What Do You See? Field ID Tips - Part 3

Hitting the Books

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

Great spangled fritillary on butterfly weed
Image - Marge Loch-Wouters

Once I'm off the trail, I get down to business of identifying and verifying identification of observations I've made on the trail. It takes an hour or two depending on what's new to me to make sure I am getting it right. I don't mind the time because it helps with my learning and keeping a more accurate (I hope) phenology journal.

The following list of books and websites are by NO MEANS all the possible identification resources you can tap to learn more. They are my current go-to's. Think of it as a snapshot of this summer season and the resources I currently have at hand. To be honest, I am a hound for finding new websites to try and buying or checking out new field guides so this list is absolutely not the last word.

Wildflowers

Minnesota Wildflowers website- first stop for verification. Detailed information on wildflowers, trees, shrubs, ferns, vines, grasses, sedges and aquatics. Modeled after field guide and a gem. I also will refer to my old classic Roger Tory Peterson's Field Guide to Wildlflowers; The Audubon Society's Field Guide to North American Wildflowers - Eastern Region and Stan Tekiela's small Wildflowers of Minnesota Field Guide

Fungi 

Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest by Teresa Marrone and Kathy Yerich. This is a field guide I carry with me in fall and have at my side at home throughout the season. It is still better than any app I've found and reliably addresses the mushrooms and fungi I sight. While I will also check the Picture Mushroom app for a quick ID, I find it's accuracy pretty poor and expensive if you want it to identify fungi while in the field. 

University of MN Bee Lab

Bumblebees

There are websites/social media galore for our Driftless area! Both the WI DNR Bumble Bee Brigade and the University of MN Bee Lab have rich resources and identification help at their websites. I am also a huge fan of the Wisconsin/Midwest Bumble Bee Observers Facebook page where the amazing Judy Cardin generously helps you identify the species you are seeing. She also created really helpful Key Identification Trait cards for WI bumblebees which sits at my side for reference. 

Native Bees

Common Native Bees of the Eastern United States is a true field-sized guide that is light and portable and is waiting for me to get serious about identification of these small bees. I'm afraid I'll need a net and speciman jar to ID these until I can gain more knowledge about these tiny swift pollinators!

Ferns

I find them endlessly tricksome but am slowly adding to my identification skills thanks the Welby Smith's Ferns and Lycophytes of Minnesota and sheer determination. A recent guided field trip gave me some additional recommended, and less-academic titles to acquire: Joe Walewski's Ferns & Allies of the North Woods and Linda Levine's Identifying Ferns the Easy Way: A Pocket Guide to Common ferns of the Northeast. I can hardly wait to dig in.

Dragonflies

Dragonflies of Wisconsin by Karl and Dorothy Legler with Dan Jackson is a huge help to me. 188 species of odonata are described and includes data on their appearance, range, size and other details. The  full-color photos may include male, female and juvenile forms.  This paperback (available for sale at Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge by their Friends group or through the Wisconsin Dragonfly Society) is absolutely mandatory if dragonflies are your jam.

Birds

Oh my gosh, you name it, we have it - Sibley's, Ehrlich's Birder's Handbook, Peterson's Estern Birds, Tekiela's Birds of Wisconsin. I am still awful at most birds that don't actually visit my yard and am over-reliant on Merlin in the field, but there's always hope right?

Whether you are a casual observer or more dedicated as you hike, identification of what you are observing can lead to a richer experience in nature. Let me know your go-to guides whether apps, websites, books or your own philosophy. After all, on my natural history and identification shelves, there's always room for one more!

Other posts in this series:
 - What Do You See? Field ID Tips (Using Your Senses) - Part 1     9/10/26
 - What Do You See? Field ID Tips (What's App?) - Part 2              9/14/26

What Do You See? Field ID Tips - Part 2

What's App?

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

In this blog post, I am going to share my go-to apps that I use in the field. Part 3 will look at the other more traditional methods I use as well.

Each season, I re-acquaint myself with what I encounter. The further into the season I go, the more I remember - although hiking companions hear me muttering identifications as I practice on every hike. And, for what I don't know, my AI-powered apps and photos help me make the identification in the field.

