What Do You See? Field ID Tips - Part 1

Using Your Senses

In this three-part series, I'll explore ways you can increase your observation mojo and resources to help you in identifying what you see as you hike.

Birches in summer

While I'm a certified MN Master Naturalist volunteer, that doesn't mean I know ALL.THE.THINGS. It just means that I am willing to be a life-long learner in the natural world. Part of that learning goes on while I am on the trails during my various weekly hiking adventures. As the seasons turn and various flora and fauna go through their life cycles and nesting cycles, my eyes and ears are attuned to what I'm seeing and hearing.

The challenge for me, as well as for many of us, is figuring out exactly what I am seeing and hearing. You would think I would know every natural thing I see (and have seen) by now. But I don't. I'm STILL learning, as many of you are.

My slowly growing knowledge over the past four years is generalist in nature. I don't know it all but I learn bit by bit. First it was wildflowers; then ferns; then fungi, then rocks; then grasses; then bumblebees; then birdsong; then butterflies; and now dragon-and damselflies and trees.  Once I am comfortable with one form of plant, insect, rock or wildlife, I add another component to my generalist identification tookit that I want to explore.

So how do we get to know all the fascinating creatures and plant growth we encounter in our hiking? 

Here are a few thoughts and resources to get you started.

Start with What You Know

Maybe you are familiar with a few flowers. Make flowers your first focus as you begin to identify along the trail. Don't try to figure out all the things. Instead, consider it a conversation that you are having with nature. The more time you spend, with her the more you will get to know her.

Slow Down

Consider decreasing your speed and be ready to stop and really look at what catches your eye. When you slow, you often see things that you might have passed by before that open up a world of inquiry.

Look Widely

Take the time to observe both to your sides and above you as you hike. That's the first step, as it were, to to noticing what's on offer.

Harvestman on interruped fern

Look Closely

When something catches your eye, stop and observe it at close range. Whether it's a bug, the shape of leaf or petal, an insect, fungi or a gall, taking the time to really see can be your first step towards identification.

Look Even More Closely

Study the stems, petal number and shape, height, proliferation, color and other details of flowers. Note markings on insects and wildlife. Many of these small clues help you towards more exact identification.

Use Other Senses

Using caution and good sense, feel the stem, the mushroom top, the petal. See what you discover. Use your sense of smell to learn to identify particular plants. Listen closely to bird song and calls and you will begin to pick out and learn them. 

Hike with Curious Friends

More eyes produce more discoveries! Countless times on the trail someone spots something interesting that I have completely missed. Friends also alert me to the appearance of favorite flora, fauna and fungi they’ve seen on their hikes so I can head out to see them too. And best of all, as they share their nature expertise, I learn from them and sharpen my skills.

Take a Photo

Don't be afraid to capture the particualr quality that you caught your eye for later study or identification - or just to remind you of the wonder you've found. These photos and use of phone ID apps can be a huge help on the trail (see Part 2).

Carry a Notebook

Or make notes on your phone. Note your observations including identifying charateristics as well as sun exposure and direction that a plant is facing. What other plants are nearby that may give you clues to similar growth needs? Note the ecosystem as well. 

Tuck in a Field Guide

You can't carry all the things all the time, but take one light wildflower or bird guide in spring; a mushroom book in fall or one prairie plant ID book in summer. Nothing beats field identification (see Part 3).

Learning about native bees
Friends of the Blufflands hike

Guided Hikes

Take advantage of hikes guided by subject experts - birders, naturalists, rangers and other experts in the identification area you want to know more about. Their expertise helps you develop more of your own and leads you deeper into nature. You also learn fascinating tidbits that add to your enjoyment of what you see.

Verify Your Observations

Post-hike, take time to check field guides, apps, identification websites to give you assurance and confidence in your initial identification.

Make a List

Nature journaling and chronicling are time-honored practices. Keeping a phenology journal can be very helpful as well. You start to track the seasonal appearances of flora and fauna and it increases your knowledge.

Here is interesting short article that inspired me in my journey to knowing more. It has some great tips on hiking and observing and you might find it useful.

In the next two parts of this series, I'll be looking at using apps on and off the trail and post-hiking research sources.

Other posts in this series:

What Do You See? Field ID Tips (What's App) - Part 2           9/17/26

What Do You See? Field ID Tips (Hitting the Books) - Part 3   9/24/26

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

Naturalist's Corner - Unexpected Curiosities

I welcome Jon Rigden back to share another thoughtful column on curiosity and mystery. Jon is a hero for the prairies and their restoration along with his many colleagues in The Friends of the Blufflands and The Prairie Enthusiasts, both groups he is active in. His dedicated passion for this work and his curiosity about the life and history of these remnants has led him to write deeply researched and quite amazing blog posts at the Friends of the Blufflands website. Jon kindly gave me permission to reprint his most recent and extraordinary August 16, 2026 post.

