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| Milky Way, meteor and newly iced-out lake Image - Lloyd Lorenz |
Heading six hours north felt like traveling back in time to late March again. Flowering plants were few and far between up north. Instead I found sturdy mosses and rocks - oh so many amazing rocks!
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| Warbler-friendly wetland/woods up north |
Near the Canadian border, my biggest surprise was the profusion and variety of warblers I encountered. It was a delight to spot them in the woods and wetlands we walked. I had been worried that I wouldn’t see and hear as many as we have in the Driftless while I was away, so was gratified to still be surrounded by these migrating songbirds.
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| Birdcast |
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| Prairie smoke Holland Sand Prairie, WI |
In the Driftless, the plant growth was exponential after the rains of late April. It brought the flowers, flowering trees and leaf-out just in time for Mother's Day. Whew! But a following dry spell also stressed many of the delicate growing ephemerals, resulting in some wilting foliage in sunny areas that shortened their seasons. The bluebells at Carley State Park had an extremely short peak season because of the dry spell this year.
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| Little Jack Lake Vermillion (MN) State Park |
In my neck of the woods back home, bloodroots, hepatica, bellwort and Dutchman’s breeches are losing their blooms and setting seed. Waiting in the wings for their star turn and bursting out are jack-in-the pulpit, hoary puccoon, prairie smoke, wild geranium, Solomen’s seals, lupines, ferns of all kinds and trillium.
Hold on to your hats, readers. Observations as we enter May have skyrocketed. If you haven't gotten out to hike among the profusion of ephemerals, now is the time! May is a glorious month for the woodlands and the fun is just beginning in the prairies.
Plant Observations
Flowering/Mature plants:
- anemone, Canadian
- anemone, Eastern false rue
- anemone, rue
- anemone, wood
- bastard toadflax
- bellwort
- bladderfern, brittle
Bulblet bladdefern
Perrot (WI) State Park - bladderfern, bulblet
- bladderfern, lowland
- bluebells, Virginia
- bunchberry, Canadian
- buttercup, bristly
- buttercup, early
- buttercup, littleleaf
- carrion flower, upright
- cliffbrake, smooth
- cliff fern, bluntlobe
- columbine, red
- Dutchman’s breeches
- fern, bluntlobe cliff
- fern, interrupted
- fern, lady
- fern, lowland bladderfern
- fern, northern maidenhair
- fern, ostrich
- fern, rockcap
- fern, sensitive
Jack-in-the-pulpit
Vetsch Park, La Crescent MN - fern, spinulose wood
- geranium, wild
- grass, prairie blue-eyed
- groundsel, prairie
- harebell
- honeysuckle, wild
- horsetail, field
- jack-in-the-pulpit
- lousewort, Canadian,
- mayapple
- meadowrue, early
- prairie smoke
- puccoon, fringed
- puccoon, hoary
- pushkinia
- pussytoes, field
- pussywillows
- ramps
- riverbark grape
- rockcress, lyreleaf
Shooting star
Perrot (WI) state Park - sedge, northern long
- sedge, Pennsylvania
- sedge, Sprengel's
- sedge, upright
- sedge, woodland
- sedge, wooly
- Shooting star
- Solomen’s seal, starry false
- stargrass, yellow
- stoneseed, narrowleaf
- thimbleweed, tall
- toothwort, cutleaf
- trillium, nodding
White trillium
Perrot (WI) State Park - trillium, white
- violet, common blue
- violet, birdfoot
- violet, downy yellow
- violet, prairie
- waterleaf, Virginia
- wild strawberry
- wintercress, common
- wintercress, bristly
- wormwood, field,
Sprouts/Unbloomed:
- alumroot, prairie
- anemone, candle
- avens, large-leafed
- beardtongue
- blazing star, rough
- bloodroot
- camus, death
- cecily, sweet
- cohosh, blue
- ginger, wild
- goldenrod, Canada
- goldenrod, stiff
- goldenrod, zigzag
Sundial lupine
Necedah National Wildlife Refuge - greenbrier, bristly
- honewort, Canadian
- leadplant
- lupine, sundial
- lupine, wild
- mayflower, Canada
- miterwort, naked
- rattlesnakeroot, white
- sagebrush, white
- sagewort, field
- Solomen's seal
- Solomen’s seal, smooth
- Solomen's seal, false
- sweetroot, Clayton's
- toadflax. common
- yarrow, common
Fungi/Moss/Lichen:
- artist's conk
- clubmoss, interrupted
Waxyleaf moss
Bears Head Lake (MN) State Park - clubmoss, pricklytree
- clubmoss, treelike
- lichen, crumpled rag
- liverwort, (great scented?)
