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| Foggy morning start on the bluffside Image - Kris Lawson |
September is always a month of transitions. The trees continue to shut down their chlorophyll production and "gray" out more. Their full color change in the Driftless has just begun to hint at the coming colors.
I had the opportunity to go on a couple of Nature School Classrooms guided hikes before my knee conked out on me. The hikes were incredibly inspiring and rich in information. These Nature School opportunities contribute to my annual training hours to maintain my MN Master Naturalist volunteer certification but anyone would benefit.
Fruited:
Mornings and evenings are dewy and often foggy. It's not unusual to hear coyotes barking and baying and barred owl calls are more prominent.
Crickets and grasshoppers dominate the sound scape. Songbirds continue their migration in massive numbers through our area which leaves the mornings to our more permanent resident winter birds.
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| Big bluestem seeds |
The flowers that brightened our hikes have been slowly exhausting their blooms throughout the month. Many forbs that filled the trails at the beginning of the month are now done flowering. A few late asters and the late goldenrods remain. Grasses have set seed as well. The pollinators are few and far between as the forbs go to seed.
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| Purple fairy fingers Burntside Lake, Ely MN |
Mushrooms and other fungi love the cool damp of September and the mycelium network is fruiting everywhere. They have fascinated me throughout the month and given me plenty of time to learn them a little better. A trip up to Minnesota's Arrowhead to the North Shore and Ely introduced me to a number of new-to-me mushrooms and fungi. I love their variety. Many are toxic so I just admire them unless I know what I'm doing - and then, num, chicken of the woods!
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| Guide Nancy introduced me to Kellogg Weaver Dunes |
Weatherwise, our month began with a bit of a nip and then settled into some beautiful 70's weather which then morphed into some sticky humid mid-80s. The second half of the month saw temperatures moderate into a more normal September pattern before turning up the heat to usher the month out. We had a bit of rain here and there during the month before a giant dump of 2-3" in the last full week. Climate change makes for whiplash weather.
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| Sagittarius reflected in Burntside Lake, Ely |
With the autumn equinox now here, our skies darken earlier and on dry, haze-free nights, the star-gazing has been awesome. Orion and Sagittarius are rising, a sure sign of advancing fall and coming winter. The dark skies up in Ely revealed the Milky Way as a bright slash across the sky - a view I miss, living so close to city lights.
It was a slow hiking month after I pulled something in my knee and my doctor suggested I give it a three week rest to see if it would bounce back. I chose gentle, flatter ambling walks and wandered along the edges of woods and prairies while we traveled to catch sight of what I could. Amazingly enough, there was plenty to see even though the hikes were short.
I was very excited to have this blog featured in an article in the Mississippi Valley Conservancy newsletter and website. Big thanks go out to Karen Solverson and Kelly Sultzbach for sharing the story of the blog!
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| At Frontenac State Park Nature School |
They included:
Prairie Walk/Talk - Sea of Grass authors Dave Hagar and Josephine Marcotty hiking prairie trails and sharing their research and writing on prairies and their importance. Frontenac (MN) State Park
Damsel and Dragonflies - Jeff Fischer of the MN Dragonfly Society presented on damsel and dragonflies, delving into the different types of this fascinating onodata insects and their lifecycle before we went into the field to try to capture some (sorry too cold for them!). Frontenac (MN) State Park
There are still plenty of great guided hikes and learning and volunteer opportunities coming up in October. I hope I see you on one.
See you on the trails!
Plant Observations
Flowering/mature plants:
- alyssum, hoary
Dewy white heath aster - aster, blue wood
- aster, calico
- aster, Drummond’s
- aster, hairy
- aster, large-leaved
- aster, silky
- aster, smooth blue
- aster, white heath
- aster, white panicle
- black-eyed Susan
- blazing star, rough
- boneset, false
- buttercup, prairie
- cardinal flower
- cliffbrake, western dwarf
Drug eyebright
Ely MN - compassplant
- coneflower, grey-headed
- everlasting, pearly
- eyebright, drug
- fern, brittle bladder-
- fern, bulblet bladder-
- fern, interrupted
- fern, lady
- fern, northern maidenhair
- fern, sensitive
- fern, spinulose wood
- fern, sweet
- fleabane, prairie
