If you're in town Week Nine, you won't want to miss this event! We got rained out last year, but we're trying again this summer.
Join us on Wednesday, August 21st for a Cocktail Cruise on the Stow Ferry. (Rain date: Thursday, August 22nd).
We will launch at 6pm with the intention of allowing passengers the chance to return to Chq for the Amp Show that night.
We will ride the historic Stow Ferry across the lake from Stow to Bemus Point and back on the historic Stow Ferry, stopping in the middle to enjoy cocktails and crudité on board. Ferry Captain Chris Flanders will tell us the history of the ferry and Biologist Twan Leenders will talk about the birds, fish and ecology of the lake.
This event is open to Life Members and their guests. Tickets are $45/per person.
photo of the Stow Ferry by Captain Chris Flanders
What's In Bloom?
Impatiens capensis
AKA Jewelweed, Touch-me-nots, or Orange Balsam
Once on a Naturalist's Tour, the guide told us that Jewelweed and Poison Ivy often grow side-by-side in wild areas. The reason being that while Poison Ivy causes a rash in most, the sap of the Jewelweed will relieve the itching. She believed that was Mother Nature gently leading her human children toward learning to care for ourselves in this wild, hard world. What a good mom Mother Nature is.
Speaking of mother's, my own mother is turning 80 today. I'm sure she spent the day paddle boarding in the marshes of coastal of Georgia. Although she has a green thumb, she is not hunting for Jewelweed to fix her up—her secret is bootleg bottles of Tincture of Merthiolate for treating all her wounds and injuries. Back in the 70s, they said we should not be putting mercury into open wounds and took it off the market. Too late for me—my veins are running chock full of it and my mother's must be 90% mercury. Maybe all that mercury helps with balance on the paddle board.
But back to the weed at hand. A widespread and common weed, the USDA range map shows Jewelweed in all but seven states. The bright orange flowers are popular with hummingbirds and other pollinators. Supposedly, the common name Jewelweed refers to the diamond-like appearance of water droplets on the leaves. Interestingly, the leaves are waterproof. If you submerge them, they appear silver because microscopic hairs create a layer of air on the surface of the leaf preventing it from getting wet.
In addition to being pretty and fun (see the video below of the exploding seed pod, Jewelweed has a long history of use in Native American medicine. The USDA says this: "When applied topically, sap from the stem and leaves is said to relieve itching and pain from a variety of ailments, including hives, poison ivy, stinging nettle, and other skin sores and irritations. The sap has also been shown to have anti-fungal properties and can be used to treat athlete’s foot."
Look for it in many of the gardens around Chautauqua this week and share some fun facts with your friends.
Leslie Renjilian
BTG President
Photo above of a Jewelweed flower in the Secret Silo Garden by Tim Renjilian.
Video below below by Clair Beltran of the Jewelweed (or Touch-me-not) seed pod bursting open when touched in Central Park in NYC.
Smith Wilkes Hall Turns 100: A Musical Celebration
Musician and Former Trustee Greg Miller reached out to us in the spring with an offer we couldn't refuse - he planned to hire CSO musicians and to convince his lovely wife Bijou to perform in a world debut of his original music - a Chamber Music and More, if you will. The venue he most loves in Chautauqua is Smith Wilkes Hall and he offered to donate the proceeds from this event to the BTG. What a way to celebrate its 100th birthday! Thank you, Greg!
Galen May designed the beautiful invitation below. The background is Greg's original score in Greg's handwriting.
The cost is $15. You can buy your ticket here.
Damselflies
by Dennis McNair, PhD
Damselflies are sort of Dragonflies’ smaller cousins. The two are closely related to each other in systems of biological classification, both being in the Order Odonata (odonates) of the Class Insecta. Dragonflies are placed in the Suborder Anisoptera because their two pairs of wings are of different size and shape ("iso-" the same, “pteron” wing), and damselflies are in the Suborder Zygoptera because all four of their wings are similar ("zygo" together).
Damselflies are slender, fluttering insects, while dragonflies are generally fast-flying and robust. They are both predaceous on other insects (in both juvenile and adult stages), spend most of their lives in the water (the winged adult stage emerges, disperses, mates and dies), and their aquatic juveniles have a hinged, extensible, prehensile lower “lip” for capturing prey. Humans consider them beneficial because they prey on mosquitoes (and “lake flies” here at Chautauqua), although dragonflies seem to be more voracious predators than damselflies, probably because of their speed, size, and efficiency (researchers have shown dragonflies to be over 90% successful in capturing prey on the wing). Despite common myths, odonates have probably always consumed more mosquitoes than bats or Purple Martins.
The damselfly depicted in the photo accompanying this article was photographed by Jeanne Wiebenga as it perched on a plant stem near the lake. It’s likely to be a Marsh Bluet (Enallagma ebrium), one of the lovely sky-blue and black damselflies that are common, but require close examination of their reproductive structures to identify properly. Marsh Bluet larvae spend much their lives in ponds and small lakes, or along the edges of larger lakes, and the adults do a great deal of perching when not hunting. They have small blue eyespots, behind their remarkable compound eyes, that are connected by a line to form a “dumbbell” shape.
Ed Yong, in his book An Immense World, points out that odonates have as many as 15-33 “opsins” which register various frequencies of color (humans have 3, so try to imagine the range of “colors” odonates can see) and have visual fields covering almost 360 degrees. This, coupled with very rapid flicker-fusion, helps to explain why they’re so successful in catching prey and so difficult for collectors to capture in their nets. Their vision is incredibly acute, and, to them, we appear to be moving in slow motion!