Who Ordered That?

By Johnathan Rigden

Friends of the Blufflands blog

When hiking on the bluffs around La Crosse, it is not uncommon to come across something that seems out of place. When this occurs, I sometimes think , “Who ordered that?". Finding something odd is often followed by doing an internet search which uncovers more about that peculiar sight than if it had been something "familiar". Like the saying goes, "Confusion is the sweat of learning". Without being puzzled, like when we know the name of something and dismiss it as if we know it thoroughly, our curiosity can be dimmed. 

Which reminds me of an occasion long ago when I first started learning about birds with a well-known birder in the La Crosse area. Equipped with a lousy pair of Bushnell binoculars, I saw a very red bird in the distance and initially thought it was a scarlet tanager. But, it turned out to be a cardinal. When the group asked what I was looking at, I uttered the line, "It's just a cardinal" dismissing it as something so familiar that it was hardly worth mentioning. Immediately, I was humorously chastised by the expert birder..."JUST a cardinal???" Since then I have tried to stay humble about the little I truly know about even the most familiar subjects. Which makes me think of line from Socrates- "The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know."

Swamp milkweed

Recently after a morning on Zoerb Prairie, I left via the grassy field above the prairie and I noticed a plant growing with a bunch of bumblebees scurrying about its flowers. 

Initially it threw me off because it seemed to be out of place- is that swamp milkweed? Growing on the bluffs in a field full of reed canary grass and smooth brome? True to this plant, it was a bee magnet with brown belted bumblebees swarming it, but, why was it growing here? Doesn't it grow in wet, swampy areas, hence the name? Who ordered that?

Further up the field, there was another oddity- rattlesnake master.

Rattlesnake master

Where did that come from? This was a cultivated field back when the State of Wisconsin owned it from 1931 to 1962 and where the USDA investigated sustainable farming- the “Experimental Farm”, or, as we learned in a previous post, the “Upper Mississippi Soil Conservation Station" . Since it was plowed and planted with a variety of demonstration crops, it shouldn't be a native plant left over from the original sod. Maybe it was from one of the nearby planted prairies. But, a review of the seed mix for those prairies showed no rattlesnake master. Hmmm....a mystery! Maybe some "Johnny Rattlesnake Seed" threw some seeds out there. Once again, who ordered that?

Rosinweed

Further along in the field this  flower caught my eye.

Ahhh, something familiar! It's good old rosinweed in the genus Silphium! I've looked that up a few times in the past... I can tell you the name, so I know all about it. Right? Not really. Again, I'm humbled every time that I think something is "familiar" and less interesting just because I know its name... like that cardinal. Here is a short video of the great physicist Richard Feynman discussing the difference between knowing the name of something vs knowing about something: https://youtu.be/lFIYKmos3-s?si=oUW2jb-EJwIADYGt And what about all of those insects? I think they are hoverflies and probably the oblique stripetail, Allograpta obliqua, but that's just a name and maybe a rabbit hole to go down some other time!

Cardinal flower

In this same field, a cardinal flower was growing a few years ago. Again, out of place. How was a cardinal flower growing in this field of thick grasses and other tough competitors? And doesn't it like wet spots like along streams? What was it doing here? Who ordered that?

The lesson from this trip through a "field of weeds" is that life is full of mysteries. In 500 BC, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, "If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail." Be ready to be surprised even in the most "degraded" of places. On your hikes, find interesting tidbits to add to your collection and be willing to include even a few of those most familiar of plants and animals for further thought. But be humble like Isaac Newton when he said, " I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in the now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

"Who ordered that?" is a memorable phrase said by the American physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi in 1936. It was his reaction to the discovery of the muon, a cousin to the electron, which at the time had no clear place in atomic theory... it was "out of place". Since then, this line has been repeated frequently in the physics community when something comes up that is completely unexpected. And if you want to learn more about Rabi, a good book to read is "Rabi: Scientist and Citizen" by none other than my father: https://www.aps.org/archives/publications/apsnews/199807/scientist.cfm .

I've taken to co-opting Rabi's line on my hikes when I see something unexpected as a way of saying that mysteries will always surround us. Some are profound, others rather trivial. Some have answers, many do not. But they will always be there, even when walking across an old weedy field. So, the next time you see something and are puzzled, think "Who ordered that?" And, á la Feynman, just because you know the name of something, don't be fooled into thinking you know much about it.