Here's what I use:

iPhone 16 Pro Max photo app

This iphone version has a really excellent camera system and editing options that allow you to crop, straighten and photoshop any shot. It also has a pretty good identification feature that gives you a first ID of flowers and fauna on the trails. I click on the bug or plant icon and I get a quick result that I can then add to the notes field.

This is a great "out-in-field" way to capture what flowers I am seeing while I am hiking. I also use it to record what I am seeing from trail-to-trail and day-to-day. And its "live" photo feature really helps me when I am doing close photography for bees and other insects. I can go back and scan the 8-10 pictures in the "moving" photo to select the best shot for ID purposes.

Since I update my phenology journal after each hike, it also helps me easily refer back to what I've been encountering.

I like to cross reference the ID with other apps, field guides and websites I use once I'm back home to make sure the phone has the correct ID. Then I can type the verified identification in the photo notes line. Pretty sweet!

Seek by iNaturalist

This app is a pretty huge delight on the trail. You just aim your camera at the plant, insect, amphibian, mammal, mollusk, reptile, bird, arachnid, fish (or other species). The app will often identify it on the spot. It then pops it into your observations which includes the date observed, its taxonomy, seasonal observations based on other users, range map of observations near year, similar plants and a short snippet from wikipedia (be sure to donate to them). If the identification isn't returned, you can forward the photo to the iNaturalist community for an ID. 

I have three hesitations. It does not reliably identify fungi. Second, it takes it time when initially opening and loading so if you are after a fast ID on a quick moving bird or insect, you are often out of luck.  You can upload photos later so that helps. My final hesitation is that it doesn't remain open as an app which adds to frustration when quick ID is needed for fauna and you have to re-open the app yet again (although I am sure my phone battery is grateful)..

 

PictureThis

I actually pay for this flower identification app for alot of its features. It is pretty darn good at flower identification accuracy. It is easily used to check IDs from my phone photos after the hike (or even on it, if I have cell service). I appreciate that feature because its two quick clicks from the photo to my confirmed id.

The identification includes a range of names for the flower including its scientific name. It has a FAQ area that often includes interesting tidbits that I can use when I am doing interpretive hiking programs. They include characteristics of the plant, sometimes poems and symbolism, its taxonomy, range, where it is native, cultivated, considered invasive, garden use, and care guide.

It also saves my observations in "My Snap History" so I can refer back when I am about to guide a hike that I have scouted for flower and plant IDs. I can do my prep quickly and easily! All this info really helps me learn the plant better so the cost is worth it to me.

Merlin Bird ID

Of course, you all yell!

I have learned more bird song/call identification from this app than ever before. Created by the magical folks at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, this is most hikers' favorite app.

I really appreciate the sound ID, since birds often escape my eyeballs (except when I am with MN Master Naturalist friends and bird gurus Janet Malotky and Steve Dietz when all birds appear before my eye and binoculars).*

With Merlin, you can track not just what you are hearing, but locate the bird by following its sound to actually see them. Plus the app let's you hear recordings of birds to help you attune your hearing to the birds you are likely to hear at various times of the year.

Bee Machine

While it is a bit fussy and slow in the field if you don't have good connectivitiy, it is a whiz at identification. I chalk that up to its pedigree - the developers worked closely with Kansas State University and a number of citizen science groups like the amazing Wisconsin Bumblebee Brigade (check out their Facebook page for additional generous identification help).

There is a wait for identification in the field so I primarily use it as an identification source, post-hike. It will load up to five photos of the bee you wish to identify, ask you to add the location of the sighting by using an interactive map and then, after a short pause while it examines the photos, returns an identification. 

What I appreciate about this app is that it provides a "percentage of confidence" rating on each individual photo of the same bee with a final aggregated confidence score for the identification. If the score is low, I see if I can take better photos next time that show the bee's head, back, and as much of the thorax as I can. 

While it will take me awhile before I am confident in my bee id skills, Bee Machine helps me get there!

