Naturalist's Corner - Fungi Fun

A wreath of turkey tails around a stump

Wow! The late summer and early fall woods have been a wonderland of interesting fungi. While the flowers of the prairies and forests are fading, the mushrooms are still popping.

We often hunt for mushrooms for tasty eating. Who can resist a morel, chicken of the woods, chanterelle or lobster mushroom? But there is much to be said for simply delighting in and learning to identify the mycelium network's endless parade of interesting fungal fruit.  

Fruit? Yes, fruit.

Mushrooms and fungi are the fruiting bodies of the vast, intricate mycelium network that stretches underground, often for miles. Mushrooms use enzymes to break down organic material rather than photosynthesis. They are the great decomposers of the earth. The material that is broken down eventually becomes soil. We see that decomposition work in every branch or tree trunk covered in fungi that we pass along the trail. And, if we stay alert on the sides of the trails we hike, there are many delightful fungi to catch the eye.

Looking at the inside stem of
a chanterelle mushroom
on a guided hike

If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend going on a guided hike or two with mushroom experts. They provide great tips on finding and identifying both edible and non-edible fungi. As someone new to mushroom identification, I found these learning experiences really helpful as my eyes got more attuned to fungi finding. Plus I'm lucky to have lots of hiking buddies who share my delight - and much sharper eyes than mine!

As a newbie, I often see a mushroom on the trails that I can't identify. I take photos from different angles and then head home to work on more accurately identifying the fungi. Apps like Picture Mushroom, Shroom ID, Shroomify can help to get a first general ID but can be pricey.  Seek can sometimes come in handy but often can only do a generalized identification.

So I start my real study with Teresa Marrone and Kathy Yerich's field guide, Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest. This guide is small enough to carry in a back pack but I am often hiking at pace and don't have the time to linger. At home, I can take my time to compare my photos and their descriptions to come up with an identification. 

Below are a few of my favorite fungi pictures from the last several months. I hope you keep your eye out for the next few weeks while you're leaf-peeping and see what you can find!

The common but always beautiful 
dryad's saddle or pheasant back mushroom

Jelly tree ear fungus

A herd of orange mycena mushrooms

Fluted elfin saddle mushroom

An intricate wrinkled peach mushroom

Very tiny purple fairy finger mushrooms

Not cheetos, but delicate golden club mushrooms

Chicken of the woods

Dog's nose fungus

Snow jelly fungus

An "old" old-man-of-the-woods

Scarlet waxy cap mushroom

Lung oyster mushroom

Indigo milkcap mushroom

Shaggy mane mushroom going to ink

Purple-gilled laccaria

See you on the trails!

Images - Marge Loch-Wouters

I Spy on the Trails - September 2025

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. 

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. 

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.

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!

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.

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!

At Frontenac State Park
Nature School

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. 

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

Sprouts/past bloom:

• 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:

• 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

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

What bee is that?
Image - Kris Lawson 

Nature School - Frontenac (MN) State Park Association

Many guided hikes begin by the campground
which feature expansive prairies

I can't say enough about the great "Nature School" guided hikes that are put on and/or sponsored by the Frontenac (MN) State Park Association members.  Founded in 1954, this active group supports park projects, stewardship projects (river trail clean-ups, trail maintenance, invasives control) and interpretive programs - and lead a boatload of guided hikes annually. In 2024, the group was named the top Minnesota park friends’ group by the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota, an award that was well-deserved.

I first met four (!!!) of this very active group of volunteers as we trained together to become MN Master Naturalist back in 2022. Each was already a dedicated nature observer - birder, fungi forager, plant aficionado - before we even began the course. They never failed to astound me with their knowledge.  

I've kept in touch with FSPA colleagues by participating in hikes and reading their very entertaining and info-packed monthly newsletter ever since. They also have an outstanding website that builds and expands upon the MN DNR Frontenac State Park website.

Along with the park rangers, FSPA folks offer informational, hands-on (or eyes-on) guided hikes and events throughout most of the year. There are twice-monthly bird spotting hikes, seasonal fungi-finding hikes, weekly nature observation hikes in the summer, ranger-led hikes and festive celebrations to help you learn more about this most beautiful state park overlooking Lake Pepin. 

If you are a regular reader of the blog's monthly "Let's Get Hiking and Learning" series, you have no doubt seen their many learning opportunities.

