Today's Ramble was led by Dale Hoyt.
Here's the link
to Don's Facebook album for today's Ramble. (All the photos in this post are
compliments of Don, unless otherwise credited.)
Today's post was written by Don Hunter and Dale Hoyt.
Today’s Focus:
Learning how to count pollinators for the Great Georgia Pollinator Census
25 Ramblers met today.
Announcement: The Great Georgia Pollinator Census begins tomorrow, August 23. Ramblers that would like to count pollinators at the Garden can meet Dale, Don and Linda at 9AM tomorrow and we will assist them with their counts. Please arrive promptly at 9 because the Plaza is being used for a ceremony tomorrow and we must vacate it.
Show and
Tell:
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| The lining of a sparrow nest. (click to enlarge) |
Kathy brought a bird nest which, after some discussion,
was thought to actually be the lining of a sparrow’s nest, possibly a Chipping
Sparrow.
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| Large, male Timber Rattlesnake (click to enlarge) |
Jeff brought a large, Timber Rattlesnake that he had to kill
in his driveway due to the presence of grandchildren at the house.
Reading: Linda read a
passage from the book Crow Planet by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, pp. 60-61:
Naturalists are people who know what’s going on. They know what
creatures live where, which are thriving and why, and which are dying
and why. They know their earthen places well and can, by
example and action, speak eloquently for their ecological needs. Modern
naturalists must be both biologically and politically savvy, which can
be a rude awakening… I believe strongly that the modern naturalist’s
calling includes an element of activism. Naturalists
are witnesses to the wild, and necessary bridges between ecological and
political ways of knowing. When Rachel Carson began work on
Silent Spring in the late 1950s, she was already the acclaimed
author of three books on the sea. Her beloved friend Dorothy Freeman
objected to the new “poison” book, believing the subject matter was too
negative and too dark. In a letter to Freeman,
Carson wrote, “You do know, I think, how deeply I believe in the
importance of what I am doing. Knowing what I do, there would be no
future peace for me if I kept silent.” As we work to know the life that
surrounds us, we stand in a lineage of naturalists–past,
present, and even future. We join the “cloud of witnesses” who refuse
to let the more-than-human world pass unnoticed.
Today's
Route: We headed straight to the Herb and Physic
Garden and Freedom Plaza and spent all of our time selecting flowering plants
and counting pollinators. The usual
social hour followed at the Café Botanica.
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| Here Bob has settled down to count pollinators (click to enlarge) |
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| Bob is recording his data after 15 minutes. (click to enlarge) |
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| Painted Lady (click to enlarge) |
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| The backend of a Sunflower Bee showing how much pollen it carries on the hind legs. (click to enlarge) |
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| Sunflower Bee on Eared Coneflower. Sunflower Bees are specialists on composites (plants in the Aster family, Asteriaceae). (click to enlarge) |
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| Don's data sheet after fifteen minutes of observation on Eared Coneflower. (click to enlarge) |
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| Not everything is looking for nectar and pollen. This Carolina Anole hunts where the insects are most abundant. (click to enlarge) |
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| Sue trying to follow the activity in a bed of Spotted Beebalm. (click to enlarge) |
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| Jeff caught this tachinid fly in midair, by hand. Tachinids parasitize other insects, but visit flowers for the nectar. (click to enlarge) |
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| Great Black Wasp on Spotted Beebalm (click to enlarge) |
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| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Lantana (click to enlarge) |
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| A Long-tailed Skipper visits Lantana. (click to enlarge) |
