Kasota Prairie, a 90-acre remnant of native prairie, is a private preserve but is open to the public. It is owned by Unimin Minnesota Corporation and managed with the cooperation of Save the Kasota Prairie, a nonprofit organization. The west boundary of the site is the Minnesota River bluff. North of the site is a 60-acre Unimin-owned prairie that is off limits to visitors. There are two miles of natural surface hiking trails.
http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Destinations/Kasota_Prairie.html
Photo by Bill Reynolds
Eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) is the most common yellowjacket in eastern North America. It often nests in urban and suburban environments. It aggressively defends its nest. It is able to sting multiple times but the barbed stinger sometimes becomes detached in the victim.
This species of yellowjacket is identified by distinctive black and yellow markings on its head and body. The yellow band behind the compound eye is not notched, narrowed, or broken. There is no yellow “eye loop.” The thorax has no longitudinal stripes. The first abdominal segment has a broad, black, anchor-shaped mark. The workers do not have isolated black spots on the remaining abdominal segments.
http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/eastern_yellowjacket.html
This 183-acre SNA lies within the Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest. Despite its small size, it sits across two ECS subsections and three land type associations (LTAs). The north part of the site, adjacent to the Middle Branch Root River, is a 72-acre lowland with wet meadow on the Alluvial Plain LTA of The Blufflands subsection. This area also contains a sedge meadow native plant community, where there is always at least some standing water. South of the lowland a 108-acre slope climbs 250 feet in elevation on the Elba Slopes LTA of The Blufflands subsection. This slope is mostly wooded but includes a large area of dry prairie. In late summer much of this prairie is dominated by little bluestem. The wooded slope was once a brushland that, through decades of fire suppression, has developed into an oak woodland. The southeast corner of the site is 3 acres of oak woodland on the Stewartville Plain LTA of the Rochester Plateau subsection. Wild Turkeys nest in the wet meadow and Northern Bald Eagles have been seen circling above the SNA.
http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Destinations/Pin_Oak_Prairie_SNA.html
Photo by Brian Johnson
Western fox snake (Mintonius ramspotti) is a medium to large, nonvenomous, rat snake. It is one of the four largest snakes in Minnesota. Adults are usually 36″ to 56″ in length. In Minnesota it occurs mostly in the Mississippi, St. Croix, and Minnesota River valleys. It can be found from April to October in prairies, agricultural fields, woodland openings and edges, lowland meadows, river bottoms, and rocky outcroppings near water.
In the spring and fall adults move about during the day. In the hot summer they move about at night. When confronted they will often vibrate their tails producing a buzzing sound. In leaf litter or dry grass the sound resembles that of a rattlesnake. The reddish head resembles a copperhead. For these reasons the snake is often mistaken for a poisonous one and killed by humans.
http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Reptiles/western_fox_snake.html
After almost nine months the redesign of MinnesotaSeasons.com was finally completed on October 10, 2014.
Photo by Bill Reynolds
German yellowjacket (Vespula germanica), a common and widespread social wasp, is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It was unintentionally introduced into Canada in the 1960s and the eastern United States in the 1970s. It quickly spread and by 1989 it had reached California. It is now found throughout North and South America. It usually nests in the ground but often nests in voids, such as tree stumps, attics, roofs, and hollow walls. It rarely builds a hanging nest like the bald-faced hornet.
This species of yellowjacket is identified by distinctive black and yellow markings on its head and body and by three small black spots on its face.
http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/German_yellowjacket.html
Photo by Bill Reynolds
Camel cricket (Ceuthophilus sp.) is a very common genus of native crickets. It can be found under rotten logs, under stones, in mole hills, and other moist dark places, but is most often encountered in basements. Unlike most crickets it has no hearing organs (tympanum).
The family (Rhaphidophoridae) is identified by its distinctive, hump-backed shape, lack of wings and tympanum, and antennae longer than the body. The genus (Ceuthophilus) is identified by four end segments (tarsi) on each leg and the lack of a spine on the front of the tibia of the foreleg.
http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/camel_cricket_(Ceuthophilus).html
Photo by Bill Reynolds
Virginia ctenucha (Ctenucha virginica), a common and widespread, colorful, medium-sized moth, is the largest wasp moth in North America. It is found from mid-June to late July in moist, open, grassy fields and meadows. Although it is a day-flying moth it is also attracted to lights at night.
This and other Ctenuchid moths have three adaptations that help to protect them from predators: the metallic blue color of the body mimics wasps which may be noxious to predators; caterpillars retain toxic chemicals from the plants they eat; and a specialized region on the thorax produces ultrasonic sounds which jam the sonar of moth-eating bats.
This species is identified by the incomplete yellowish-orange collar and the broad wings with no markings.
http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/Virginia_ctenucha.html
Photo by Bill Reynolds
There are many species of green bottle fly. Common green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata) is certainly the most well known and probably the most scientifically studied green bottle fly in the world. As its common name suggests, it is common and widespread, found in all of the temperate and tropical regions of the planet.
This is often one of the first insects to visit a corpse, sometimes within minutes of death. Forensic scientists use the development of the larva of this species to determine the age of a corpse. Medicinally, the larvae are used on humans to painlessly remove dead or decaying tissue from wounds while leaving healthy tissue untouched and secreting a chemical that promotes tissue regeneration.
This species is identified by three grooves across the thorax and three bristles on the upper middle (dorsal) surface of the middle thoracic section.
http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/common_green_bottle_fly.html
Photo by Bill Reynolds
Winter firefly (Ellychnia corrusca) is the most common diurnal firefly, also called lightning bug, in Minnesota. It is medium-sized for a firefly but much larger than other species within its genus. Unlike most fireflies it has no bioluminescent organs and is active during the day. The common name reflects the fact that it overwinters as an adult. On warm, sunny, winter days an individual might be seen on a tree trunk wandering a short distance from its wintering spot.
This species is identified by the size, minute hairs on the forewings, and distinctive “parentheses” marking on the thoracic shield.