Here are three (of the many available) free hiking classrooms I have participated in at Frontenac State Park with a typical guided hike description in italics. I give all the teachers and the content A+

Bruce Ause shows a bluebird house

Saturday Morning Walk Naturalist Walk; 

 - mornings throughout the summer

Take a short, guided hike along trails through the upland area of the park discover a variety of natural features along the way. Binoculars and cameras are nice accessories, but not necessary. The hike will last about an hour.  Bruce’s walks are by far our most popular offering. Come see why! 

Bruce Ause, a volunteer naturalist and retired Director of the Environmental Learning Center in Red Wing, MN for 30 years, leads these weekly hikes. He is a knowledgeable naturalist and has a way of engaging both kids and adults in his weekly hikes. A slow pace and his sharp eyes reveal and celebrate plants, trees, wildlife and weather along the trail.  Bruce also writes a blog, Wacouta Nature Notes that notes natural changes and times in SE MN.

Eastern bluebirds
Image -Steve Dietz

Bird Observation Walks         

 - mornings, once or twice a month, most of the year

Walk through a mixed habitat of prairie and woodland looking for nesting birds that specialize in these areas, including Baltimore Orioles and perhaps some Orchard Orioles as well as Eastern Bluebirds, Clay-colored Sparrows and up to 6 species of woodpeckers. The trail is mowed grass and is well maintained. Bring your binoculars or borrow some from the park office. 
Janet Malotky and Steve Dietz, two MN Master Naturalist volunteers, have the eyes and ears of the best birders. A slow pace, gentle guidance and sharp knowledge combine to help you spot and learn to identify the many birds along the way. But not only that, they are both fonts of information on the birds' behavior and habitat. Having these two as your guides is worth silver and gold. Both contribute great content in the FSPA's monthly newsletter.

Chanterelles on the trail
Image - Pamela Miller

Fungi Walks           

 - mornings, 2-4 times a year, spring through fall

Join a walk to talk about fungi that grow in the park in mid-summer. Summer mushrooms include chanterelles and chicken of the woods. We'll talk about their relationships with trees and weather, and MAYBE we'll find some; edible mushrooms are elusive and fickle, but what you learn on the hike may help you find some later. 

Pamela Miller is my inspiration as a fungi forager. Her guided hikes suggest the possibility of finding fungi but also Pamela shares information on how to improve your chances of finding them; safety tips and a warm and inviting presence.  She has fascinating stories about each variety and its characteristics. I first started learning from her in our Master Naturalist class and have followed her ever since on FB as she chronicles her many ambles in the woods looking for all the mycelium network's fruits. A retired journalist, she is also the able editor of the FSPA lovely and informative monthly newsletter. 

Pamela Miller sharing fungi hunting tips

Check out their August hikes and events here.  And if you want to support their work or become active yourself, membership in this dynamic group is open to anyone. 

If you are looking for an opportunity to learn in a beautiful location as you hike along the trails of Frontenac park, this Nature School is top flight. Hope you take the time to join them! 

Nature School is what I like to call the guided hikes I go on when I’ve a mind to learn more about the natural world and to fulfill my required training hours to maintain my annual Master Naturalist volunteer certification. The Nature School series highlights parks, organizations and groups that provide free or low-cost guided learning experiences while hiking. The Driftless area of MN, WI and IA is rich in dedicated biologists, naturalists and citizen scientists who share their knowledge, passion and expertise. By doing so, they help hikers of all ages better understand our natural world. It’s always a delight to attend their “schools.”

Check out additional Nature School posts:

• Going to Nature School - Guided Hikes
• Natural Resources Foundation of WI
• Friends of the Blufflands
• Mississippi Valley Conservancy
• Coulee Region Audubon Society

Showy orchis
Frontenac (MN) State Park

Images, unless noted -Marge Loch-Wouters

Going to Nature School - Guided Hikes

A friend recently sent me this meme and I had to laugh. Substitute “naturalist” for “botanists” and you have me. I am notoriously slow while hiking, looking for all the goodies nature shares on each hike in every season.

It wasn’t always like this.

When I first started hiking many decades ago, "getting there" was the point for me. Exercise and hauling out on the trails were the means and the ends. I heard the birds - but didn't hear them. I saw the flowers/fungi  - but didn't see them. I noticed geological features - but didn't notice them.

