Wild About Utah Archives - Page 198 of 222

July 1, 2010December 28, 2023

Carnivorous Plants in Utah

Bladders that trap prey for Utricularia macrorhiza, Courtesy US Forest Service, Barry Rice Photographer — Common bladderwort
(Utricularia macrorhiza)
Courtesy US Forest Service
Photographer: Barry Rice

Bladders that trap prey for Bladderwort
(Utricularia macrorhiza)
Courtesy US Forest Service
Photographer: Barry Rice

Carnivorous plants stoke the imagination and spawn Hollywood films. They have bizarre adaptations to aid in the absorption of nitrogen in the nutrient poor environments in which they live. Venus Fly Traps are perhaps the most famous, their moving lobes snapping shut like a purse around the insect prey to be digested. The far more numerous Pitcher plants produce a simple pit trap. Butterworts and sundews both deploy sticky hairs to ensnare prey. There are other carnivorous plant types, but here in Utah we have only 3 species of Bladderworts in the genus Utricularia.

Our three species are denizens of the water, and as such are scattered among the ponds, lakes and sluggish creeks of the state. Their finely divided leaves efficiently capture sunlight. Bladderworts are often found floating freely on the water surface. Despite their aquatic nature, bladderwort flowers are showy and held above the water surface to attract pollinators with their yellow loveliness.

How can an aquatic plant be carnivorous? The plants produce bladder-like utricles along the underwater stem that look much like cancerous growths. These hollow bladders have tiny hair-like extensions that respond to motion. When stimulated by any wee swimming creature, the hairs cause the flattened bladder to inflate, sucking in both water and prey.

Of all the carnivorous plants, Bladderworts are the easiest to grow … a warm aquarium and some pond mud is all that is needed to keep a Bladderwort happy and healthy. So next time you visit one of our natural ponds or lakes, look for these carnivorous plants. You may even hear the faint crackling sound of the utricles closing as you lift them from the water.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy US Forest Service, Photographer Barry Rice https://www.sarracenia.com/galleria/g133s.html
Also Plant of the Week, USDA Forest Service, Photographer Barry Rice https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/utricularia_macrorhiza.shtml
Text: Michael Piep, Utah State University: Intermountain Herbarium https://www.herbarium.usu.edu/
Voice: Linda Kervin BridgerlandAudubon.org

Additional Reading:

Southwest Colorado Wildflowers, Photos of Utricularia: Enlarged Photo Pages/utricularia.htm https://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Yellow%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/utricularia.htm

Utricularia – The Bladderwort, Carnivorous Plants Online – Botanical Society of America https://www.botany.org/carnivorous_plants/utricularia.php

June 17, 2010January 31, 2026

Nighthawks Go Boom

Click to view a larger picture; Common Nighthawk courtesy US FWS, Dr Thomas G. Barnes Photographer — Common Nighthawk courtesy US FWS, Dr Thomas G. Barnes Photographer

Birds gotta fly, and for that they have wings. But nature is a tinkerer, adding new functions to old adaptations, and so it can be with feathers.

Males of some birds make sounds during aerial courtship displays, sounds that do not originate in their throats. When these suitors periodically dive during flight, their modified wing or tail feathers vibrate like the reed of a saxophone, creating a hum that appeals to potential mates. In an earlier program, you heard the winnowing sounds of diving male snipe, and if you have a hummingbird feeder at home, you have been hearing a wing trill from insistent male broad-tailed hummingbirds as they display for prospective mates.

Today’s featured bird calls as it flies high overhead on our warm summer evenings.

[Kevin Colver recording https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections and https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections]

Those piercing nasal cries are made by Common Nighthawks as they sail effortlessly through the evening air on streamlined wings, their short wide bills agape to intercept flying insects. Periodically, this peaceful scene is disrupted by an unexpected booming sound.

[Kevin Colver recording https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections and https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections]

That was no bullfrog croaking, but the male nighthawk generating feather sounds during a brief nosedive. Their booming display is easily missed, leaving you to puzzle as to the source of such an odd outburst. It lends the nighthawk its other common name, the bullbat, like a bat in flight that sounds like a distant bellowing bull. No other Utah bird makes this sound. So as a fiery summer sunset unfolds, look for nighthawks peacefully plying the sky, and listen for their distinctive booming. We have waited all winter for such lovely moments.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.
Credits:
Audio: Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections
Photos: Courtesy US FWS Digital Library, Thomas G. Barnes Photographer
Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

Common Nighthawk, Utah Conservation Data Center, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/Search/Display.asp?FlNm=chormino

Common Nighthawk, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Nighthawk/lifehistory

June 11, 2010March 4, 2026

Gardening for Bees

Three years ago, the United States Senate unanimously designated National Pollinator Week. This year it falls from June 21 to 27. Pollination is vitally important for many domesticated and wild plants. By far the most important pollinators are bees and Utah is home to 900 species. Bees pollinate food crops such as apples, cherries, apricots, squashes, raspberries and cucumbers. Bees are also essential to pollinate most wildflowers in our native plant communities.Gardening for Bees

Happily, few of our native bees have much venom or any inclination to sting; in part because they are solitary nesters. In contrast, honeybees and bumblebees are social and in defense of home will deliver memorable stings.

