets or scopa on other bee species.
Some stands are only just now starting to bloom for the first time. This is because, even though earlier temps made them germinate earlier this year, the heat pushed them back and some are actually blooming on time, and still others, appear to be a little late.
This is what the asters look like when they first emerge. So this is an exceedingly good sign. These probably won't bloom until mid September. I found these on a hike.
The Snakeroot [Epatorium altissimun or Tall Prairie Boneset] is a bit early. I am allergic to that. It's a flower that looks a bit like a white version of Iron Weed, but it makes bigger, multiple heads of flowers and is often taller. That stuff kills me every season. It smells wonderful when it blooms, and the bees and wasps and flies are all over it.
The honey I harvested this year seems to have taken the edge off of that thus far. I just feel run down instead of looking like a plague victim. However, as awful as it is on me, I am glad to see it blooming along with Snow on the Mountain, Bitter Sneeze Weed, and even some isolated patches of Milkweed are popping up and blooming again.
This is Snow on the Mountain, a very beneficial honey plant. It seems more sparse this year, with the clusters of flowers on the heads smaller. But I am hoping that it's just getting slow start.
Some areas, are still badly damaged by the drought. Areas we normally visit, that should be covered with a variety of blooms, with hardly any at all. It has forced us to look for new places to visit, where there are flowers. The Golden Wax weed, has been coming up in huge stands, which also is a tremendous relief. Some of it went so early this year, I thought that it would be spent before anything could benefit from it's blooms.
This is golden wax weed, and in this bloom, a crab spider {Thomisidae} has caught and partially consumed a honey bee.
These wild sunflowers were just about spent, but after a bit of rain; they have produced new buds.
This is an American Bumble bee {Bombus pennsylvanicus} visiting a thistle. According to the Xerces foundation, this sort of bee is in decline, however here in Oklahoma, they are ubiquitous. The only bumble bee that seems to rival this one in numbers is the Brown Belted Bumble Bee, or B. Griseocollis.
I know that many people consider thistles a nuisance, but for bees they are a treasure. And they can be quite pretty. They take the drought very well. Often appearing to be entirely dead, only to spring back to life hours after an unexpected rain. All of this is from the rain we received last week. We got no rain from Isaac.
In the foreground, that greyish plant is known locally as Wormseed. It's a relative of wormwood. In the middle, those pink flowers are Thistle. Right behind that, those cream colored spires are Spotted Mint, and the tallest white blooms in the background are Snakeroot or Epatorium altissimun. This is exactly what the pollinators need. And this was but a snapshot of a several large blooming fields.
Plant Kingdom thy name is Resilience!
Because of last week's rain, the water levels have risen a bit in some ponds, but are still low. We went hunting for Odonata today {dragonflies and damselflies}, and locally what we saw mostly: Halloween Pennants, Pond Hawks, and Widow Skimmers. We saw no damselflies today. That doesn't mean they aren't here, just we didn't see them while we were out.
We even saw one Club tail. But it was too fast to photograph. Maybe next visit?
This is a 12 Spotted Skimmer or Libulla pulchella.
A Variagated Meadowhawk {Symptetrum coruptum}, perches on the spent bloom of an aster.
This is a female, Eastern Pondhawk [Erythemis simplicicollis].
I am not entirely sure what this one is. I haven't yet found an image match. This dragonfly landed near me while eating some other bug it had recently caught.
This year: 2 Bats all year long. Some swifts and swallows, but mostly they have been staying near direct water sources like lakes and even some public pools, when usually we would also see them near well lit park areas and even some parking lots. As for the birds, I suspect that it is only because food is scarce, and they stay near water, which means more insects to feed upon. For the bats, I fear it may be more complicated. White nose has been documented in this area, and development means massive habitat loss.
Dragonflies have also been less numerous this year, as have been amphibians. Both are dependent upon the water for their life cycle which has been scarce, and both are dependent upon food sources that are also dependent upon water. Specifically mosquitoes. As far as amphibians go, the only ones we have seen this week, directly are tiny Cricket frogs.
Blanchard's Cricket Frog-- Acris crepitans blanchardi. These are tiny little frogs, maybe a bit larger than a half dollar. I suspect we see so many of these because their diminutive size means they can survive on less food and in shallower water. The pond this one inhabited had dried up, except for some deep areas. So it was more like three pondlets rather than one large pond with some arms. These frogs make a call that sounds like someone slapping pieces of wood together in a harsh clicking sound. This is a Northern Cricket Frog call, the Blanchard Cricket frog is considered a subspecies.
We have seen the occasional Grey tree Frog. Though sightings of the latter have been spotty since the drought struck. We have seen 2 leopard frogs all year. One live one struggling in the hot dust, and another dead on the road near a wetland area.
And now that rain has lead to stagnant pools, and so that, along with massive algal blooms in stagnant lakes and rivers with dropping water levels, the mosquito population has exploded, while the other animals cannot hope to catch up this season. The reproduction cycles of mosquito predators are simply too long. Better luck next year?
Enter West Nile Virus. [cheered up yet?]
It's starting to dry out again. We were hoping for some rain from Isaac, but that didn't happen. Hopefully we will get some rain soon.
So I guess my signs of life, my hopefulness is tempered by obvious signs of an entire biome in distress. Serious signs like Extreme Drought, hypoxic water, algal blooms, Amoebic colonies, bacterial colonies, fish kills, turtle kills, WNS, and gaps in important links of our terrestrial food web that control the spread of disease and pests.
I wonder when the rest of America will wake up and see the extremes.
Drought parched soil causes homes to crack
vs
Gulf States, Midwest Now face cleanup from Isaac.
and
Aftermath of continuous wildfires.
And more wildfires
and
The states with the most West Nile Virus cases.
I should be counting monarchs crossing through. But instead I am reduced to tears of joy just because some flowers sort of bloomed on time, or maybe I saw a frog or a [note singular] bat. For the record, I have seen 6 monarchs in the past 4 weeks. That spans 3 counties. I have found 2 monarch larvae, one of them was just this week on a stand of milkweed at a pond. Just one. there should have been several on that cluster of plants.