August always brings cooler nights, crickets, and childhood memories of the last desperate days before the start of school where we tried to jam as many adventures and as much mischief as we could. August also brings the Perseids, the annual fireworks show, that was particularly wonderful this year without the usual mosquitos. Knowing that this is the result of drought, though, instantly sobers me up.
We've had decent air quality over the past two weeks, welcome rain and relatively moderate temperatures. Summer isn't done with us yet as we look at temps back in the 90's coming up this next week. The leaves on the trees have lost their bright green hues and taken on a slight grayish tinge as fall approaches.
The elderberries are ripening, replacing the tasty blackcaps that are just about done for those who like making jams and wine. Prairie flowers are showing off their the yellow flowers with the goldenrods coming into their glory along with black- and brown-eyed Susans. Rosehips are evident on prairie roses and pollinators continue nectaring at a mad pace.
The rain and slightly cooler night temps have brought fungi popping up again which makes woods walks more interesting. Ferns continue are evident everywhere in the woods..
Wildflowers
- Wild bergamot
Rock cap fern - Goldenrod
- Evening primrose
- False sunflower
- Brown-eyed Susan
- White sagebrush
- Grey-headed coneflower
- Common tansy
- White snakeroot
- Joe-Pye weed
- Tall blue lettuce
- Jewelweed
- Sharp-lobed hepatica (leaves only)
- Jack-in-the pulpit, fruiting
- Rock cap fern
- Bulblet fern
- Lady fern
- Maidenhair fern
- Crown-tipped coral mushroom
- Old man of the woods mushroom
Emerging ghost pipes - Golden oyster mushroom
- White jelly fungus
- White rot fungus
- Scarlet elfcup fungi
- Leadplant
- Hoary vervain
- Ghost pipe
- Bottlebrush fern
- False boneset
- Big bluestem
- Compass plant
- Giant mullein
- Goldenrod
- Ground cherry
- Cup plant
- Rattlesnake master
- Cardinal flower
- Prairie blazing star
- Smooth ironweed
- Smooth agrimony
- Oxeye daisy
- Great blue lobelia
- Nodding onion
- Stiff goldenrod
- Hyssop
- Sideoats grama
Wildlife
- Peck's skipper butterfly
Tiger swallowtail butterfly leaving a cup plant - Tiger swallowtail butterfly
- Monarch butterfly
- Sulpher butterfly
- North American toad
- Eastern towhee
- Eastern wood-pewee
- Pileated woodpecker
- Great horned owl
- Barred owl
- Indigo bunting
- Black-capped chickadee
- Northern cardinal
- Bluejay
- Red-eyed vireo
- Yellow-throated vireo
- Warbling vireo
- American redstart
Can you spy the indigo bunting? - Tufted titmouse
- Indigo bunting
- American robin
- American goldfinch
- White-breasted nuthatch
- Least flycatcher
- Acadian flycatcher
- Pileated woodpecker
- Sedge wren
- Killdeer
What are YOU noticing on your hikes?
Two weeks of hikes: Hass Easter Road Trailhead Blufflands South, La Crosse WI; Upper Hixon Prairie Remnant Hike, La Crosse WI; AppleBlossom Park, Winona Co. MN; Beaver Creek Valley State Park, Caledonia, MN; Riverside Park and Marsh Trail, La Crosse WI; McGilvray 7 Bridges, New Amsterdam WI; Halfway Creek Trail, Holmen, WI; Mathy Quarry, La Crosse WI
Above images - Marge Loch-Wouters
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| Hole-in-in-the-Rock cave, Beaver Creek Valley State Park Image - Nola Larson |
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