All bees visit flowers to sup nectar for energy. Females also collect protein-rich pollen to feed their offspring. Grain and hay fields, pavement and buildings have all displaced native plant communities, but our flower gardens can become valuable cafeterias for local bee populations. Because bees find their favorite flowers by their color or scent, a bee garden can also appeal to people.

Click to view a larger picture; Anthidium Bee on Lavender courtesy and copyright 2010 Jim Cane — Anthidium Bee on Lavender
Courtesy of and
Copyright © 2010 Jim Cane

Different bees prefer different kinds of flowers. Many bees are attracted to members of the pea family, such as vetches, clovers and locoweeds. Bees appreciate sunflowers and their kin as well as lavender and many other herbs. On the other hand, some plants have been so altered by plant breeders that they no longer feed bees. Examples include doubled flowers like marigolds, flowers with ruffles like petunias and some other common bedding plants.

Please consider our important pollinators when you are choosing what to plant in your garden. You will be rewarded by increased fruit and vegetable yields while surrounded by beautiful blooms.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.
Credits:
Photos: Courtesy and Copyright 2010 Jim Cane and Linda Kervin
Text: Jim Cane and Linda Kervin, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Click to view a larger picture; Male Melissodes bees sleeping on a sunflower courtesy and copyright 2010 Jim Cane — Male Melissodes Bees
Sleeping on Sunflower
Courtesy of and
Copyright © 2010 Jim Cane

Additional Reading:

https://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=222&mode=2&in_hi_userid=2&cached=true

https://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=54-28-05-00

https://extension.usu.edu/htm/publications/publication=10414

Crop domestication facilitated rapid geographical expansion of a specialist pollinator, the squash bee Peponapis pruinosa, Margarita M. López-Uribe, James H. Cane, Robert L. Minckley, Bryan N. Danforth
Proc. R. Soc. B 2016 283 20160443; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0443. Published 22 June 2016https://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1833/20160443.abstract

Bumblebee Watch, https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/
Bumble Bee Watch is a citizen science project through the partnership of The Xerces Society, the University of Ottawa, Wildlife Preservation Canada, BeeSpotter, The Natural History Museum, London, and the Montreal Insectarium.

Koch, Jonathan, Strange, James, Silliams, Paul, Bumble Bees of the Western United States, Pollinator Partnership, 2012, https://www.xerces.org/publications/identification-monitoring-guides/bumble-bees-of-western-united-states
Original https://www.pollinator.org/pollinator.org/assets/generalFiles/BumbleBee.GuideWestern.FINAL.pdf

June 3, 2010January 31, 2026

Western Tanager

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

An exotic-looking bird is making quite a splash this year in Cache Valley. The dazzling plumage of the western tanager creates animated flashes of color in the spring foliage. Catching sight of the brilliant red head and bright yellow body, with contrasting black back, wings and tail some people can’t help but wonder: “Is that a parrot?”

Every spring western tanagers arrive in a migration wave that originates in Central America. But the birds don’t stay with us for very long. Low elevations in Utah represent stopover sites not destinations. The birds are headed for their breeding habitat which is open forests of Douglas fir, spruce and pine to our north and at higher elevations. Migrating at night, the tanagers appear as if by magic one morning, They refuel a bit and then they are off again without much fanfare. Some years I don’t even notice them coming through at all.

But this year, the tanagers aren’t leaving. In fact they seem to be multiplying! So what’s going on?

I spoke with Frank Howe, an avian ecology specialist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. He says the reason we have so many tanagers is the wacky spring weather. The western tanager breeding grounds are still too wintery for these tropical migrants. Therefore, the tanagers are just waiting it out, refueling on high energy insects in Cache Valley as well as other locations along the Wasatch Front. Meanwhile, new birds keep arriving so the tanagers just keep stacking up. Just imagine an airport where flights can arrive, but none can take off.

Very territorial during the breeding season, the western tanager seems quite relaxed and even social during its delay. Which is more than you can say for most human travelers with an unexpected layover. This week, I’ve seen 3 affable males perched close on a suet feeder hanging in our yard.

So let’s assume a prolonged warm spell does finally arrive. ( I know this is a stretch of the imagination for many of us in Northern Utah). But it will happen. And then one bright morning we’ll wake up to find our colorful visitors gone without a trace –having left in the night for their true destination.

Thanks to the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation –the Russell Family for supporting Stokes Nature Center programs.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.
Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright 2010 Michael Fish
Text: Holly Strand, Stokes Nature Center
Sources & Additional Reading:

What Bird.com, Field Guide to Birds of North America, https://identify.whatbird.com/obj/196/_/Western_Tanager.aspx

Western Tanager, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Tanager/id

Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, Utah Conservation Data Center, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/search/display.asp?flnm=piraludo