Images - Jonathan Rigden

Nature Sneak Peak - September 2026

Grasses and goldenrods dominate

Autumn is just starting. Cooler nights and days, dewier and foggier mornings and some leaves turning red and yellow are all evidence of the change coming this month. The cool temps will also dampen mosquito activity making woodland hikes alot more pleasant!

Here are a few things to watch for this month as you hit the trails.

Prairies

Plants

The colorful blues, pinks and even white asters make their welcome return in September. The tall grasses are dominating the prairies and are lovely on a windy day.  Goldenrods and native purple field thistles still flower and provide needed nectar to bees and migrating butterflies alike. It's not unusal to see a host of insects on thistles this month.

Brown-belted bumblebee
on cutleaf coneflower

Bumblebees
You will be seeing some giant bumblebees as you hike among flowering plants. These are the new, young queens (gynes). They are entering their mating season and will soon begin to dig their hibernaculum to shelter themselves through the winter. This month you may also note bees that have ragged wings and bald spots on their back as well. These are the males and workers of the colony who, along with the old queen, will die as autumn comes. The gynes will be the only survivors when they emerge from diapause next spring and lay their eggs to begin a new colony.

Monarch Butterflies

Their migration south has begun. As their sources of nectar age and dwindle and daylight and temperatures decrease, the butterflies experience a change that sets off their migration instinct. You can stop here to read more about their remarkable life cycle as well as a list of resources on how we can support this lovely butterfly. Be sure to stop by prairies in the heat of the day to watch the action.

Image - Xerces Society

Woods

Shaggy mane inky cap

Fungi

This is another great season for fungi fans. The woods are full of a huge variety of mushrooms and fascinating fungi. Two of my favorites in the Driftless are inky caps and any of the milk caps. The distinguising feature of inky caps is that, at maturity, their gills dissolve into a marvelous soupy black ink. What could be better? And milk caps, when cut, ooze milky latex, often in blue, violet, orange, green or white. They'll bruise those colors as well. Happy 'shrooming!

Early color
on stressed leaves

Plants

A few flowering plants like self-heal, white snakeroot and asters will hang in there along the forest floor. But it is the changing leaves on bushes and trees that are the star in the life cycle of plants in September. Early colors pop up in sumacs, poison ivy (hurray, easier to spot!) and red maples. You might note that trees near roadsides or parking lots often display their colors early or drop brown or yellow leaves first. That is due to the stress from heat generated by pavement, accumulated salt and soil compaction of roadside construction near their roots. 

Orb Spider webs

With dewy and foggy mornings followed by sun, intricate orb spider webs are easily spotted in the woods. With these spiders at their full growth, their webs are also bigger and more noticeable. Dropping temperatures and still abundant prey stimulate increased web-building and feeding activity this month before cold weather ends their life cycle.

Migration

September is always notable for the volume of migrating birds that travel the Mississippi Flyway through the Driftless. You can follow Cornell University's Birdcast to anticipate their flights. You can also subscribe at birdcast to receive alerts when the migration forecast is high.

Waterfowl migration 

The migration south to wintering grounds starts slowly this month for waterfowl. Canada geese are starting to flock. Early duck migrants like blue wing teal, wood ducks, shovelers, widgeons and mallards are starting their journeys. They respond more to length of daylight than low temperaturs to start their migration. It's a great time to see them as you hike our many Driftless wetlands trails. 

Songbird migration  

Songbirds are flocking and have begun their nightly southward journeys. In the past two weeks, in fact, we've had millions of birds passing nightly through our Driftless area. I have noted in my bi-weekly phenology posts the lessening of bird song and one can see why! It's also recommended that you consider turning off any outside lights from 11pm - 6am to help these migrators on their way. Darker skies help them avoid confusion..

Green darner dragonfly
Image - UW- Milwaukee

Migrating green darner dragonflies?

You may have noticed fewer green darner dragonflies lately. That's because some of them migrate, typically July through October. They can fly up to 80 miles in a day with favorable winds. Their descendants will return in spring. For other darners in the Driftless, they will overwinter as naiads under frozen ponds. If you are lucky this month on sunny days, you may catch one of their flying swarms.

No matter where you go this month, be curious. Take some extra time to look and see what you can see along the trail. You’ll be delighted!

Indigo milk cap

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

I Spy on the Trails - August 16-31, 2026

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. 

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

Grasses/sedges:

• 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

Past Bloom/Fruited

• beebalm, spotted
• blazing star, dwarf
• mint, Virginia mountain 
• prairie rose
• rattlesnake master

Moss/Lichen/Fungi

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

Reptiles/Amphibians

• frog, leopard
• turtle, snapping

What are YOU seeing on your hikes?

Two weeks of hikes
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!

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.

