I Spy on the Trails - July 16-31, 2024

Zoerb Prairie
Upper Hixon Forest

It's been a pretty typical July, weather-wise, in the last two weeks - a little dry and temps hovering in high 70's to high 80s. We ended the month with two truly hot and steamy days. We've had many early morning fog days. It's been plenty humid, plenty sunny and storms have danced to the north and south of it. We've had more wind than usual in these two weeks but also some extremely still days. So, yup, July.

The rivers and creeks are past their crests and going down everywhere. It was so unusual to have those early summer flooding events due to the heavy May-June rains. It definitely speaks to our changing climate and what we can expect going forward. We were spared the brutal heat that many experienced across the U.S. and worldwide here in MN. But there is no guarantee going forward.

Mosquitoes and gnats are still out and about but the prairie and pollinator flowers make being soaked in DEET tolerable. My last few hikes have focused on earlier start times to beat the heat. That will no doubt continue through most of August.

Up on Rogala's Prairie 

I'm always a little surprised at how many times I hit the trails each time I work on these phenology posts. Between guided field trips, scouting and exploring new trails and trying to hit the best of the prairie hikes, I'm out most days.

Hope your hiking is going great too! 

Just a reminder, if you are looking for hiking destinations there are over 50 hikes with detailed information/directions in the blog. To find them, just look on the right hand side of the blog under labels and click on the "find-a-hike" tab. I usually add a hike or two per month to that list!

Plants
Beaver Creek State Park, hardwood forest

• Bergamot

  

  The delicate flower of the hairy pagoda plant
  Beaver Creek Valley State Park

  
  
• Small flowered leafcup
• Lady fern
• Crested woodfern
• Bulblet badderfern
• Roundlobe hepatica, past bloom
• Mayapple, past bloom
• Giant chickweed
• Hairy pagoda plant
• American bellflower
• Motherwort
• Self-heal
• Tall hairy agrimony
• Canada goldenrod
• White avens
• Wild parsnip, past bloom

A Bluff in Richard J. Dorer Forest hardwood forest

• Deadman’s fingers

  

  Deadman’s fingers fungi

  
  
• Wild bergamot
• White snakeroot
• Grey-headed coneflower
• Leadplant
• Lady fern
• Interrupted fern
• Bulblet bladderfern
• Bracken fern
• Maidenhair fern
• Rough blazing stat
• Woodland sunflower
• Few-leaf sunflower
• Tall hairy agrimony
• White prairie clover
• Purple prairie clover
• Flowering spurge
• False Solomon’s s seal
• Butterfly weed
• Oxeye daisy
• Mullein
• Harebell

Rogala’s Prairie - hill prairies, hardwood forest

• Big bluestem grass
• Little bluestem grass
• Bottlebrush grass
• Purple coneflower
• Grey-headed coneflower
• Spotted beebalm
• White prairie clover
• Oxeye daisy
• Black-eyed Susan
• Hoary vervain
• Spiderwort
• Wild bergamot
• Wild white indigo
• Woodland sunflower
• American spikenard 
• Smooth cliffbrake

  

  Smooth cliffbrake
  Rogala's Prairie

• Canada goldenrod
• Stiff goldenrod
• Showy goldenrod
• Showy tick-trefoil
• St. John’s wort
• Rattlesnake master
• Michigan lily
• White snakeroot
• Bracken fern
• Lady fern
• Cinnamon fern
• Bulblet bladderfern
• Cream gentian
• Yellow gentian
• Compass plant
• Tall cinquefoil
• Culver’s root
• Cylindrical blazing star
• Leadplant
• Harebell
• Pennsylvania sedge
• Canada frostweed
• Prairie coreopsis
• Porcupine grass
• Wormwood
• Pasque flower, past  bloom
• Few-leafed sunflower
• Grooved yellow flax 
• Sand cherry
• Smooth aster, pre-bloom 
• False Solomon’s seal
• Wild sarsaparilla 
• Common milkweed
• Whorled milkweed
• Boneset
• Lyreleaf rockcress
• Bellflowers
• Sleepy catchfly 
• Chicken of the woods

Hixon Forest Prairies - hill prairies/hardwood forest

• Ghost pipe
• Wild bergamot

  

  Emerging ghost pipe
  Hixon Forest

  
  