The Driftless Drifters hiking group

Joining my first hiking group after retirement introduced me to many people who hiked with an eye and ear to the surrounding forests and prairies. They identified bird songs, trees, flowers, fungi, leaves, insects and other natural phenomena. 

That slowed me down and helped me begin to put the puzzle of nature and her interconnectedness together. Hikes were no longer important for aerobics and how fast I could get somewhere but for what was on the trailsides, woods, sky and prairies. Learning to notice and identify what I saw and heard became my focus, Becoming a MN Master Naturalist volunteer jumpstarted my learning in earnest but by no means ended it.

One of the ways I have continued to strengthen my knowledge is by “going to nature school” or more simply, participating in guided or interpretive hikes. I found many opportunities for free, or reasonably priced, guided hikes offered by organizations like the Mississippi Valley Conservancy, The Prairie Enthusiasts, Iowisota Nature Education Center, Friends of the Blufflands, The Natural Resource Foundation of WI, and other local and regional nature centers, state parks, trail associations and outdoor organizations. 

Jon Rigden sharing Hixon prairies info

Each hike, led by knowledgeable naturalists, biologists, impassioned enthusiasts and scientists, has been invaluable in slowing me down and helping me understand more about nature, ecosystems, plant, fungi, bird and insect identification and geology as we have walked along. The hikes have also given me deeper insight into the history of the land and the great work that goes on to preserve, maintain and enhance these precious natural areas. It’s the best and easiest kind of hands-on learning.

Brown-belted bumblebee

Not only that, the participants in the hikes - birders, botanists, fungi-hunters, forb-pro’s, insect masters - also share their expertise as we walk along. It's a great way to learn by doing and seeing and having the luxury to ask questions and have curiosity piqued or satisfied.

The hikes are so valuable that I began my monthly Let's Get Hiking and Learning column, listing learning and guided hiking opportunities available to all of us in the Driftless area. We're fortunate to live in the MN-WI-IA tri-state area so we can take advantage of these Driftless offers. But I know that, no matter where you live, there are opportunities to learn within an hour’s drive for you.

Learning about karst sinkholes

In the interest of inspiring all of us to take a guided hike and learn even more deeply about the nature we hike through, I will be sharing some of the "nature school" hikes I've been on in coming weeks. It will give me a chance to highlight not just what these hikes are like but shine a bright light on the organizations that sponsor these hikes so you feel comfortable participating too!

Join me at "nature school" and let’s learn together. 

See you on the trails!

Check out additional Nature School posts:

• Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin
• Frontenac (MN) State Park Association
• Friends of the Blufflands
• Mississippi Valley Conservancy
• Coulee Region Audubon Society

Nature School is what I like to call the guided hikes I go on when I’ve a mind to learn more about the natural world and to fulfill my required training hours to maintain my annual Master Naturalist volunteer certification. The Nature School series highlights parks, organizations and groups that provide free or low-cost guided learning experiences while hiking. The Driftless area of MN, WI and IA is rich in dedicated biologists, naturalists and citizen scientists who share their knowledge, passion and expertise. By doing so, they help hikers of all ages better understand our natural world. It’s always a delight to attend their “schools.”

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

 

I Spy on the Trails - May 16-31, 2025

Yellow lady-slipper
Bass Hollow (WI) SNA

Not that I get stuck on the weather...

...but I get stuck on the weather! In these unusual climate-change-fueled times, it's hard not to be aware of how far off the norm we get each month. 

After a warm start to May, our second half swung cooler - and downright cold some days. We had an average of 50-60s for daytime temps most days, all redeemed by gorgeous weather in the 70s Memorial Day weekend (now THAT's unusual!). 

We also had four days of good rain. How do I know? Those are my days to catch up on volunteer work, blogging, reading, cooking, cleaning and other home-ly inside tasks and fun. I welcome them because, if it's nice, I'm on the trails, pursuing fleeting ephemerals, migrating birds and anything else nature has to offer. 

The two weeks ended with an air quality alert because of smoke from Canadian wildfires affecting southeast MN along with other northern tier states. If you see haze from fire far off, that same air surrounds you as well. If you do go outdoors on the trails, wear a mask to protect your lungs. You can read about hiking and wildfires here.

Now, what have I been spying as I hike….

