By Sylvia Marek
Phenology is a science focused on observing and recording biological events from year to year and their relationships to the change of seasons and climate.
These are the “normal” phenology events we expect to see here and in the Madison area this month. We would love to hear about what you are seeing on the grounds of Holy Wisdom Monastery. Please comment on this post with what you are observing, where at Holy Wisdom and the date you observed the event.
August Phenology
“…the time of flowers from now until autumn…there would be every few days and then every day, a new kind of blossom on the prairie…all there in masses, in waves a living canvas.”
–Paul Gruchow, Journal of a Prairie Year
August, a month of misty mornings, hot sunny days, warm nights, and migrating birds, monarchs, dragonflies and salamanders. Insect ‘musicians’ fill the air with rhythmic chants, chirps, lisps, ticks and tinkling trills. Pretty flowers and grasses perfume the air with scents of mint, vanilla, chocolate, anise, buttered popcorn, raindrops on dusty soil and more. If you enjoy the fragrance of flowers and like the color yellow, I encourage you to visit the prairie often especially in August. There are plenty of yellow, as well as purple and white flowers in bloom. The following observations are from records I have kept over the years.
Birds
- American Goldfinch and Cedar Waxwing nest in July and August. They often have two broods. Listen for the ‘sweeet, perchicoree or potato chip’ calls of the goldfinch.
- Most birds have finished nesting and their young have fledged. After breeding, birds go through a complete feather molt. A few such as Goldfinch and Indigo Bunting undergo a complete molt after breeding and a partial molt in spring.
- Singing decreases and only a few species continue to sing ‘the songs of summer.’ During my early morning walks in late July and August, I have heard the following sing: Cardinal, Robin, House Wren, Bluebird, Indigo Bunting, Wood Peewee, Red-eyed Vireo, Great Crested Flycatcher, Flicker, House Finch and Goldfinch.
- Listen carefully for ‘whisper singing,’ chips, chirps and seeps.
- Fall bird migration begins in late July and August and continues through October and November.
- August is a good month to look for ‘confusing’ fall Warblers that nested here and for those that nested in the north. Most are insect-dependent and will migrate to Central and South America for the winter. Common Yellow-throat and Yellow Warblers usually leave for the tropics in August. Pine, Palm, Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers leave much later. They spend the winter in the southern U.S.
- Neotropical migrants such as Flycatchers, Vireos, Orioles and some Swallow species begin to migrate in August. Look for the Olive-sided Flycatcher perched on a tall dead tree.
- Chimney Swifts gather before migrating to South America in late August. Look for them at sunset. Large flocks enter their roosting sites usually in chimneys.
- Bobolink flocks migrate to South America.
- Sedge Wrens show up in August some years and then leave.
- Red-winged Blackbirds and other Blackbird species gather in flocks.
- Increase of Ruby-throated Hummingbird activity at flowers.
- Red-breasted Nuthatches often show up in August. Some spend the winter, others move on.
- Shorebirds continue to pass through.
- Flocks of migrating Nighthawks can be observed by looking overhead in the early evening.
- Red-tailed Hawks soar over the prairie. Juveniles leave their parents.
- Great Horned and Barred Owls call more frequently in late August. Juveniles hunt on their own now. They begin to leave their parents and look for a new territory.
Plants
- Among the myriad shades and shapes of green vegetation, yellow flowers dominate followed by purple, blue and white blooms. The leaders of the floral parade are the goldenrods and asters. Flowering times can vary from late July to early or mid-September due to changing environmental and other conditions.
Woodlands, Savannas, and Edges
- Asters: calico, frost, arrow-leaved, short’s and flat-topped.
- Goldenrods: elm-leaved, zigzag and Canada.
- Woodland sunflower, black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), sweet black-eyed Susan (R. subtomentosa), brown-eyed Susan (R. triloba), cut-leaved coneflower (R. laciniata), purple Joe-pye-weed, American bellflower, pale Indian-plantain, yellow giant hyssop, figwort giant hyssop, woodland tick-trefoil, figwort, downy woodmint, white snakeroot, jumpseed, lopseed, agrimony, tall wood thistle, thimbleweed, Indian hemp, starry campion, tickseed, hog-peanut, white vervain, burnweed, upland boneset and orange and yellow jewelweed. Bottlebrush grass has lovely seeds now. They remind me of bristle-like bottles.
Prairies
Yellow:
- Goldenrods: Canada, grass-leaved, showy, stiff and Dyer’s weed or old field.
- Sunflowers: ox eye, saw-tooth, giant, naked stem and showy.
- Yellow coneflower, tall coreopsis (C. tripteris), black-eyed Susan, sweet black-eyed Susan, brown-eyed Susan, rosinweed, prairie-dock, cup-plant, compass plant, evening primrose, cinquefoil species, Great St. John’s-wort and sneezeweed. How many different yellow species can you find?
Purple:
- Asters: New England and silky.
- Gayfeather, blazing star, purple coneflower, ironweed, Canada tick-trefoil, germander, hoary vervain, wild petunia, anise hyssop, purple prairie-clover and stiff gentian.
Blue:
- Asters: Sky-blue and smooth.
- Bottle, fringed, and downy gentians, great lobelia, blue vervain (Verbena hastata) and a few last spiderworts in bloom.
White:
- Asters: Heath, frost, panicled and crooked-stem.
- Rattlesnake master, white sage, wild quinine, mountain mint, Culver’s-root, white prairie-clover, whorled milkweed, flowering spurge, pale Indian-plantain, Indian hemp, yarrow, fleabane, bush-clover, turtlehead, false-boneset, boneset, cowbane, white vervain and water hemlock.
