Summer wouldn’t be summer in Wisconsin without a few, or a lot, of mosquitoes. The next time you hear the whine of this insect, think about this… Only adult female mosquitoes feed on blood, because they need it to lay their eggs. The males sip plant juices and nectar. After a female mosquito has had a good blood meal, she can lay her several hundred eggs on a water surface. Most of these eggs will hatch within 48 hours. The emerging mosquito larvae then live in the water and feed on microscopic plants and animals with their brush-like mouths. They then turn into a pupa and finally transform into a terrestrial (land-living) adult. It takes about 7-10 ten days for a mosquito to go from egg to adult.
As you swat at these small insects, remember that even though they are a nuisance, they are also providing essential food to many of the beautiful dragonflies, birds, and frogs that we love to watch as well.
Did you know?
The mosquito larvae in the picture to the left are hanging upside down near the water's surface. This is a common position for them, because the larvae's breathing tubes are located near their rear ends.
This bright bird calls CWES home during the summertime, and you may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it this year. Even with its bright colors, this bird can be difficult to see through thick summer leaves. Males are bright crimson with black wings and tails, while females are more subdued with greenish yellow bodies and dark grey wings and tails. You may also hear this medium-sized bird as it gives a "chik-bur" call. Scarlet tanagers grab insects in flight and sometimes hover in order to snag their prey.
Scarlet Tanagers have been seen eating over 2,000 gypsy moth caterpillars in an hour. That's a lot of food, and a great service to Wisconsin habitats.
Learn more: Cornell Lab of Ornithology
This shin-high plant begins to come up at about the same time as poison ivy, and is often confused with it. When wild sarsaparilla's leaves unfurl they are a suspicious reddish green, but eventually they mature into a bright, vibrant green. You probably don’t want to get close enough to check, but one trick to tell this plant from posion ivy is that poision ivy has a woody stem and wild sarsaparilla does not.
Wild sarsaparilla has divided leaves with 3-5 leaflets each. The plant is now sending up a separate flower stalk that will produce three balls, or umbels, of tiny white flowers. When they bloom, these flowers look like mini fireworks exploding.
The root of this plant was once used to make rootbeer!
Learn more: Freckmann Herbarium
Male bluegills are making their nests at this time of year. In shallow water, they scoop circular depressions in the sand and gravel. A male then stays by the nest and grunts to attract nearby females. After a female mates, she deposits her eggs into several nests. The males then take over care of the eggs by fanning them and chasing away predators. It takes several days for the eggs to hatch. Once they do, they will eat aquatic insects, worms, snails, and zooplankton. These bluegills will swim in schools of 10 to 20 fish as they seek out their food.
A female bluegill can produce as many as 50,000 eggs! Once they reach adulthood, bluegills usually live 4 to 6 years.
Learn more: Animal Diversity Web
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