Nothing but green!
South Park, Houston MN

The woods and prairies are bursting with wildflowers. Trails are once again shaded. The forest floors are lush with the expansive greens of ferns, mosses and multiple leafy forbs like snakeroot, sweet cecily  - and poison ivy and nettles (so the cooler temps keeping me in long sleeves and pants are welcome).

The prairies are beginning to put on a real show. I'll be sharing some of my favorite prairie hikes next week.

I've especially appreciated spending time the last two weeks on two spring-burned prairies to revel in the vigorous growth popping up so quickly after the burns. Holland Sand Prairie has wild lupine, hoary puccoons, prairie smoke and groundsel galore in the newly burned areas. 

Leonard's skullcap
Brownsville Bluff (MN)

Brownsville Bluff (hiked with permission and accompanied by co-owner Laurie Arzaga) has scads of Leonard's Skullcap flowers populating the newly burned area along with many violet wood-sorrels. On the way to the newly growing burned area, we were surrounded by hoary puccoons and delicate prairie blue-eyed grass and yellow star grass. 

Finally, I spent a fair amount of time during these two weeks doing our own tame-gardening work around the house - putting in herb and veggie gardens, cleaning up weeds, trimming overambitious  native plants in the gardens and laying down 8 yards of mulch. I always consider these tasks my Ent-wife work and, though it needs doing, it's hard to give up my Entish trail days in the wild.

I hope you can head out before the real heat hits and fades the last of woody ephemerals. See you on the trails!

Plant Observations
Flowering/Mature plants:

• alyssum, hoary
• anemone, Canadian
• anemone, candle (tall) 
• anemone, rue
• anemone, wood

  

  Bear corn fungi

• bear corn
• bittercress, Pennsylvania
• bladderfern, bulblet
• bladderfern, lowland
• bluebells, Virginia
• buttercup, bristly
• buttercup, hooked
• buttercup, little leaf
• cecily, sweet
• cinquefoil common
• cheatgrass
• cliffbrake
• cohosh, blue
• columbine
• cutleaf sawtooth
• dewberry, northern
• fern, bracken

  

  Silvery glade fern
  Parfrey’s Glen SNA

• fern, goldie's wood
• fern, intermediate wood
• fern, interrupted
• fern, lady
• fern, maidenhair
• fern, marginal wood
• fern, marsh
• fern ostrich
• fern, rattlesnake
• fern, rockcap
• fern, sensitive
• fern, silvery glade
• fern, Spinulose wood
• fleabane Philadelphia 
• fleabane, prairie
• geranium, wild
• golden Alexander
• grass, prairie blue-eyed

  

  Yellow star-grass
  Brownsville Bluff
  
  

• grass, yellow star 
• ground cherry
• groundsel, prairie
• harebell
• horsetail
• Jack-in-the-pulpit
• indigo, wild cream
• lady-slipper, yellow
• lupine, wild
• mayapple
• mayflower, Canada
• miterwort, two-leaf (bishop's cap)
• orchid, rattlesnake plaintain

  

  Showy orchis
  Frontenac State Park

• orchid, showy
• panicgrass, Scribner's
• phlox
• plantain, Robin's
• prairie smoke
• puccoon, fringed
• puccoon, hoary
• pussytoes, field
• pussytoes, Parlin's
• ramps
• raspberrry, dwarf
• rockcress, lyreleaf
• rockcress, smooth
• rose, multiflora
• rue, early meadow
• rue, woodland
• saxifrage, swamp

  

  Lyreleaf rockcress and harebells
  Image - Kris Lawson

• sedge, eastern rough
• sedge, eastern star
• sedge, Pennsylvania
• sedge, seersucker
• skullcap, Leonard's
• skunk cabbage
• rattlesnake root, clustered black
• Solomen's seal
• Solomen's seal, false
• sorrel, sheep
• sorrel, violet, wood
• spurge, flowering
• spurge, leafy
• spiderwort
• spring beauty
• squirrel corn
• starflower
• sweet cecily
• thimbleweed, tall
• toadflax, bastard
• toothwort, cutleaf
• trillium, nodding (wake-robin)

  

  Bloody butcher trillium
  Eagles Bluff Park

• trillium, prairie (bloody butcher)
• trillium, white
• trout lily, white 
• violet, American dog
• violet, birdfoot
• violet, wood
• violet, yellow forest
• waterleaf, Virginia
• wild geranium
• wild ginger
• wild sasparilla 
• strawberry, wild
• wintercress, common
• wood betony

