 |
| Margined calligrapher fly on a grooved flax |
I felt like we were on a cycle of "rinse and repeat" as we slide our way to August. These last weeks perfectly mirrored the first two weeks. High heat (80s and 90s) and humidity mixed in with an 2.5-3" of occasional rain - and a last blast of storms at the end of the month. Throw in a week of wildfire-fueled, very poor air quality days, some brutal heat-advisory days, a ton of mosquitoes - and BOOM - that's our weather during all of July.
What are YOU seeing on your hikes?
Thankfully, we had two really gorgeous low-humidity days to provide a way too brief relief. So, as you can imagine, very early mornings were my hiking jam the past two weeks.
 |
| Yep, it's a chantarelle! |
I did a couple of guided "nature school" hikes in late morning/early afternoon high 80s weekend heat. I didn't melt and the information was worth the sweat! Two were guided fungi hikes and the shaded summer woods are full of some tasty - and nasty - delights. I am feeling more confident in the identification of some of our hidden fungi gems thanks to my patient and knowledgeable guides!
 |
| Sugar Creek Bluff (WI) SNA prairie |
On the prairies, bergamot, spotted beebalm, flowering spurge, partridge pea, poppy mallow, and hoary vervain are in their glory.
The following flowers are fading or beginning to set seed: prairie coreopsis, purple and white prairie clover, hoary alyssum, leadplant, tall cinquefoil, purple and grey-headed coneflower, butterfly milkweed, many of the early sunflowers. They were still going these past two weeks but are clearly on their decline.
Coming up: white heath aster, blazing stars, boneset and goldenrods are ready in the wings, waiting to bedazzle your eyes!
 |
| Black-and-gold bumblebee Image - Margaret Mills |
It has also been fascinating these two weeks to see the number of pollen-gathering bumblebees and nectaring butterflies on blossoms of bergamot, coneflowers, partridge peas - and asphalt and animal dung. There are also many hunting dragonflies and damselflies skidding through the sky or silently perched on stalks of grass and leaves. It's given me a chance to practice my slow, silent stalking skills to get closer to identify these insects and take pictures.
Although yesterday, on the very last day of the month, my chances exploded when I learned to go out early while they are slow. I identified the following bumblebees: lemon cuckoo, two-spotted, brown-belted, common eastern, tricolored, and confusing - all in 5 minutes. Wowser!
I hope you are finding time to get out, especially in our prairies. If you are, I'll see you on the trails!
Plant Observations
Flowering/mature plants:
- agrimony, tall hairy
One false boneset flower -
and a mayfly! - alyssum, hoary
- anise hyssop
- aster, white heath
- bee balm, spotted
- bergamot, wild
- black-eyed Susan
- blazing star, dwarf
- blazing star, prairie
- false boneset
- chicory
- cinquefoil, sulphur
- cinquefoil, tall
- clover, purple prairie
- clover, white prairie
- compass plant
- coneflower, grey-headed
- coneflower, purple
- coreopsis, prairie
- Culver's root
- cup plant
- Deptford pink
- fern, bitter bladder
So many spotted beebalm - fern, interrupted
- fern, lady
- fern, maidenhair
- fern, sensitive
- fleabane, prairie
- flax, grooved
- germander, American
- goldenrod, early
- goldenrod, stiff
- goldenrod, wrinkleleaf
- harebell
- hoary vervain
- Joe-Pye weed
- leadplant
- milkweed, butterfly
- milkweed, common
- milkweed, whorled
- mint, Virginia mountain
- partridge pea
- poppy mallow, purple
- puccoon, hairy
- pagoda plant, hairy
- primrose, common evening
St. John's wort - rose, prairie
- self-heal'snakeroot, white
- spiderwort, Ohio
- spurge, flowering
- St. John’s wort
- sunflower, false
- sunflower, few-leaf
- sunflower, hairy
- sunflower, showy
- sunflower stiff
- sunflower, tall
- sunflower, woodland
- toad flax, yellow (butter and eggs)
