Well, that was some of the nicest late August weather I've ever experienced. It felt in many ways like late June, albeit a more humid June, with temps in the 70s and 80s for the most part and some clearer skies and decent air quality despite the number of wildfires burning north and out west. Nights cooled and fog and dew were often early morning companions.
With cooler nights, I started some of my hikes later to catch the massive butterfly and bumblebee activity. These cold-blooded insects need the sun to warm them to action. From sunny midmornings on, their presence dominated as they nectared, gathered pollen and, in the case of some butterflies like monarchs, stopped on their southward migration.
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| A russula mushroom with a smiling face on it's stem found by the Jabberwalkers hiking group Image - Andrea Mekkelson |
It is clear the wild plant growth of the last few months is winding down. The variety of forbs and birds slowly decreased this month. The woods displayed more fungi while leaves on trees and bushes began to gray and yellow as cool nights and shorter days signaled chlorophyll production to slow.
The prairies were sporting the whites of flowering spurge, white gentian and boneset and the yellows of goldenrods and sunflowers. Tall grasses leapt up, towering over other forbs. They will do so for the rest of the season. Pops of color from cardinal flowers, blazing stars and great blue lobelias added welcome hues to the palette. I enjoyed re-introducing myself to the goldenrods and testing my identification know-how.
The bum foot is much relieved by a steroid shot so I am looking forward to some bluff hikes for the first time since summer started. With luck I'll be able to tackle some of my favorites for fall leaf-peeping and fungi searching.
See you on the trails!
Plant Observations
Bloomed:
- aster, New England
New England aster - aster, smooth blue
- beeblossom, biennial
- blazing star, rough
- boneset, false
- bouncing bet
- brown-eyed Susan
- bushclover, roundheaded
- buttercup, fewleaf
- cardinal flower
- compass plant
- coneflower, cutleaf
- cucumber, wild
- cup plant
- evening primrose, common
- evening primrose, narrowleaf
- fern, interrupted
- fern, lady
Forget-me-not - fern, maidenhair
- fern, New York
- fern, ostrich
- fern, sensitive
- fleabane, prairie
- forget-me-not
- gentian, white
- goldenrod, Canada
- goldenrod, elmleaf
- goldenrod, giant
- goldenrod, grass-leaved
- goldenrod, Missouri
- goldenrod, showy
- goldenrod, stiff
- goldenrod, tall
- harebell
- hawkbit, autumn
- ironweeed, prairie
- Jerusalem artichoke
- jewelweed
- Joe-Pye weed
- lobelia, great blue
- milkweed, whorled
Field thistle - partridge pea
- poppy mallow, purple
- prairie clover, silky
- puccoon, Carolina (hairy)
- self-heal
- snakecotton, plains for
- snakeroot, white
- sneezeweed
- spurge, flowering
- sunflower, false
- sunflower, hairy
- sunflower, fewleaf
- sunflower, stiff
- sunflower, woodland
- thistle, field
- thistle, milk
- verbena, hoary
- wild bergamot
- wild quinine
- yarrow
- grass, big and little bluestem
The compass plant is one of the few forbs
that can compete in height with the tall grasses - grass, Canada wildrye
- grass, eastern bottlebrush
- grass, purple lovegrass
- grass, sideoats grama
- grass, switchgrass
- grass, yellow indiangrass
Greened/sprouted:
- aster, calico
- aster, white heath
- sagebrush, white
- beebalm, spotted
- blazing star, dwarf
- mint, Virginia mountain
- prairie rose
- rattlesnake master
Moss/Lichen/Fungi
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| Lung oyster mushroom |
- mushroom, artist's conk
- mushroom, Dryad's saddle
- mushroom, lung oyster
- mushroom, russula, powdered
- mushroom, slippery Jack
Wildlife (seen, heard, detected):
Birds
- blackbird, red-winged
- blue jay
- cardinal
- catbird, grey
- cedar waxwing
- chickadee, black-capped
- crane, sandhill
- crow, American
- finch, house
- flicker, northern
- goldfinch, American
American goldfinch - goose, Canada
- hawk, red-shouldered
- hawk, sharp-shinned
- heron, great blue
- killdeer
- kingbird, eastern
- kingfisher, belted
- nuthatch, white-breasted
- phoebe, eastern
- redstart, American
- sparrow, field
- sparrow, house
- sparrow, song
- swallow, barn
- swallow, tree
- titmouse, tufted
- vireo, Bell’s
- vireo, eastern warbling
- vireo, red-eyed
- vireo, yellow-throated
- wood-pewee, eastern
- woodpecker, red-bellied
- wren, northern house
- wren, sedge
- yellowthroat, common
Insects/Arachnids:
- beetle, goldenrod soldier
- bumblebee, black-and- gold
Bee to flower - bumblebee, brown-belted
- bumblebee, common eastern
- bumblebee, lemon cuckoo
- butterfly, admiral, red-spotted
- butterfly, comma, eastern
- butterfly, crescent
- butterfly, frittialry, great spangled
- butterfly, Monarch
- damselfly, tule bluet
- cicada
- crickets
- dragonfly, autumn meadowhawk
- dragonfly, green darner
- dragonfly, twelve spotted skimmer
- dragonfly, widow skimmer
- fly, bee
- fly, tufted globetail,
- grasshopper, red-legged
- spider, common garden
- spider, orb-weaver
- frog, leopard
- turtle, snapping
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); Vetsch Park, La Crescent MN; MacGilvray Seven Bridges, New Amsterdam, WI; Apple Blossom Overlook Park, Winona County, MN; Bluffside Park, Winona MN;
See you on the trails!
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| Leaf miner trail - it starts out small and becomes wider as the insect grows |
The "I Spy on the Trails" column is a phenology (the study of seasonal changes in plants and animals) journal to chronicle the weather, plant life and wildlife I observe while hiking year-round. 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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| Photographing an orb spider's web Image- Jean Hammons |
