Stinkwort
Autumn is in the air and some of the birds which I haven't seen all summer are returning. However, I have yet to see the bluebirds. The question I have is why did the small passerines leave as we have had a very mild summer following a wetter than normal winter. I saw an article the other day saying that insects do very poorly following warmer than normal winters, or cooler and wetter than normal springs. We had the latter, so maybe there is not many insects.
I just recently discovered that we have another invasive species which I fear is going to be as noxious as the Yellow-star Thistle, although not as thorny. This is the Stinkwort. It is everywhere that there was an excess of moisture last winter - along trails where rain runoff accumulated, along now dry vernal pools, and in areas adjacent to creeks and marshes. Today I tried to document it along the trail which runs from Twelve Bridges Southcreek Trailhead (on Twelve Bridges Dr) to the park at Twelve Bridges Middle School and over to Southcreek Granite Park Trailhead (on Granite Park Ct). I documented fourteen patches of Stinkwort, some small, some large, and I skipped over a few more where there were only one or two plants. This plant seems to be spreading like wildfire. Hopefully I can do a comparison next year.
Now I need to plot the areas in the preserve where Yellow-star Thistle is so thick one cannot walk through. I wonder what coyotes, raccoons, bobcats and foxes do when the YST is so thick - do they go through unencumbered or do they have to travel around the thick patches.