- hawkweed, narrowleaf
- hawkweed, orange
- hawkweed, smooth
- Jerusalem, artichoke
- jewelweed, orange
- jewelweed, yellow
- goldenrod, Canada
- goldenrod, elmleaf
- goldenrod, field
- goldenrod, giant
- goldenrod, gray
- goldenrod, Missouri
Whorled milkweed flower - goldenrod, showy
- goldenrod, stiff
- goldenrod, tall
- goldenrod, zigzag
- milkweed, whorled
- primrose, evening
- snakeroot, white
- spurge, flowering
- sunflower, fewleaf
- sunflower, false
- sunflower, stiff
- tansy, common
- thistle, field
- vervain, blue
- vervain, hoary
- violet, bird’sfoot
- wild bergamot
- wormwood, field
- woundwort, marsh
- yarrow
- bushclover, roundhead
- cinquefoil, tall
- coreopsis, prairie
Goat’s rue, Ely MN - fameflower
- goat's rue
- goldenrod, showy
- Jack-in-the pulpit
- leadplant
- loosestrife, fringed
- milkweed, common
- partridge pea
- Pasqueflower, eastern
- puccoon, hairy (Carolina)
- sagebrush, white
- sweet cecily
- tarragon,
- thimbleweed, cylindrical
Fruited:
- bittersweet, American
- carrionflower, midwestern
- cucumber, wild
Midwestern carrionflower fruit - prairie rose
- Solomon's seal, false
- spikenard, American
Grasses/sedges:
- cattail
- flatsedge, tall
- grass, bluestem big
- grass, bluestem little
- grass, eyelash
- grass, beardless wildrye
- grass, Canada wildrye
- grass, prairie dropseed
- grass, smooth brome
- indiangrass, yellow
- lovegrass, purple
- panicgrass, Scribner’s
- switchgrass
Fungi/moss/lichen:
- cryptobiotic soil crust (cyanobacteria, mosses, lichen, algae, microfungi)
- feathermoss, red-stemmed
- forkmoss, broom
- lichen, eastern specked shield
Chicken of the woods - lichen, hooded sunburst
- lichen, mortar dot
- lichen, orange firedot
- mushroom, amanita, false death cap
- mushroom, artist's conk
- mushroom, blew it
- mushroom, bolete, slippery jack
- mushroom, chicken of the woods
- mushroom, deceiver, purple-gilled
- mushroom, dryad's saddle
- mushroom, fairy fingers, purple
- mushroom, flat oysterling
- mushroom, funnel cup
- mushroom, golden trumpet (fuzzy foot)
- mushroom, honey
- mushroom, inky
- mushroom, lactarius (milkcap)
Stocking webcap mushroom - mushroom, lobster
- mushroom, mycena, orange
- mushroom, oyster
- mushroom, puffball
- mushroom, rosy russula
- mushroom, shaggy mane inky cap
- mushroom, stocking webcap
- mushroom, russula, rosy (bloody brittle gill)
- mushroom, turkey tail
- mushroom, yellow club
Wildlife Observations (seen, heard, detected)
Birds:
Birds:
- blackbird, red-winged
- blue jay
- bluebird, eastern
- cardinal, northern
- cedar waxwing
- chickadee, black-capped
- crow, American
- eagle bald
- finch, house
- goldfinch, American
- grosbeak, rose-breasted
- grouse, ruffed
- hawk, red-tailed
- killdeer
- kingfisher, belted
- lark, horned
- nuthatch, red-breasted
- nuthatch, white-breasted
Palm warbler
Image - Merlin Bird ID - ovenbird
- owl, barred
- pheasant, ring-necked
- raven
- robin, American
- sparrow, house
- sparrow, Lincoln's
- sparrow, savanna
- sparrow, swamp
- sparrow, vesper
- sparrow, white-throated
- thrush, hermit
- thrush, gray-cheeked
- thrush, water
- vireo, red-eyed
- vireo, yellow-throated
- warbler, palm
- warbler, yellow-rumped
- wood pewee, eastern
- woodpecker, hairy
- woodpecker, pileated
- woodpecker, red-bellied
- woodpecker, red-headed
Waterfowl:
- crane, sandhill
- goose, Canada
- heron, great blue
- loon, common
- pelican, American
- teal, blue-winged
- wood duck
Insects/arachnids:
- beetle, end band net-winged
- beetle, goldenrod soldier
Leonard’s skipper butterfly
Image - Kris Lawson - bumblebee, brown-belted
- bumblebee, common eastern
- bumblebee, half-black
- bumblebee, two-spotted
- bumblebee, yellow
- butterfly, clouded yellow
- butterfly, Leonard’s skipper
- butterfly, pearl copper
- butterfly, pearl crescent
- butterfly, regal fritillary
- butterfly, Monarch
- butterfly, mourning cloak
- caterpillar, milkweed tussock moth
- damselfly, tule bluet
- dragonfly, autumn meadowhawk
- dragonfly, green darner
- dragonfly, black saddlebags
What are YOU seeing on your hikes?
A month of hikes
Hikes below in colored, bold type or underlined have links to previous posts OR descriptions/location of the trails found online.
Bluffside Park, Winona MN (2); Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI (2), Frontenac State Park, Old Frontenac MN (2); Weaver Sand Dunes, Kellogg, MN (2); Wagon Wheel Trail, La Crescent MN; Hubbard Hills, Viroqua WI; Riverside Park/Marsh Trails, La Crosse WI (2); Amnicon Falls State Park, Superior WI; Echo Trail Road, Ely, MN; Gunflint Trail Road, Grand Marais, MN; Lytle's Landing, Brice Prairie WI, La Crosse River State Trail, La Crosse WI
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| Undulating sand dunes at Kellogg Weaver Dunes Image -Nola Larson |
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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| What bee is that? Image - Kris Lawson |
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