• Grey-headed coneflower
• Rough blazing star
• Leadplant
• Big blue stem grass 
• Canada wildrye grass
• Smooth brome grass
• Side grama oats
• Whorled milkweed
• Common milkweed
• Woodland sunflower
• Mullein
• Hoary verbena
  
  
  
• Purple prairie clover
• White prairie clover
• Tall cinquefoil
• Grooved flax
• Tall boneset
• False boneset
• Evening primrose
• Butterfly weed
• White snakeroot
• Stiff goldenrod
• Elmleaf goldenrod
• Culver’s root
• American germander
• St. John’s wort
• Tall thimbleweed
• Interrupted fern
• Lady fern

Holland Sand Prairie - sand prairie

• Wild bergamot
• Purple prairie clover
• White prairie clover
• Spotted bee balm
• Poppy mallow

  

  Poppy mallow
  Holland Sand Prairie

  
  
• Evening primrose
• Rough blazing star, pre-bloom
• White sagebrush
• Clasping milkweed
• Whorled milkweed
• Common milkweed
• Hoary alyssum 
• Autumn hawkbit
• Flowering spurge
• Leafy spurge
• Mullein
• Yarrow
• Grey-headed coneflower
• Purple coneflower 
• Ground cherry
• Tall thimbleweed
• Big blue stem
• Switchgrass
• Purple lovegrass
• Prairie dropseed
• Deptford pink
• Partridge pea
• Roundhead bush clover
• Leadplant
• Grooved flax
• Black-eyed Susan
• Partridge pea

  

  Partridge Pea
  Holland Sand Prairie

  
  
• Few-leaf sunflower 
• Stiff sunflower
• False sunflower
• Hoary puccoon
• Hairy aster, pre-bloom
• White heath aster, pre-bloom 
• Wild four-o-clock
• Flowering spurge
• Early goldenrod
• Stiff goldenrod
• Giant goldenrod, pre-bloom
• Virginia dwarf dandelion
• Narrowleaf hawksbeard
• Oxeye daisy
• Tall cinquefoil 

Appleblossom Overlook Park -  prairie/hardwood forest

• Rattlesnake master

  

  Dew "flowers" on Culver's Root
  Appleblossom Overlook Park

  
  
• Bergamot
• Wild cream indigo
• Stiff goldenrod
• Showy goldenrod
• Tall goldenrod
• Tall thimbleweed
• Slender mountain mint
• Culver's root
• Cup plant
• Compass plant
• White sagebrush
• False sunflower
• Grey-headed coneflower
  
• Prairie blazing star
• Cattails
• Big blue stem grass
• Floering spurge
• Evening primrose
• Showy tick-trefoil
• Canada goldenrod
• Black-eyed Susan
• Brown-eyed Susan
• Spiderwort
• 
  

Wildlife

• Baltimore oriole
• Eastern towhee

  

  Common aerial yellowjacket 
  on whorled milkweed plant

  
  
• Common yellowthroat
• Sandhill crane
• Wild turkeys
• Eastern wood pewee
• Brown-headed cowbird
• Tufted titmouse
• Bluebird
• American Robin
• White-breasted nuthatch
• Red-eyed video
• Indigo bunting
• Western meadowlark
• Indigo bunting

  

  Indigo bunting
  Hixon Forest

  
  
• Field sparrow
• House sparrow 
• Song sparrow
• Chipping sparrow
• American goldfinch
• House finch
• House wren
• Cedar waxwing
• Northern cardinal
• Red-wing blackbird
• American crow
• Brownbelted butterfly
• Aerial Yellowjacket
• Great black digger wasp
• Eastern swallowtail
• Tiger swallowtail
• Monarch butterfly

What are YOU noticing on your hikes?

Two weeks of hikes:

Hikes below in bold color or underlined have links to previous posts with descriptions/location of the trails

Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, Necedah WI; Beaver Creek Valley State Park, Caledonia MN; Vetsch Park, La Crescent MN (trail maintenance and invasives control) (2); Pickwick Quarry, LaMoille, MN: Rogala Prairie, Rockland, WI; Upper Hixon Forest Prairies trail, La Crosse WI (2); Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI; Riverside Park and International Gardens, La Crosse WI (2); Lock & Dam 7 Rest Stop trails, Dresbach MN; Appleblossom Overlook Park, La Crescent MN. 

On top Appleblossom Prairie looking down on the fog below

All images - Marge Loch-Wouters