On a recent, happily cool, crisp, breezy morning, about 12 seed collectors gathered at Goose Pond in search of mountain mint and ironweed.
Happy was a watchword for this expedition. No mosquitoes, monarchs flying all over the place, and with lots of busy bumblebees too. A brood of young pheasants were running the trail. One attempted to fly and discovered that he needed a bit more wing muscle. Goldfinches brightened an already sunny morning.
Mountain mint in bloom at Goose Pond Sanctuary. (Photo by Aaron Carlson)
Mountain mint is an excellent pollinator plant, especially for bees. The pressure was on for this collection. SoWBA needs a lot of healthy and tested mountain mint seed for planting at our new Hillside Prairie Sanctuary. Buckets needed filling.
That took some patience. While Emma Raasch put us in a great spot (as Graham and Emma always do), mountain mint grew in small to medium sized clumps scattered among the other prairie plants. I'd think where is all this mountain mint and spot a bunch where I could cut and bucket for several minutes. Then a minute or two of wandering before the next clumps appeared.
At the halfway point of the day, we had collected a full barrel. Mountain mint has a small seed head so that's a lot of seed.
A monarch nectars on meadow blazing star (Liatris ligulistylis). (Photo by Mara Koenig/USFWS)
Remember those monarchs? They were nectaring on meadow blazing star, a lovely native species of blazing star (also known by its genus, Liatris). Of all the blooming plants at this point in the season, meadow blazing star has the reputation of being the monarchs' favorite and a most important source of energy as the flight generation of monarchs emerges. All native blazing stars offer these critical food resources, so SoWBA and its partners work hard to ensure their prairies include Liatris species.
Goose Pond has never had enough blazing stars to deploy volunteers. Now it does and so the order went out: Forget the ironweed*; pick the blazing star! This day, we focused on prairie blazing star (PBS), another monarch favorite.
Prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya) in bloom. (Photo by Peter Gorman)
An hour of sheer delight followed. PBS mature seed heads were everywhere. Buckets were easily and quickly filled, then the barrels. Enough PBS was still in bloom that we practically had to shoo monarchs away. Sometimes three would be on the same flower. Four barrels were overflowing with PBS in no time.
This too was a result of patience on the prairie, stretching back about seven years. With monarchs declining, Mark and Sue Martin wanted to make Goose Pond as hospitable a home for butterflies as possible. They gathered staff and volunteers and made several trips to a Minnesota nursery and returned with dozens of PBS plugs. They planted and nurtured these in key spots across the Goose Pond. They discovered that mice and voles love the PBS roots as much as monarchs enjoy the nectar. The plant is also slow to store energy in its root system. The final limiting factor was the few numbers of plants. That meant relatively few seeds were available for sowing each year. But patience and persistence are a good team. Mark, Graham, and Emma conducted some burns where PBS was hanging on. That effort paid off this summer with the fall and spring burns with rain and heat at the right time. Goose Pond now has a PBS banquet for our monarchs.
A tagged monarch comes in for a landing on a meadow blazing star. (Photo by Arlene Koziol)
Those four barrels have broken the seed barrier. We'll now have enough to introduce PBS more widely across the Goose Pond lands.
PBS also illustrates a SoWBA consideration for managing some of its lands. While we focus on appropriate native plants and sound restoration techniques, we also want to improve habitat, in particular for threatened species. I don't know how common PBS was on the Empire Sauk Prairie that was here prior to European settlement, nor if its historical existence was an important factor in bringing it to Goose Pond. The Goose Pond managers hoped and expected it would help monarchs flourish at Goose Pond and be a good neighbor to its native neighbors. So it has come to pass.
This is a great year for monarchs and teal are arriving at some of the wetlands south of Goose Pond (one birder was enjoying those). Take advantage of the cool, comfortable weather and see for yourself. Monarch tagging events are coming up soon, and they’re a memorable, wonderful experience!
Topf Wells, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance advocacy committee and sanctuary volunteer
* Not to fear, ironweed is still on the list.
Cover photo: Monarchs nectaring on prairie plants, including meadow blazing star. (Photo by Arlene Koziol)
