Wahkeena Nature Preserve
"… to be used for nature study and as a preserve for birds and other wildlife."- Carmen Hambleton Warner
Rattlesnakes!
A broken record…
I’ve said it before, and will say it again. In fact, I’m saying right now. You just never know what you will see out here.
I just took a quick call from my husband. I went outside to get a better signal and sat down in the shade in the front yard. As we were talking, I see a deer walk out of the wetland area near the bench at the top of the driveway. Wow! She is beautiful! She stops near the culvert area on the driveway, but something is still moving. I look very hard at this deer and say to my husband, I think there is a fawn there too! In fact, I think it is a very small fawn and it appears to by nursing! Wow again! I have never seen this before! It reminded my of a little lamb – the tail wagging in happiness, the head butting in impatience. This went on only for a few minutes then the doe started to walk off. Then everything became clear. Not just one tiny fawn, but two.
I have the best job in the whole world.
Sizzleing Summertime
Boy, it’s been hot, hasn’t it? So hot it just makes you want to stay in the air conditioning, right? I really can’t blame you. I like to stay in the cool nature center, and one can often find Tom in the even cooler basement! Many of the animals we like to see at the preserve cannot be seen when it is this hot. Turtles, snakes, and frogs are staying in the water to keep cool. Many of our feathered friends are done nesting and are pretty quiet.
There are a few animals that LOVE the hot weather. They are particularly colorful and engaging too. Dragonflies and damselflies are the most active during the hottest part of the day, and we cannot forget the butterflies.
The best place right now to observe all of these animals is the boardwalk. The button bush has just begun to bloom, and it is one of the best butterfly attracting plants that I have come across. Also on the boardwalk trail are tons of dragonflies and damselflies.
Guided Programs
A quick word on our guided walks and other programs. At the very bottom of the page you’ll see a list of upcoming programs. I have this set up so the next 8 programs will be listed. There are a couple of errors with this, and I have no idea why they are occurring or how to fix it. So here is the info you need to know.
1. All of our Discovery Walks start at 1:00pm. They usually last an hour and a half to two hours.
2. The upcoming Reptile Workshop starts at 11:00am and goes until 3:00pm. For this program you can bring a sack lunch with you.
3. “Nature’s Bug Zappers”, a program all about bats, is in the evening from 6:00pm until 8:00pm.
4. Our programs are in 2010 and 2011, not 3910 and 3911. (obviously)
As always if you have any questions, you can call us!
Confirmation
A Nature Walk
Sometimes you just want to hike. Go fast. Just be outside. There are other times when you have to force yourself to slow down and look at what’s around you. That’s what I did yesterday. I hadn’t been out on the trails in a while and I wanted to to see what what going on. Sometimes we get in the mindset that not much in happening in the woods in the summer. I think that is just because the plants are so dominant. We can’t see the forest for the trees sort of speak. The lesson is no matter what season, the slower you go and the more focused you are, the more you will see!
I ended up seeing and hearing a lot more than I thought I would by doing just that. I waited until the rain had stopped and set out. The birds had the same idea – they were everywhere and loud too! Lots of Wood Thrushes and Red-eyed Vireos. I also heard the Black and White Warbler, Wood Pee-wees, and Ovenbirds.
The main flower in bloom right now is Ghost Pipe. And I mean there are gobs of it everywhere! Really, everywhere. There was a spot along the Cassa Burro Trail where the ground was literally dotted with white! Actually, for a plant that is just white, it looked really awesome yesterday. When I was walking, everything was so dark and misty and green. The pure white color really stood out.
All this rain we’ve had has brought out a lot of interesting mushrooms too. I saw puffballs and some coral fungus among others. Fungus is a world I have yet to delve into.
I found a snail, spiders, and of course the ever present deer flies. There are a couple of places along the trails where there are newer canopy openings, and on sunny days they are great places to see dragonflies like the Gray Petaltail.
Speaking of dragonflies, the next couple of days will be great for seeing those guys. Nice and warm and lots of sunshine will bring them out. Already today I’ve seen a bunch, and even had the Swamp Darner land on me! Ebony Jewelwing damselflies are a real treat to see along the trail.
Oh, a few more things in bloom:
Orange Butterflyweed
Purple Milkweed
Poke Milkweed
Lizard’s Tail
"Blooms" Update
It never rains, but pours…
Our next native orchid is in bloom right now, the Lily-leaved Twayblade Orchid. This one is my personal favorites out of all the orchids that I have had the privilege to see. The flower is so unlike anything else that I know, and I also really like the transparent purple color of the lower lip. I think this orchid looks like a flower that could be used as an alien plant on Star Trek! 
We’ve discovered a new fern species! We’re still not sure which species it is, but I can tell you that it is one of the moonworts (Botrychium). It is so tiny! At first we only saw one, but then as we broadened our gaze there were many plants in this particular area. I have pictures but I’ll have to post them later as they are on my personal camera and not the work camera.
Speaking of plants, the Green Dragon (Arisaema dracontium) is blooming. This plant is in the Arum family which includes Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Skunk Cabbage. There are several nice big plants in the shade garden at the back of the nature center. Green Dragon can be found throughout Ohio.
For those of you who have been out before, you know we have the observation bee hive in the nature center and an outside hive. For the past couple of years we have not had been in the outside hive. A few weeks ago we noticed some activity around the hive and we speculated that the inside bees were robbing the outside hive. Just last week we finally found some time to suit up and open up the outside hive. It turns out that a new colony of bees had moved in. There was lots of nice brood comb and many bees. Tom went out a couple days later and replaced part of the hive that had been invaded by mice and cleaned up the vegetation around the hive. I’m looking forward to going back out there to see their progress.
I’ll have some pics soon!
More Blooms and a Special Bird
Although we are coming to the end of the colorful spring wildflowers and moving into the month of green and white (June), there are still many beautiful flowers to see. I’m a touch behind on the list, but here it is…
Flame Azalea
Yellow Iris
Sweet Cicely
Wild Anise
Indian Cucumber Root
Common Cinquefoil
Unknown species of Day Lilly
Ohio Spiderwort
Maple-leaf Viburnum
Highbush Cranberry (cultivated)
Soloman’s Plume
Two-lined Cynthia
Rattlesnake Weed
Hawkweed spp.
Arrowwood Viburnum
Rubus spp.
Fleabane
Also we have some exciting news on the bird front. A Summer Tanager is here! He has been visiting his reflection in the windows near the feeders, just like the Yellow-throated Warbler. What a treat to see this bird so up close without binoculars!
International Migratory Bird Weekend
Last weekend was International Mirgratory Bird Weekend. Here is a list of the birds we heard and saw on our bird walk and throughout the day.
Mallards
Turkey Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Wood Pewee
Blue Jay
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Gray Catbird
American Robin
Wood Thrush
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Black and White Warbler
Northern Parula
Cape May Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Ovenbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
Kentucky Warbler
Hooded Warbler
American Redstart
Common Grackle
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
American Goldfinch
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow