Prairie Ridge Ecostation

We see a lot of spiders making egg sacs at this time of year! A few of our favorites are the yellow garden spider and the green lynx spider. In both cases, the moms transform from healthy, round spiders to skinny spiders when they lay their eggs. Laying that many eggs really takes it out of them!

Want to learn more about spiders? We have a great program coming up October 2! Get more info and register for the Spider Hunt at https://www.naturalsciences.org/calendar/event/spider-hunt-2/

We’re just starting to see a few signs of fall, from dewy spiderwebs in the morning to goldenrod blooming in the prairie to Canada geese flying overhead. What signs of fall are you looking out for? Share in the comments!

Have you ever watched American beautyberry berries grow? A small clump of pale flower becomes a stem of densely packed green berries. The berries then ripen from the back to the front. We’re starting to see a lot more ripe berries than unripe, which means the bushes will soon be full of mockingbirds taking advantage of the all-you-can-eat beautyberry buffet!

One of the reasons we love native plants is their hardiness, even when the weather is far from ideal. It’s been so dry this year, but our native plant garden still looks lush. You can hardly even tell we’re in a drought!

Did you know that Pawpaws are North America’s biggest tree fruit? They have an amazing tropical flavor and texture like a thick pudding, but the fruits break down very quickly - they are a treat available only fa short time each summer. Ours have been ripe the last few weeks and we’re already near the end of their season.

We often snag fallen fruit from the ground, break them open, and devour them immediately. If you love Pawpaws too, how do you enjoy them?

We jokingly play “Snake or Stick?” when we see something dark stretched across a trail or the road as we go about our work. 95% of the time it’s a stick, but occasionally it’s a snake. We’ve seen a lot of Rat Snakes lately, so it has become a much more interesting game. Check out some of our recent sightings.

Jimothy, the Northern Raccoon with short spine syndrome from the Seattle area, has captured the hearts of millions this summer. We don’t have any Raccoons likely to become international media darlings like Jimothy, but we do have several on the grounds! We have only seen a few ourselves, as they are elusive during the day, but we often capture them on trail cameras, see s**t, and spot tracks along the creek.

We’d love to hear about any you’ve seen! Share your best Raccoon stories in the comments.

We’ve had far fewer dragonflies this year due to the drought, but there's been an absolute flurry of activity since the pond refilled!

One exciting recent sighting was this Comet Darner, a big, beautiful species that’s not very common locally. This individual did something they rarely do - it landed right by one of our staff. Comet Darners are fliers, dragonflies that spend nearly all of their active time flying over their territories at ponds. What a treat to see one sitting still for once rather than zooming by at full speed!

This weekend is the Great Southeastern Pollinator Census, a collaborative science project that assesses the health of pollinator populations across the southeastern US. Want to join us?

Watch a flower or a group of flowers on August 21 or 22 for just 15 minutes, and count the pollinators you see. Then, report your counts of four group of bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, moths, and other insects at https://gsepc.org. There’s even a handy printable data sheet with photos of each group available on the website to help you identify pollinators and keep count.

If you join the Census, we’d love to hear about it. Share your stories and photos in the comments!