Sprouts/unbloomed/past bloom:

• alumroot, American
• aster, large-leaf
• aster, silky
• beardtongue (penstmon)
• bloodroot
• carrionflower, greenbrier
• camus, death
• cinquefoil, sulphuric
• cinquefoil, tall
• coneflower, purple
• coreopsis, prairie (stiff tickseeed)
• Dutchman's breeches
• four o’clock, wild
  

  

  Frog orchid
  Brownsville Bluff

• goldenrod, Canada
• goldenrod, showy
• goldenrod, stiff
• goldenrod, zigzag
• hepatica, sharp-lobed
• jewelweed
• leadplant
• lily, wood,
• milkweed, common
• milkweek, green
• milkweed, whorled
• monkshood, northern blue
• orchid, frog
• rattlesnakeroot, white
• sagebrush, white
• sunflower, few-leaf
• verbena, hoary
• wormwood, field
• yarrow

Fungi/Moss/Lichen:

• fungi, bear's corn
• fungi, witch’s butter
• liverwort, great scented
  

  

  Witch's butter fungi
  Bass Hollow SNA

• moss, delicate fern
• moss, hair
• moss, haircap
• moss, juniper haircap
• spleenwort, ebony
• thyme-moss, woodsy
• mushroom, hexagonal polypore
• mushroom, oyster
• mushroom, pheasantback  (dryad's saddle)
• mushroom, scarlet elfin cap 
• mushroom, spring polypore
• mushroom, violet-toothed polypore

Wildlife Observations (seen, heard, detected)

Birds:

• bluejay
• cardinal, northern
• cedar waxwing
• chickadee, black-capped
• cowbird, brown-headed
• cuckoo, yellow-billed
• flycatcher, Arcadian
• flycatcher, blue-gray
• flycatcher, great crested
• flycatcher, least
• goldfinch, American
• grosbeak, rose-breasted
• Indigo bunting
• mockingbird, northern 
• nuthatch, white-breasted
• oriole, Baltimore
• oriole, orchard
• ovenbird
• pewee, eastern wood
• redstart, American
• robin, American 
• sparrow, chipping
• sparrow, clay-colored

  

  Baltimore oriole
  Frontenac State Park

• sparrow, field
• sparrow, song
• swallow, barn
• tanager, scarlet
• thrasher, brown
• thrush, wood
• titmouse, tufted
• towhee, eastern
• vireo, Bell’s
• vireo, blue-headed
• vireo, red-eyed
• vireo, warbling
• vireo, yellow-throated
• warbler, black-and-white
• warbler, blackpoll
• warbler, blue-winged
• warbler, Tennessee
• warbler, yellow
• wild turkey
• woodpecker, downy
• woodpecker, hairy
• woodpecker, red-bellied
• wren, Carolina
• wren, house
• yellow-bellied sapsucker
• yellow- billed cuckoo
• Vireo, Bell’s
• vireo, blue-headed
• vireo, red-eyed
• vireo, yellow-throated
• yellowthroat, common

Waterfowl:

• Canada goose
• egret, snowy
• heron, great blue
• mallard
• pelican
• swan, trumpeter on her nest

Amphibians/Reptiles:

Wood frog
Image- Kevin Gilmartin

• timber rattlesnake
• wood frog

Insects:

Honeybees

• bee, honey
• butterfly, blue azure
• butterfly, eastern swallowtail
• butterfly, monarch
• butterfly, mourning cloak
• grasshopper, green-legged spur-throated

What are YOU seeing on your hikes?

 

Bass Hollow SNA

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

Bass Hollow State Natural Area, Mauston WI; Frontenac State Park, Frontenac MN; Eagle's Bluff Park, La Crescent MN; Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI (2); Duck Egg County Forest, Vernon Co (WI), Brownsville Bluff, Brownsville MN; South Park, Houston, MN, Devil's Lake Park, Baraboo WI; Parfrey's Glen SNA, Baraboo WI; Abelman's Gorge, Rock Spring, WI

Parfrey’s Glen
Image - a sister hiker

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.

Ancient sand ripples in quartzite
Abelman’s Gorge SNA

Images, unless noted -Marge Loch-Wouters