Lake Pictures Part 1: Approaching the Path

[ysabetwordsmith]

Today we went out to the lake. These pictures primarily show the pollinator gardens around the parking lot and the approach to the lake paths.


This is the view upslope from the parking lot, looking more or less north-ish. These upland trees are mostly a mix of white oaks, red oaks, and maples. In the foreground you can see a pollinator garden of native flowers and grasses. Purple asters are stil blooming.




A yellow butterfly, possibly a clouded sulphur, drinks from a purple aster. We saw several of these butterflies. Here are some Illinois asters.




A skipper and two spotted beetles feed on purple asters. Skippers are weird little butterflies that are hard to pin down. This one might be a tawny edged skipper. They don't usually sit still for photographing, but this late in the season, they're hungry and there isn't much food left. The beetles are spotted cucumber beetles, a notorious pest.




A bee, a skipper, and a striped cucumber beetle (another pest) feed on purple asters.




Honeybees and smaller native bees drink from frost asters. This is a weedy wildflower that puts out lots of tiny, white, daisylike flowers that attract pollinators. If you need to turn a bare field into useful habitat, this is an excellent choice.




This bee on purple aster shows off her wings.




Orange trees contrast against blue sky.




This maple sapling burns like a torch against the cool background of the lake.




Several turkey vultures were circling over the east part of the lake. Also overhead was a very loud, very annoying radio-controlled airplane. It completely blocked out whatever birdsong it didn't just scare away. >_< Not all park uses are compatible. It's better when these have their own airfield -- I've seen those.




This is the view of the trees looking over the east part of the lake. With the sun toward the west, the leaves are well lit.




The causeway leads north across the lake.




The shore path winds westward around the southern edge of the northwest part of the lake. Which way to go?

Comments

[shirebound]

That would be a lovely place to ramble. Three cheers for pollinator gardens!

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

It's a favorite. They put in the pollinator gardens some time ago. There's a big round one in the middle of the parking lot, and quite a lot of long rambling strip that follows much of the northern edge of the parking lot. It adds up.

[a_natural_beauty]

The details with your posts and photos are always a nice treat.
Thank you for sharing these with us :-)

You're welcome!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm glad you enjoyed these. I figure that if I include a few links with the pictures that point people to interesting plants or animals, maybe that will inspire someone to learn more or even add something to their wildlife garden.

I didn't know how valuable goldenrods were until I was researching wildflowers for a poem and stumbled across an article about keystone wildflowers that listed how many species they support. So I reduced my efforts to suppress it in the prairie garden. I still don't want it to take over the whole yard, but I do want to keep a substantial amount. I had previously noticed lots of butterflies on it, but the actual numbers were enlightening. Maybe I can provide that experience for someone else.

Re: You're welcome!

[a_natural_beauty]

Of course! :-)
The nature posts you share are always inspiring!

Re: You're welcome!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yay! I'm glad people appreciate these.

[frith]

The insect on the last aster picture is not a bee, it's a syrphid fly, also known as a hover fly. It's a bee mimic and its larvae are voracious aphid eaters.

(In checking on my spelling I've come to the realization that I have been misreading, mispronouncing and misspelling syrphid fly since forever. And a day. I missed the 'r' in syrphid. 9_6)

[adafrog]

Pretty.

[yourlibrarian]

Looks like the trees are heading rapidly through the season! I expect we'll only have color here for another 2 weeks and mostly because they got such a late start.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I don't know why it's running so late this year. Normally when we have a dry year, the leaves start turning in August. It's the end of October and we're only about halfway through the change here. Some trees are still green.

Re: Yes ...

[frith]

The timing is also temperature dependent. I live in the agricultural area just outside of town. It's warmer in town than by my house. The trees in town (and in the city 50 miles away) are always reaching their peak fall colouration a week later than by my house (and the rest of the countryside). A hundred miles to the south from where I am and again the trees turn colour later than by my house.

It has been a really warm fall, very summer-like until about a week ago. That has delayed the fall colours by about two to three weeks. Normally I'd expect peak colouration to happen here in the last week of September.

The year of the drought introduced a different factor into the equation: stress. I suspect drought stress pushed the onset of fall colouration earlier that year.

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> The timing is also temperature dependent. I live in the agricultural area just outside of town. It's warmer in town than by my house. <<

Same here. The nearest small city is an hour north and turns colors sooner.

[pameladean]

Thank you for all of these entries. I really enjoyed them.

I haven't been able to get out to walk this past week because of a sick cat (she's way better now), so this was all very lovely indeed.

P.

You're welcome!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm happy I could help. :D It's fun to share pictures around and see what's happening all around the world.