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| Bishop's cap |
Whoa, back to bimonthly phenology observations! So many blooms and bird calls, frog choruses and budding trees in just two weeks. My phenology lists exploded! The warm weather and frequent rain have brought a vibrancy and proliferation of wild things that was muted in the last droughty year.
The warbler migration has begun in earnest. Every day brought more and different species to my ears and eyes.
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| Bristly buttercup |
Ephemerals are busting out in woodland and wetland walks. Again, every hike brought new wildflower delights popping up. Some are like old friends; others so rare I have to check my identifications to see if I have them right.
I took advantage of some guided hikes during these two weeks. Our surprise guide on Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge’s World Migratory Bird Day birding hike was Stan Tekiela, naturalist and author of many guidebooks to birds around the country.
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| Mayapple |
I also participated in BOW (Becoming An Outdoor Woman) hike learning about and then hunting morel mushrooms (success!). Heading into the Drifted area around central WI, friends and I hiked the sand country and eskers of the terminal glacial moraine at Mecan Springs. All those hikes were packed full of interesting details and learning.
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| Wetland warbler habitat |
I hope you to take advantage of these kinds of guided hikes. They are led by passionate and knowledgeable naturalists who love the land and all it holds.
And you will hone your own natural naturalist skills!
Plant Life
- False rue anemone
- Trout lily
- Bellwort
- Ramps
- Dryad's saddle
- Morel mushrooms
- Virginia bluebells
- Jacob’s ladder
- Two leaf miterwort (Bishop’s cap)
- Cutleaf toothhwort
- Dutchman’s breeches
- Canadian ginger
- Bloodroot
- Littleleaf buttercup
- Bristly buttercup
- Spring beauty
- Wintercress
- Early meadow rue
- Sharplobe hepatica
- Wild geranium
- Pussytoes
- Wood anemone
Virginia bluebells - Bladder fern
- Maidenhair fern
- Rattlesnake fern
- Lady fern
- Bulblet fern
- Lowland blader fern
- Sharp-lobed hepatica
- Mugwort
- Rattlesnake plantain
- Fan clubmoss
- Bracken
- Pennsylvania sedge
- Prairie blue-eyed grass
- Starry false Solomon’s seal
- Hoary puccoon
- Jack-in-the-pulpit
- Downy yellow violet
- Violet woodsorrel
- White rattlesnakeroot (unbloomed)
- Dryad’s saddle
- Trillium
- Nodding wakerobin trillium
- Sweet cecily
Wildlife (seen, heard, detected)
- Osprey
Can you spot the eagle on kin's* nest? - Eagle
- Yellow warbler
- Nashville warbler
- Blue-winged warbler
- Yellow-rumped warbler
- Chestnut-sided warbler
- Prothonotary warbler
- Tennessee warbler
- Palm warbler
- Blackpoll warbler
- Blue-winged warbler
- Cape May warbler
- Blackburnian warbler
- Bay-breasted warbler
- Magnolia warbler
- Wilson’s warbler
- Northern Parula
- Common yellowthroat
- American redstart
- Scarlet tanager
- Summer tanager
- Indigo bunting
- Tufted titmouse
- Field sparrow
- Song sparrow
- White-throated sparrow
- Swamp sparrow
- Rose-breasted grosbeak
- Red-winged blackbird
- Eastern kingbird
- Eastern bluebird
- Goldfinch
- Blue-gray gnatcatcher
- Downy woodpecker
- Red-bellied woodpecker
- Hairy woodpecker
- Pileated woodpecker
- Yellow-bellied sapsucker
- Eastern phoebe
- Northern flicker
- Tree swallow
- Brown thrasher
- Northern waterthrush
- Louisiana waterthrush
- American redstart
- Baltimore oriole
- Orchard oriole
- Ovenbird
- Chimney swift
- Brown-headed cowbird
- Yellow-throated vireo
- Warbling vireo
- Red-eyed vireo
- Black -capped chickadee
- Eastern towhee
- Northern mockingbird
- American eagle
- Sandhill crane
- Blue heron
- Bluejay
- Wood thrush
- Yellow-bellied flycatcher
- Great crested flycatcher
- Red cardinal butterfly
Meadow Fritillary - Monarch butterfly
- Meadow Fritillary
- Swallowtail butterfly
- Spring peepers
- Chorus frog
- Wood fog
- Garter snake
- Painted turtle
What are YOU noticing on your hikes?
Two weeks of hikes:
Duck Egg Trail Loop, Duck Egg County Forest Vernon County, WI; Duck Egg Lower Trail, Duck Egg County Forest, Vernon County WI (2); Mecan Springs Ice Age trail segment, Coloma WI; Whitewater SNA, Altura, MN; Trout Run Creek trail, Whitewater State Park, Altura MN; Reno Quarry, Reno MN; Lytle’s Landing, Brice Prairie WI; Kiep’s Landing, Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge, Trempealeau, WI; Beaver Creek Valley Trail, Bearver Creek Valley State Park, Caledonia MN.
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| On the hunt (successfully) for warblers Image - Lloyd Lorenz |
All images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters
*Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass (among many books) and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, suggested in a recent talk that rather than referring to plants, wildlife and other beings found in nature as "it", we use a work like "kin." The word gives agency to the life all around us in nature. It resonates with me.
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