- vervain, blue
- vervain, hoary
- yarrow
Sprouts/unbloomed/past bloom:
- blazing star, rough
A spent coneflower - boneset, false
- bushclover, roundhead
- cactus, prickly pear
- goldenrod, Canada
- goldenrod, giant
- goldenrod, showy
- goldenrod, stiff
- goldenrod, tall
- goldenrod, wrinkleleaf
- indigo, white wild
- sagebrush, white
- snakeroot, white
- sunflower, woodland
- thimbleweed, cylindrical
- thimbleweed, tall
- wormwood, field
Grasses/Sedges:
- grass, alfalfa
Bedewed Indian grass
on a foggy morning - grass, big bluestem
- grass, little bluestem
- grass, bottle-brush
- grass, Canada wildrye
- grass, little bluestem
- grass, sideoats grama
- grass, smooth brome
- indiangrass
- switchgrass
Fungi/Moss/Lichen:
- fungi, coral-tipped merulius
- fungi, crown-tipped coral
Milk-cap mushroom - fungi, white coral jelly
- fungi, white jelly
- mushroom, artist's conk
- mushroom, red russula
- mushroom, chanterelle
- mushroom, Dryad's saddle
- mushroom, false turkey tail
- mushroom, flat oysterling
- mushroom, golden oyster
- mushroom, milk-cap
- mushroom, lobster
- mushroom, lung oyster
- mushroom, meadow
- mushroom, old man of the woods
- mushroom, oyster
- mushroom pintail
- mushroom, two-color bolete
Wildlife Observations (seen, heard, detected)
Birds:
Birds:
- blackbird, red-winged
- bluebird, eastern
- cardinal, northern
Eastern kingbird
Image - Frank Lehman, Merlin Bird ID - catbird, gray
- cedar waxwing
- chickadee, black-capped
- cow-bird, brown-headed
- crow, American
- dickcissel
- eagle, bald
- finch, house
- flicker, northern
- flycatcher, great crested
- gnatcatcher, blue-gray
- goldfinch, American
- hummingbird, ruby-throated
- hawk, red-tailed
- indigo bunting
- killdeer
- kingbird, eastern
- lark, horned
- nuthatch, red-breasted
- nuthatch, white-breasted
- oriole, orchard
- redstart, American
- robin, American
- sparrow, chipping
- sparrow, clay-colored
- sparrow, field
- sparrow, house
- sparrow, song
- sparrow, Vesper's
- starling, European
Tree Swallow
Image - Lorri Howski, Merlin Bird ID - swallow, barn
- swallow, cliff
- swallow, tree
- swift, chimney
- tanager, scarlet
- thrasher, brown
- thrush, wood
- titmouse, tufted
- towhee, eastern
- vireo, Bell's
- vireo, red-eyed
- vireo, yellow-throated
- warbler, yellow
- woodpecker, downy
- woodpecker, hairy
- woodpecker, red-headed
- wood-pewee, eastern
- wren, Carolina
- wren, house
- yellowthroat, common
Waterfowl:
 |
| Timber rattlesnake |
- egret, snowy
- goose, Canada
- pelican, American
- swan, trumpeter
Reptiles/Amphibians:
- frog, leopard
- timber rattlesnake
Insects/arachnids:
- assassin bug, pale green
- bumblebee, black-and-gold
- bumblebee, brown-belted
- bumblebee, common eastern
- bumblebee, confusing
- bumblebee, half black
- bumblebee, lemon cuckoo
- bumblebee, tricolor
- bumblebee, two-spotted
Northern crescent butterflies - butterfly, admiral, red-spotted
- butterfly, buckeye
- butterfly monarch
- butterfly, northern crescent
- cicada
- damselfly, forktail
- damselfly, tule bluet
- dragonfly, eastern amberwing
- dragonfly, Halloween pennant
- dragonfly, twelve-spotted skimmer
- dragonfly, widow skimmer
- spider, white banded crab
- wasp, great golden digger
 |
| Lemon cuckoo bumblebee |
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
Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Visitor's Center, Brice Prairie WI; Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI (2); Yellow River State Forest, Harper's Ferry IA; Hogback Prairies SNA, Crawford County WI; Vetsch Park, La Crescent, MN; Sugar Creek Bluff, Ferryville WI; Frontenac State Park, Frontenac MN; Bluffside Park, Winona MN
 |
| View of the Mississippi River from Yellow River (IA) State Forest prairie |
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.
 |
| A foggy morning at Holland Sand Prairie |
Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters
No comments:
Post a Comment