We humans have always compared the perception and consciousness of other animals to our own, and modern research shows that we’re really very limited in that regard. Dogs can discriminate thousands of smell cues that we can’t, bats can navigate in the dark by echolocation, many insects can “see” far into the ultraviolet and infrared ranges where we are blind, mosquitoes locate us by sensing the carbon dioxide and heat we give off, etc.
Yong’s book is very useful (and humbling) in clarifying the abilities of other animals that humans lack. So, the next time you step on a “bug” or compare the size of your brain to that of a fish, think, at least briefly, about the faculties you lack and they possess. Also, Louis Comfort Tiffany recognized the beautiful patterns in odonate wings and incorporated them into his glass lampshades. Other artists and artisans have mimicked those and other natural patterns for centuries. The beauty and wonder Nature inspires are readily available to all of us every day if we take the time to look for it. Damselflies are just one, commonly ignored, example of such things.
If you're interested in learning more about Odonates, click here for Dennis's recommended reading list.
Monday, August 5
Location: Pier Building
Tuesday, August 6
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall
Wednesday August 7
Location: Lower Miller Park Shoreline
12:30-2:30pm Shipman Garden History & Horticulture Tours
Location: Miller Cottage Gardens (24 Miller)
There will be a historical garden tour at 12:30PM and horticulture Q&A at 1:30PM.
4:15pm Tree Walk with Jack Gulvin
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall patio
Thursday August 8
Location: Meet at the Corner of Massey & Hawthorne. Forest Bathing will take place in the Secret Silo Garden.
Wear comfortable clothes.
4:15pm: Bird Talk with Twan Leenders
Location: Pier Building
Friday August 9
9:00am Nature Walk with Jack Gulvin
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall Patio
12:00-1:30pm Betsy's Garden Walk
Location: Campbell Garden on Whitfield Drive
Sunday August 11
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall
Looking Ahead - Upcoming Events
Week 8
Week 9
Week Six In Photos
Our newest Life Members gather on the porch before Friday's Annual Lunch in the Athenaeum Parlor.
Front row (L-R): Whitney Gleason, Barbara Stepien, Elaine Davis, Betsy Vance, Jenny Rappole, Mikell Schenck, Cyndy Brown, Ellen Harrison.
Back row (L-R): Lauralynn White, Molly Dunning, Linnea Francois, Lauren Benson, Leigh Hulcher, Cathy Digel, Jane Finley, Arden Ryan, Steve Brown, Greg Olmsted
At the Life Member Annual Lunch on Friday, Cultural Landscape Historian Clara Miller took us back in time to the first gathering of the Bird and Tree Club in 1913, setting the scene by explaining everything from what we would have been wearing to who would have been there in Henrietta Ord Jones's Loggia with us. We will be adding all of her research to the website, but click here for a little preview of what's up already.
Monday:
Jeanne Wiebenga took this wonderful photo of Rattlesnake Master in a in the Watters Meadow near Sharpe Field. Remember those from Week 4? If not, click here!
Twan Leenders led both the Lake Walk and the Bird Chat last week. If you weren't able to catch either, you've got a few more chances this season! I haven't checked closely, but I think those binocs are actually attached to his hand!
Tuesday:
Elmore DeMott spoke at the Brown Bag Lecture last week. Her photos are gorgeous and her story inspiring. Check out her website here and consider signing up to receive her emailed Nature Notes. They are lovely!
Thanks to Life Member Fern Jaffe for sharing and labeling a selection of native plants from her garden for the welcome table at the Brown Bag Lecture on Tuesday!
Wednesday:
Mary Lou Williamson with Betsy at the Shipman Garden on Wednesday. Mary Lou is the granddaughter (I think I got that right) of Louise Igoe Miller and Robert Miller. Her grandma gave Mina those orange lilies way back in the day (sometime between 1923 and her death in 1947), In 2018, the lilies were removed from the garden and carefully overwintered. Replanted in 2019, they were blooming when Mary Lou visited on Wednesday! She was so happy to see how things had grown in and that the lilies were back in same spot.
And this family keeps on giving! Recently, Mary Lou donated the giant wind chime in the Discovery Garden and paid for the Garden Team's watering truck as well!
Thursday:
Jack Gulvin's been keeping track of all the Purple Martins these season in his logbook. All the birds have fledged except for one nest that still had 4 live birds in it (3rd photo). Jack will tell us at the end of the season how it compares but if you want to start doing the math yourself, you can check the 2023 Purple Martin Report here.
Arranging flowers to deliver to Institution Staff who help us put on all the programming each summer is a beloved BTG Board tradition. Above, the board writes thank you notes and, later that day, some of the arrangements lined up and ready for delivery.
Friday:
Betsy hosted the first-ever Monarch Master Class at the Garden Shop on Friday afternoon. Lucky learners were treated to a slide show explaining life cycle and migration as well as hands-on handling of caterpillars in various stages and up-close looks at the chrysalises hanging safely in their netted cages awaiting the day they emerge, get tagged, and then get released with our hopes and prayers for safe travels to Mexico.
Little Free Library Book Drive!
See that plastic bin under the LFL? Can you help us replenish it with books?
Nick Stupiansky built and maintains the libary and he reports that it gets a lot of visitors, which is wonderful, but now inventory is low. Please clean out your shelves and bring your books to Smith Wilkes Hall
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