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

Photographing an orb spider's web
Image- Jean Hammons

You can read my quarterly column on seasonal hiking suggestions in Inspire(d) Driftless magazine available online or pick up a free copy at businesses and organizations around the Driftless areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

I Spy on the Trails - August 1-15, 2026

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!

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!

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

Green cheese polypore mushroom

Moss/Lichen/Fungi

• 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

What are YOU seeing on your hikes?

Two weeks of hikes
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!

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.

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

Primo prairie time, mosquito-free!

You can read my quarterly column on seasonal hiking suggestions in Inspire(d) Driftless magazine available online or pick up a free copy at businesses and organizations around the Driftless areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Nature Sneak Peek - August 2026

Tall grass prairie at Frontenac State Park
Image - Pamela Miller

The first weeks in August are always special. August 1 is the midpoint of summer, halfway between the solstice and the coming  autumn equinox. This day, Lammas or Lughnasadh, has long been celebrated as a harvest festival. Our gardens and farmer's market, lush with vegetables and fruits, are a continuing testament to this day.

Monarch on blazing star

Days are inexorably growing shorter. Already there are signs from birds and waterfowl that the busy season of mating and raising young is morphing into preparation for coming migration as daylight decreases. Plants and insects are responding as well to decreasing daylight  - we'll have lost over two hours of daylight since solstice by the end of August.

But there is plenty of activity during the dog days of August. Let's look at what you might you see on the trails this month.

Prairies

Big bluestem grass and
coneflowersgray-headed

Tall Grasses - bluestems, yellow indiangrass, Canada wild rye and eastern bottle brush are beginning to dominate in the prairies. Shorter grasses like prairie dropseed, purple lovegrass and side oats grama are also present.

Goldenrods - in the Driftless regions of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, there are between one and two dozen distinct species of this forb. While they are often tough to tell apart, their distinct butter yellow flowerheads lend their sunny color to August prairies.

Sunflowers - are clocking in for the month. They too have many varieties and can be found in sunny spots in the woods as well.

Blazing Stars - their pink-purple stalks are prominent in prairies this month. A favorite of butterflies, bumlebees and humans too!

Margined calligrapher hoverfly
on grooved flax

Insect Life - is positively bursting in August. Butterflies, flies, wasps, beetles, bumblebees and native bees are nectaring and gathering pollen at warp speed on all the yellow, white and purple blossoms. Their predators - damselflies, spiders and dragonflies are also busy! It's a perfect time to catch them on blooms as your hike. The sound of grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets are fast replacing the songs of nesting birds, many of whom are gathering  for the beginning of migration. 

Woodlands

Ghost pipes - not a fungus

Ghost pipe - this ghostly white plant is easily confused with a fungus. While they don't need sun, they also don't need chlorophyll. Instead, they tap into the mychorrizal network to get their food. Once established, they will reappear in the same spot each year.

Mushrooms and fungi - the damp, humid nights and heavily shaded forest floor of August are perfect to support the explosive growth of many types of mushrooms, fungi and molds. Chicken of the woods, russela, ink caps, coral fungi, slime molds, jelly fungi are all lurking, ready for you to find and identify. One of my favorites is lobster mushroom which is formed when a parasitic mold takes over a russela or inkcap mushroom changing not ony its appearence but also taking it from non-edible to edible. Ah, nature!

Trees - the changing light is also beginning to slow the chlorophyll production in deciduous leaves. You will start to note later in the month that the bold greens of the canopy becomes slightly less vibrant and often take on a hint of gray. While the leaves will remain on most trees throughout September, the road towards fall will begin as August comes to the end.

Wetlands

Jewelweed - have you been marking where patches of this flower are? Good. Because now it's playtime. The lovely orange and yellow trumpet-shaped flowers are now going to seed. And nothing is more fun for kids and grown-ups than popping their seed covers and watching the seeds spring out.

Frogs - spring peepers often still have something to say! While no longer mating calls, their call can be heard this month. Listen too for tree frogs in woods adjoining wetlands. You may also hear their call as well. And this is the month you may see some tree frogs on your doors or windows. Clever hunters that they are, they pursue the insects attracted to your lights at night to catch easy meals. 

Graphic courtesy earthsky.org

Finally be sure to look up! The Perseid Meteor showers which began in mid July will be peaking August 12-13. Fortunately, these dates coincide with a new moon so the sky will be marvelously dark. While the meteors originate in the constellation Perseus, thay can be spotted in any part of the night sky.

No matter where you go this month, be curious. Take some extra time to look and see what you can see along the trail. You’ll be delighted!

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

Blazing stars on an August day - Holland Sand Prairie
Image - Kris Lawson

You can read my quarterly column on seasonal hiking suggestions in Inspire(d) Driftless Magazine available online or pick up a free copy at businesses and organizations around the Driftless areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.