I have documented 495 species in the Lafitte Prairie.

The prairie is very green. The lance leaf coreopsis is just starting to bloom and blanket flowers. Also a large population of showy evening primrose Oenothera speciosa has established in the area that the pond will be dug.

Some "yellow butterflies" (several species) have been seen and common buckeyes are pretty common. Did see one monarch. Have not seen very many bees yet, mainly carpenter bees.

Burned the prairie this weekend. Left several areas unburned, the majority of the areas that were burned did really well, some areas did not have a high enough grass load, so they did not burn well. Will cut the remainder of the area to 18" and leave as is.

It has been wet and I have not been able to burn the Prairie. Also, I have not gotten any pictures of birds, but I do have a list of birds that I have seen.
Cedar Wax wing
Red Wing Blackbird
American Robin
Northern Cardinal
Blue Jay
Eastern Bluebird
Black Capped chickadee
Dove
Mockingbird
Red Tailed hawk
Juncos
Brown Thrush
American goldfinch
several different sparrows

Also a couple of Gray Squirrels.

I have bird feeders in the back and the other day as soon as I was done filling the feeders a huge flock of Red winged blackbirds flew in and started eating. I got frustrated, because I am wanting different bird. But then I though about it. My grandkids may hear stories about the great flocks of redwing blackbirds like I hear about the great flocks of passenger pigeons.

I am at 424 documented species.

The prairie is dormant now. I have mowed a few of the areas along the ditch on the east side to help with water flow and clean that area up due to ditch being a parish ditch.

Lots of birds that have not been counted in the total species for the prairie. I think there are at least 25-30 that need to be documented. That will be my target this winter. I will also try to document some of the winter "weeds" that are in the prairie.

Cold front coming through today with temperatures expected to drop to low teens and stay below freezing until Christmas.

Still very dry, but it has cooled off. I have reached 415 different species identified on the 175 Lafitte prairie.

Right now Bidens, late boneset, frost weed and goldenrods are blooming.

Bidens is covered in honey bees and flies. Frost weed is a good attractor for butterflies and bumble bees (Need to add more frost weed).

Have seen some activity on the golden rods, but they really just started blooming.

Back to being dry and hot. I have reached 400 different species identified on the 175 Lafitte prairie.

Right now Bidens, late boneset and Maximillia sunflowers are blooming. The goldenrod is not far behind.

Late boneset seems to be the best pollinator attractor this month. Buckeye butterflies and larger bees are often seen on it.

Yesterday I did a butterfly survey. Fall appears to be the best time for butterflies on the prairie. The following butterflies were seen in a 10 minute walk:
Monarchs=5+
Gulf frilliary=10+
checkerspot
fiery skipper 10+
giant swallowtail 1
pipevine swallowtail 1
viceroy 3
hairstreak 1
buckeye 5+
sachem 1
pearl crescent 5+
phanon crescent 5+

377 species documented.

Finally have gotten some rain, over 3 inches the last few days. The creek in the back is full again. Have noticed an uptick in larger butterflies this month, with Gulf Friliary being the primary, but also viceroy, swallowtails (Giant, pipevine, eastern). Smaller skippers are abundant also.

Starting to see boneset, maximillia sunflowers and ironweed bloom. Still feel like there is a gap in bloom during late summer.

Bidens and goldenrod are not far off from blooming.

Still very dry, the native plants are doing great. I have gotten to over 350 species observed.

The main thing blooming in the prairie right now is Cup plant, with a few spotted bee balms. Need to close the obvious gap I have in flowering forbs from late June to when the fall flowers start.

The planted prairie has been increased to 1.5 acres.

This year it has been hot and very dry. The ditch off of willow chute is dry for the first time since we bought the place in 2016. I have started seeing some of the perennial plants that were seeded in 2019 and 2020.

I am closing in on 300 documented species of plants and animals that are using the prairie.

The biggest pollinator attractor right now in the prairie is clustered mountain mint.