Pink to Pinkish White:
- Swamp milkweed, swamp and prairie thistle, nodding onion, Illinois tick-trefoil, smartweeds, biennial gaura and the pink bracts of dotted mint.
Red:
- Cardinal flower.
Introduced, Naturalized, or Ecologically Invasive Plants
- Queen Anne’s-lace, chicory, white campion, common St. John’s -wort, common mullein, catnip, sulphur cinquefoil, sow-thistle, field bindweed, crown-vetch, bouncing bet, spotted knapweed, leafy spurge, bird’s-foot trefoil, bittersweet or deadly nightshade, yellow and sweet clover (Melilotus sp.) Canada and bull thistle, burdock, creeping bellflower, pokeweed (Phytolacca acinosa), wild parsnip and many more. Japanese hedge parsley seems to be increasing. The white flowers resemble Queen Anne’s-lace but the compound umbel is smaller and not as flat.
Grasses
- Tiny wind-pollinated flowers are showy on the following grasses: big bluestem or turkey-foot, little bluestem, switch, Indian, cord, dropseed, side-oats grama and panic grasses (witch and love).
Insects
- Insect activity and their sounds are at their peak. Cicadas drone, bees buzz, short-horned grasshoppers produce mechanical sounds, katydids rasp and crickets chirp and trill.
- The beautiful green snowy tree cricket can be heard on warm August nights. If you are curious and want to know the temperature, count his soft, pleasing, repeated ‘chirp-pause, chirp-pause’ call for 15 seconds and add 40.
- Look for ladybugs, lacewings, aphids, ambush bugs, large and small milkweed bugs, leaf beetles and many more.
- Golden tortoise beetles are found on plants in the morning glory family.
- Japanese beetles devour over 300 kinds of plants. Perhaps the large number of turkeys are helping to reduce the population.
- Peak season for leafhoppers. Look for the red and blue candy-striped leafhopper on plants.
- Treehoppers have interesting shapes that resemble plant structures. Look for the two-spotted treehopper (Enchenopa binotata) on nannyberry and other shrubs. They are tiny, brown and resemble a thorn or small bud.
- Dragonflies dart and hover while hunting for mosquitoes and other insects. Green darner and meadowhawk begin migrating to southern states.
- Butterflies to look for include Eastern and black swallowtails, Eastern-tailed blue, spring azure, fritillary, red-spotted purple, viceroy, common wood nymph, silver-spotted skipper, cabbage, white, clouded and alfalfa sulphurs and of course, monarchs.
- The last generation of monarchs emerge and nectar on flowers. In the evening, they gather and roost on trees during the night. They start their 2,500-mile fall migration to Mexico in late August through September.
- Look for moths of all kinds at night near lights.
- Last sightings of twinkling fireflies and beautiful dogbane beetles.
- Mosquitoes and biting flies are active and annoying.
Spiders
Web Makers:
- Yellow garden and banded spiders make beautiful, intricate, vertical webs. Look for their sparkling dew-covered orb-webs in early morning or after rain.
- Look for the two-parted sheet web of the bowl and doily weaver.
- Filmy dome spiders create an inverted bowl-shaped web.
Non-web Makers:
- Jumping spiders are very small and very cute.
- Crab spiders can change their body color to blend in with the flower they are sitting on. They are another adorable spider.
- Daddy longlegs or harvestmen are abundant now. They are not spiders. They only have one body part.
Mammals
- Antlers of male deer are in full velvet.
- Fawns lose their spots.
- Squirrel and chipmunks gather acorns and walnuts.
- Raccoons feast on fruits.
- Woodchucks are fattening up.
- Meadow voles, moles and 13-lined ground squirrels are active.
- Rabbits have several litters a year. Rabbits of all sizes can be seen on trails.
Other Natural Happenings
- Abundance of ripe fruits, seeds and nuts.
- Look for galls (odd growths) on goldenrods, oaks and other plants.
- Ragweed and goldenrods bloom at the same time. Ragweed pollen is spread by the wind and can cause allergies, goldenrod does not. Goldenrods are pollinated by insects.
- Fruiting bodies of mushrooms appear especially after rainy weather. Look for inky cap, shaggy mane, puffball, honey, oyster, meadow, bolete, bright orange jack-o-lantern and many more.
- Salamanders migrate from ponds to woodlands during moist warm nights.
- Frogs, toads, and turtles are active.
- First fall colors appear. Leaves of sumac, Virginia creeper, poison ivy and red maple start to turn red. Basswood, walnut, birch and locust leaves turn yellow.
- The rich smell of autumn is in the air.
“As we sow the seeds of the prairie, we also sow the seeds of hope that ecological restoration gives us. People, wherever they are, can learn to live with the land and heal the wounds caused by past misunderstandings. Restoring the land demonstrates the love and respect that enriches it, and us, through the diversity and beauty of the native landscape.”
–Richard Nelson, Island Within
I encourage you to visit the beautiful Holy Wisdom restored prairies, savannas, and woodlands often. My hope is that you will have a peaceful and memorable walk.
Sylvia Marek
Sylvia Marek is a highly trained and experienced naturalist. She works for the University of Wisconsin Arboretum and is a first-rate birder.
Please share the biological events you notice while at Holy Wisdom Monastery below (remember to include what you see, where and when).
Comments 2
Thank you so much for the taking the incredible amount of time and effort to compose this so others may make use – it is so awesome! Knowing what to look for is such a huge benefit – it helped me and made my trail travels so much more interesting and enjoyable. This is an amazing tool, must have been a labor of love. Thank you so much
Dear Mary,
Thank you for your very kind comment. I am pleased that you are interested in phenology. I hope you are keeping your own records? May you continue to enjoy the beauty of the natural world.
“The care of the Earth is our most ancient, most worthy—and after all—our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.” Wendell Berry
Sylvia