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| Twin Springs Trail, Decorah IA |
I spent a quieter two weeks waiting for a steroid shot to kick in on the bum foot. Shorter, slower and flatter hikes were my jam. While going slow didn't get me far, it gave me lots of time to linger and observe dragon- and damselflies, bumblebees, butterflies and oh so many flowers and fungi!
Our mornings are already starting to be dewy and foggy and we received a bit of rain throughout these two weeks. Temperatures were a seasonal high 70s and 80s. Humidity was variable. My goal was getting out early before the heat piled on, so mosquitoes and I made some acquaintance on the trails!
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| Pre-emergent dog-day cicada nymph Note the split starting at the head |
The most fun day of hiking brought a friend and me to three spots in Decorah IA: Butterfly Garden and Community Prairie; Twin Springs Park and Malanaphy Springs. We clocked in with 4 miles on flat and some rolling trails over the course of the morning and early afternoon. It was great to stretch out a bit more to test my foot and we saw amazing sights at each trail. Seeing a pre-emergent dog-day cicada nymph casing (note the split in the back where the adult emerges) was the best!
On the learning front, I give a huge shout-out to the Friends of Houston (MN) Nature Center. They sponsorsed an outstanding talk by Dan Jackson about the characteristics and life cycle of dragon- and damselflies. I learned a ton. They also developed a great informational display at the center on these fascinating members of the odonata order.
Hope you can take advantage of the many learning opportunities like this in the Driftless. They'll enrich your time on the trails!
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| Can you spot the common green darner dragonfly? |
Plant Observations
Bloomed:
- alyssum, hoary
Spotted bee balm with
brown-belted bumblebee - beebalm, spotted
- bellflower, American
- black-eyed Susan
- blazing star, dwarf (or cylindrical)
- blazing star, meadow
- blazing star, prairie
- Blazing star, rough
- boneset, false
- boneset, tall
- buttercup, water
- catnip
- cinquefoil, tall
- clover, purple prairie
- clover, silky prairie
- clover, white prairie
- compassplant
- coneflower, cutleaf
- coneflower, grey-headed
Compassplant - coneflower, sweet
- coreopsis, prairie
- cupplant
- Culver’s root
- fern, bracken
- fern, bulblet bladderfern
- fern, interrupted
- fern, lady
- fern, New York
- fern, northern maidenhair
- flax, grooved
- fleabane, prairie
- germander, American
- goldenrod, Canada
- goldenrod, early
Joe-Pye weed - goldenrog, giant
- goldenrod, gray
- goldenrod, Missouri
- goldenrod, tall
- goldenrod, white flat-topped
- harebell
- indigo, wild white
- ironweed, prairie
- jewelweed
- Joe-Pye weed, sweet
- leafcup, small-flowered
- milkweed, butterfly weed
- milkweed, common
- milkweed, whorled
- mint, slender mountain
Plains snakecotton
(a first for me!) - mint, Virginia mountain
- onion, nodding
- partridge pea
- poppy mallow, purple
- primrose, evening
- snakecotton, plains
- snakeroot, white
- spurge, flowering
- sunflower, false
- sunflower, few-leaf
- sunflower, stiff
- sunflower, western (few-leaf)
- primrose, evening
- rattlesnake master
- vervain, blue
- wild bergamot
- wild quinine
Grasses/sedges:
- grass, big and little bluestem
Purple lovegrass and
little blueste
- grass, bottlebrush
- grass, Canada wild rye
- grass, purple lovegrass
- grass, side oats grama
- grass, switchgrass
- grass, Virginia wild rye
- grass, yellow indiangrass
- sedge, white bear
Greened/sprouted:
- artichoke, Jerusalem
- aster, white heath
Field thistle,
a native forb - bushclover, roundheaded
- blazing star, rough
- goldenrod, showy
- goldenrod, stiff
- sagebrush, white
- sunflower, stiff
- thistle, field
Fruited/Past bloom:
- coreopsis, prairie
- leadplant
- St. John’s wort
Moss/Lichen/Fungi
- fungi, crowded parchment
Green cheese polypore mushroom - fungi, white jelly
- fungi, wolf’s milk slime mold
- moss, woodsy thymemoss
- mushroom, artist’s conk
- mushroom, fuzzy foot
- mushroom, golden oyster
- mushroom, green cheese polypore
- mushroom, hexagonal polypore
- mushroom, russula, blood red
- mushroom, russula, pocket-stalked
- mushroom, scarlet elfin cup
- mushroom, slippery Jack
- mushroom, sweetbread
Wildlife (seen, heard, detected):
Birds
- blue jay
- bluebird, eastern
- cardinal
- catbird, grey
- cedar waxwing
- chickadee, black-capped
- dickcissel
- finch, house
- finch, purple
- flycatcher, least
- gnatcatcher, bluegray
Bell's vireo
Image - Jonathan Irons
Merlin Bird ID - goldfinch, American
- goose, Canada
- hawk, red-tailed
- indigo bunting
- killdeer
- kingbird, eastern
- mourning dove
- sparrow, clay-colored
- sparrow, field
- sparrow, house
- sparrow, savannah
- sparrow, song
- sparrow, swamp
- vireo, Bell's
- vulture
- warbler, northern yellow
- wood-pewee, eastern
- woodpecker, downy
- woodpecker, hairy
- wren, northern house
- wren, sedge
- yellow throat, common
Insects:
- beetle, goldenrod soldier
- bumblebee, black-and-gold
- bumblebee, brown-belted
- bumblebee, common eastern
- bumblebee, lemon cuckoo
- butterfly, eastern tailed-blue
Eastern tailed-blue butterfly
(another first for me!) - butterfly, Monarch
- butterfly, northern crescent
- butterfly, painted lady
- butterfly, red admiral
- butterfly, silver-spotted skimmer
- butterfly, swallowtail, black
- butterfly, swallowtail, tiger
- cicada, dog-day nymph
- damselfly, tule bluet
- damselfly, white-legged
- dragonfly, autumn meadowhawk
- dragonfly, eastern amberwing
- dragonfly, eastern pondhawk
- dragonfly, green darner
- dragonfly, twelve spotted skimmer
- dragonfly, widow skimmer
- grasshopper, red-legged
- wasp, great black digger
Hikes below in colored, bold type or underlined have links to previous posts OR descriptions and/or location of the trails found online.
Holland Sand Prairie, Holman WI (2); Twin Springs, Decorah IA; Butterfly Garden and Community Prairie, Decorah IA; Malanaphy Springs, Decorah IA; Upper Mississippi National Wildlife & Fish Refuge Visitor's Center, Brice Prairie; Great River Bluffs State Park, Nodine MN
See you on the trails!
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| Rock formation Malanaohy Springs trail, Decorah IA |
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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Primo prairie time, mosquito-free! |
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