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| Sweat bee nectaring on a Solomon’s seal blossom |
The rain that started our month has continued off and on during the past two weeks. Some with light sprinkles off and on; some more substantial. We experienced 3" of rain in just two days last week (and up to 6" in some spots) with some tornadoes coming through southeastern MN and southwestern WI. That's almost a month's worth of rain for a typical June in just those two days!
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| Windy climb up Rush Creek Bluff on a TPE guided hike in the 90s |
These weeks also had more wind and much higher dewpoints for more humid days with temps lingering in the 80s. There were also a few extreme heat days with temps in the mid-90s and heat alerts with temps that felt like over 100F. Quite the change from the first two weeks of the month in terms of heat. Tomato plants loved it. Me? Not so much. I will say the winds made some of the hottest/most humid days somewhat hike-worthy so that was a plus!
Plants certainly responded. The forests, trails, prairies and roadsides are lush with growth. Some of my favorite flower friends, like this delicate Deptford pink to the right, seen on MVC's Holland Sand Prairie trails, are beginning to make their appearances. Beautiful hikes are ahead.
Wildlife Observations (seen, heard, detected)
Birds:
Waterfowl:
See you on the trails!
Plant Observations
Flowering/Mature plants:
- alyssum, hoary
- anemone, candle (cylindrical thimbleweed)
- anemone, meadow (Canadian)
- avens, white
- beardtongue, large
- black-eyed Susan
- blacksnakeroot, clustered
- camus, mountain death
Tall cinquefoil
with incoming sweat bee - cinquefoil, tall
- clover, purple prairie
- clover, white prairie
- columbine
- coneflower, purple
- coreopsis prairie
- Deptford pink
- fern, bracken
- fern, bulblet bladder
- fern, lady
- fern, maidenhair
- fern, interrupted
- fern, ostrich
- fleabane, daisy
- fleabane, prairie
- harebell
- hawksbeard, narrowleaf
Indian Paintbrush - honewort, Canadian
- indian paintbrush, scarlet
- leadplant
- lily, wood
- lobelia, palespike
- milkweed, butterfly
- milkweed, common
- milkweed, purple
- milkwort, racemed
- motherwort
- plantain, prairie
- plaintain, wooly
- puccoon, hairy
- puccoon, hoary
Heartleaf skullcap, a new forb for me - rose, prairie
- skullcap, heart-leaf
- Solomon's seal
- skullcap, Leonard’s
- spiderwort, Ohio
- thimbleweed, tall
- yarrow
Sprouts/unbloomed/past bloom:
- alumroot, Richardson's
- anemone, candle
- aster, asomatic
- aster, blue
- aster, western silver
- aster, white panicle
- bergamot, wild
- betony, wood
- blazing star, rough
- boneset, false
- coneflower, grey-headed
Virginia ground cherry, past bloom - compass plant
- Culver's root
- geranium, wild
- germander, American
- goldenrod, Canada
- goldenrod, early
- goldenrod, gray
- goldenrod, prairie
- goldenrod, showy
- goldenrod, stiff
- groundcherry, Virginia
- hyssop, giant yellow
- Jack-in-the-pulpit
- lettuce, Canada
- milkweed, clasping
- milkweed, green comet
- milkweed, whorled
- pussytoes, plantain
- rattlesnakeroot, white
- sagewort, field
- Solomon's seal, false
- spurge, cypress
- sunflower, woodland
- sunflower, hairy
- sunflower, woodland
- verbena, hoary
- violet, birdfoot
- wormwood, field
Grasses/Sedges:
- bluestem, big
Baby big bluestem - bluestem, little
- dropseed, prairie
- grass, prairie blue-eyed (past)
- grass, timothy
- indiangrass
- junegrass, prairie
- needlegrass, porcupine
- panicgrass, broadleaf
- panicgrass, longleaf
- panicgrass, Scribner's
- ryegrass, perennial
- sedge, broom
- wedgegrass, prairie
Fungi/Moss/Lichen:
- moss, American tree
- moss, silvery thread
- moss, waterside feather
Lung oyster mushroom - moss, woodsy thyme
- mushroom, lung oyster
- mushroom, pheasant back (dryad’s saddle)
- mushroom, platterfull
- mushroom, puffball
- mushroom, scarlet elfen cup
Birds:
- blackbird, red-winged
- blue jay
- cardinal, northern
- catbird, gray
- cedar waxwing
- chickadee, black-capped
Dickcissel at Great River Bluffs
(MN) State Park
Image - Susan Otterson - dickcissel
- flycatcher, blue-gray
- flycatcher, great crested
- goldfinch, American
- indigo bunting
- meadowlark, eastern
- meadowlark, western
- nuthatch, white-breasted
- oriole, Baltimore
- oriole, orchard
- ovenbird
- owl, barred
- redstart, American
- robin, American
- sandpiper, upland
- sapsucker, yellow-bellied
- scarlet tanager
- sparrow, chipping
- sparrow, clay-colored
- sparrow, field
- sparrow, house
- sparrow, song
- sparrow, Vesper
- titmouse, tufted
- towhee, eastern
- vireo, Bell's
- vireo, red-eyed
- vireo, yellow-throated
- warbler, yellow
- woodpecker, downy
- woodpecker, hairy
- woodpecker, red-bellied
- wood-pewee, eastern
- wren, house
- yellowthroat, common
Waterfowl:
- Blue heron
- Snowy egret
Reptiles/Amphibians:
- toad, American
Insects:
- beetle, longhorn
Widow skimmer dragonfly - butterfly, monarch
- butterfly, silvery checkerspot
- butterfly, small white
- damselfly, stream bluet
- dragonfly, green darner
- dragonfly saddlebag
- dragonfly, twelve-spotted skimmer
- dragonfly, widow skimmer (male and female)
- fly, crane
- moth, white-striped black
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
Hixon Forest, La Crosse, WI; Bluffside Park, Winona MN; Riverside Park, La Crosse WI (2); Marowsky's Bluff, Ferryville WI; Rush Creek Bluff, Ferryville WI, Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI (2), Vetsch/Stoney Point Park, La Crescent, MN;
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| Leadplant finally blooming |
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.
Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters
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| A part of the small remnant prairie at the Stoney Point overlook of Vetsch Park. |
