A couple of weeks ago, Vern Stephens and his wife Sue Tangora brought their PowerPoint prairie program and a good selection of their native plants to our Habitat Discovery Center. The program (by Vern) was to educate people about the importance of prairie habitat. It included guidelines about how to manage a prairie once it is installed.
The plants were for sale. When we first began our efforts to educate those who are concerned about our declining bird populations about the significance of native plants to birds and other wildlife (such as amphibians, fish, reptiles and others), there were few places where one could purchase such plants. While this is beginning to change, there are still insufficient native plants available on the market. Vern and Sue’s program and plant sale fit perfectly with our mission, which is to protect, enhance and restore habitat for North American birds.
Vern and Sue were instrumental in guiding Jim and Kay Charter through their prairie installation project, and they found the funding to assist the Charter’s in completing the project. They are naturally interested in watching the progress of this beautiful, developing prairie.
The first thing Vern did when they arrived for their afternoon program and sale was to walk into the little bluestem. In a few seconds, he returned with a preying mantis in his hand.
When he showed us what he had, he said, “This is what I was looking for; predator insects. If the predator insects are doing well, that means there is a good insect prey base.”
That is great news for our migrating and nesting birds. Jim Charter has worked diligently for the past four summers taking care of this prairie habitat. Finding that it is working so well attests to the quality of his efforts.
Our Board President, Gina Erb, took the photo of Vern and their son, Zach, looking at a preying mantis on one of our long-branch bluebird nest boxes.