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Decided to collect seeds from the Solomon’s plume this year. They require double stratification but what the heck, I’m very comfortable with failure.

What I like about this plant is that I found it in much smaller numbers, limping along 15 years ago when I first started clearing invasives like honeysuckle. The seed bank under invasives has never gotten better in southwest Ohio, only worse. This means that the natives that have managed to persist amidst this flood are particularly important. The reason for their persistence must be either geography or genetics.

If the reason is genetics, it might be more important to propagate natives from the exact places where invasives are the worst.

4th pic - what the seeds looked like after being removed from the pulp and just before the first stratification.

Melanistic juvenile (likely male based on size relative to the Great-tailed Grackle it was feeding upon). Verified by William Clark, and Lance and Jill Morrow. First observed by M. Silvas with me, and I shouted "melanistic Cooper's Hawk, OMG" as I identified the bird preliminarily, before submitting it to experts for review.
N31.070728 W-97.369269
JPK-2925

Wild Hyacinth (Eastern Camas, Atlantic Camas) - Camassia scilloides
I found a pretty patch of these on the roadside bordering Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area in central Ohio. I was enchanted by its delicate color and the form of its buds.
References

• Brandenburg, National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Wildflowers of North America (Sterling, 2010), p. 328
• Newcomb and Morrison, Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Little, Brown; 1977), pp. 332-333
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=casc5

This bee was reared up on its hind legs and appeared to be in distress. In the images there is a tiny brown beetle biting the bee's proboscis. They stayed this way for 5 or more minutes before I walked away. Edit: Looking into it, I think the beetle is Antherophagus ochraceus, the silken fungus beetle, which clamps onto bumblebees and hitches a ride back to the nest. The beetle lays eggs in the nest and the resulting larvae eat organic debris.