- moss, beautiful branch
- moss, common hairtop
- moss, delicate fern
- moss, feather
- moss, juniper haircap
- moss, red-stemmed feather
- moss, rough gooseneck moss
- moss, stairstep
- moss, waxyleaf
- moss, woodsy-thyme
- mushroom, lumpy bracket
Wildlife Observations (seen, heard, detected)
Birds
- blackbird, red-winged
- bluebird, eastern
- bluejay
- cardinal, northern
- catbird, gray
- cowbird, brown-headed
- creeper, brown
- crow, American
- cuckoo, yellow-billed
- chickadee, black-capped
- crossbill, red
- finch, house
- finch, purple
Killdeer - Wagon Wheel Trail, La Crescent MN - flicker, northern
- flycatcher, great-crested
- gnatcatcher, blue-grey
- goldfinch, American
- grosbeak, evening
- grosbeak, rose-breasted
- grouse, ruffed (drumming)
- hawk, broad-winged
- Indigo bunting
- junco, dark-eyed
- killdeer
- kingbird, eastern
- martin, purple
- meadowlark, eastern
- merlin
- mockingbird, northern
- nuthatch, red-breasted
- nuthatch, white breasted
- oriole, Baltimore
- oriole, orchard
- ovenbird
- owl, barred
- pine sisken
- redstart, American
- robin, American
Scarlet tanager at Eagle's Bluff Park, La Crescent
Image - Mary Gegan - sanderling
- sandpiper, pectoral
- sandpiper, spotted
- scarlet tanager
- sparrow, chipping
- sparrow, clay-colored
- sparrow, grasshopper
- sparrow, field
- sparrow, house
- sparrow, savannah
- sparrow, song
- sparrow, swamp
- sparrow, tree
- sparrow, white-crowned
- sparrow, white-throated
- snipe, Wilson
- swallow, barn
- swallow, northern rough-winged
- swallow, tree
- tanager, scarlet
- thrasher, brown
- thrush, Swanson’s
- thrush, wood
- titmouse, tufted
- towhee, Eastern
- vireo, red-eyed
- vireo, yellow-throated
- warbler, bay-breasted
- warbler, black-and-white
- warbler, blackburnian
- warbler, blue-winged
- Warbler, magnolia
- warbler, Nashville
- warbler, palm
- warbler, pine
- warbler, Tennessee
- warbler, yellow
- warbler, yellow-rumped
- warbler, yellow-throated
- waterthrush, Northern
- woodpecker, downy
- woodpecker, hairy
- woodpecker, pileated
- woodpecker, red-bellied
- wren, house
- wren, marsh
- yellow-bellied sapsucker
- yellowthroat
Waterfowl:
- crane, sandhill
- snowy egret
Mergansers - Ely MN - goose, Canada
- Heron, great blue
- loon, common
- merganser, common
- mallard
- yellowlegs, greater
Amphibians/Reptiles:
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| American bullfrog Necedah (WI) National Wildlife Refuge |
- American bullfrog
- boreal chorus frog
- garter snake
- turtle, snapping
Insects:
- butterfly, blue azure
What are YOU seeing on your hikes?
Two weeks of hikes
Hikes below in colored, bold type or underlined have links to previous posts OR descriptions/location of the trails found online
Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, Necedah WI (2); Amnicon Falls State Park, South Range, WI (2); LakeWalk, Duluth MN; Lookout Mountain Laurentian Divide, Superior National Forest MN; Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park, Soudan, MN; Bear Head Lake State Park, Ely, MN; Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI (2); Great River Bluffs State Park, Nodine MN; Vetsch Park, La Crescent, MN; Carley State Park, Plainview, MN; Wagon Wheel Trail, La Crescent MN; Perrot State Park, Trempealeau WI (2)
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| On the Canadian Shield up north Image - Lloyd Lorenz |
The "I Spy on the Trails" column is a phenology (the study of seasonal changes in plants and animals) journal to chronicle year-round the weather, plant life and wildlife I observe while hiking. It is very useful in helping me compare observations from year-to-year. The column is published monthly from September through April and then twice-a-month from May through August when warm weather brings the natural world back to vibrant life.
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| Trillium among the ferns Perrot (WI) State Park |
Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters
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