“Things happen at Pleasant Valley Conservancy, but sometimes things just are. Many small things are big, many big things are just many small things. Some big things can’t be measured.” (Unknown)

I know you are eager for another of Susan’s Rules, but today there are no rules.

THE VERY SMALL

One morning last week, while cruising the Valley Prairie for weedy birdsfoot trefoil, a monarch butterfly landed on a milkweed in front of me and proceeded to drop a tiny egg from the tip of her abdomen onto the surface of a leaf. What can I say except “wow!” Her coloration seemed off to me, so I snapped a pic. Four days later, Amanda informed me that the egg had hatched a tiny larval form she named “susan.” There are two smaller white spots on the leaf with the monarch egg, which is larger and creamier, with smoother edges.

THE MEDIUM–SIZED AND ALPHABETIZED

A. Aspen (Populus tremuloides)

I’ve been spending a lot of time in Toby’s Prairie cutting and treating (with 20% garland 4) small aspen. Since we didn’t burn this prairie in 2025, the woody species are easy to spot—the aspen have had at least two years of growth. Back in the late 1990s this prairie-to-be was flanked, north and south, by aspen clones. After this 4-5 acre parcel was planted to prairie in 1998, the aspen girdling was completed in 1998-99. Tom said that even after a girdled aspen clone is “gone,” the aspen roots can persist in the soil for 25 years or more! That’s why regular controlled burns and spot treating are so important.

B. Bouquet

Here is a sampling of blooms in the prairies in late spring—a medium-sized bouquet for the city folks..

Amanda likes to walk around in the rain and take pictures of the extra colorful. These next three are hers:

C. Community

On June 6th, the University League birding group, led by Roma Lenehan and Jill Feldkamp, stalked the marshes, prairies and savannas hoping to hear and see mostly breeding local birds. We identified about 40 species including red-headed woodpecker, eastern kingbird, willow and great-crested flycatchers, indigo bunting, common yellowthroat, redstart, yellow warbler, orchard and Baltimore orioles (and an orchard nest!), hummingbird, bluebird, cliff swallow, catbird, towhee, pileated woodpecker…. Roma is formalizing the list.

Kathie and crew banded five baby kestrels on June 9th. They have since fledged.

On June 21st, Kathie and Doug Buege led a butterfly field trip (coordinated by the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance). They didn’t ignore the flowers, but they were mainly looking for the following: Baltimore checkerspot, great-spangled and meadow fritillarys, swallowtails, red-spotted purple, silvery checkerspot, and blues.

BEYOND MEASURE

In 2013, Tom wrote that we had 251 bur oaks over twenty inches in diameter (see Tom’s Blog June 10, 2016). He pointed out that in the U.S. Midwest, bur oak savanna occupied 32 million acres in the early 1900s. Now, there are fewer than 7,000 acres.

Every time I’m up the hill in the savannas, I look to make sure our greatest grandmother tree is still standing. She’s almost 290 years old now, having been given a “start date” of 1736 (the year Patrick Henry, of ”give me liberty or give me death” fame, was born). Her core was measured in 2016 by the U.W. Plattville TREES laboratory. I recently honored her with a sketch on a rainy day. She shall remain beyond measure.

Carry on…