AllTrails

Finally, you only have to hike with me for 4 minutes before you discover my sense of direction is absolutely nonsensical. If it's not a loop or an out-and-back, you may find me wandering 5 years later. It's why I heavily scout hikes I lead. I want to make sure no one follows me into the land of the lost!

For me the AllTrails app works swell. Like all crowd-sourced apps, you have to be on your toes - one person's hike doesn't always match another's or has weird names that don't really quite match the trails you are on. You can pre-download the map you want to use as the guide as long as you are aware you may want to hike that trail or trail system slightly differently.

On the good side though, you can just set the app to navigate and it will often display the trails you are on with names. While it sucks up battery while on the trail tracking your whereabouts, it has kept me on the straight and narrow every time I have used it.

I appreciate that it tracks mileage and elevation and that you can save your hike if you choose to. I use the app alot not just on the trail but for the blog to remind me of information. You can choose to review your hike after you are done or just look at the info and delete it.

What are YOUR go-to apps that help you stay on the trail, identify or make your hikes easier while you're hiking? Feel free to let me know in the comments or the next time you see me on the trails!  

Watch for Part 3, where I'll be sharing a few of my non-app sources for identification work! 

Other posts in this series:
 - What Do You See? Field ID Tips (Using Your Senses) - Part 1      9/10/26
 - What Do You See? Field ID Tips (Hitting the Books) - Part 3        9/18/26

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 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 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           9/14/26

What Do You See? Field ID Tips (Hitting the Books) - Part 3   9/18/26

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, 2025

On a sunny day, Canadian wildfire smoke dims Queens Bluff
and obscures the WI bluffs across the Mississippi River

Interesting summer. This is the third time in the last six weeks high temps, humidity, pounding rains and poor quality air due to Canadian wildfires (red and orange levels of particulate) have haunted us. Blufftop views were seriously affected by the smoke on many days. If the air quality and rain permitted - which has been iffy and kept me inside working on the blog almost non-stop - early bird hiking was my jam. And I admit, masked hiking when the air quality is this poor is not fun for me. My eyes especially object and hot sweaty hiking under a mask is...moist.

There is still a definite August look to fields and forests. The leaves on the trees have lost their deep greens of early summer and sport a slight grey-green tone. The shorter days (closing in on 1.5 hours less daylight since the summer solstice) are beginning the first signals to the leaves to slow down their chlorophyll production. While we haven't had the usual slow dip in nighttime temps, I am hoping that is not too far away now.

Yellow Indian grass and little bluestem
at Holland Sand Prairie

The fields of prairie forbs are transitioning from the riotous colors of coneflowers, bee balm, and sunflowers to the more subdued shades of flowering spurge and the prairie grasses of big and little bluestem, Canada wildrye and yellow indiangrass. But more color is waiting in the wings - goldenrods are just coming into bloom and I look forward to the pops of color the blazing stars will bring out shortly. 

Outside my office-window - a hummingbird and monarch

Bumblebees, butterflies and hummingbirds have been nectaring and gathering pollen at a frantic pace. I look outside my office window into our front yard pollinator garden and am dazzled by the action. Crickets are making their songs heard at night and firefly breeding time is winding down so less twinkling lights in the dark.*

I am starting to plan more ambitious bluff hikes in anticipation of late August's slightly cooler days. Adventures ahead.

See you on the trails!

*and, no, fireflies aren’t disappearing off the face of the earth. While some species are threatened, they remain robust. We can up their chances of delighting us for generations to come by planting native pollinator plants, avoiding chemicals on our lawn and pulling shades down and drapes shut when lights inside are on at night.

Plant Observations

Flowering/mature plants:

• agrimony, tall hairy
• alyssum, hoary
• bee balm, spotted
• bellflower, tall
• bergamot, wild
• black-eyed Susan
• blazing star, cylindrical (Ontario)
• blazing star, prairie

  

  Rattlesnake master

• blazing star, rough
• boneset, false
• brown-eyed Susan
• bushclover, roundhead
• cinquefoil, tall
• clover, purple prairie
• clover, while prairie
• cohoah, blue
• coneflower, cutleaf
• coneflower, grey-headed
• Culver's root
• cup plant
• evening-primrose, common
• evening-primrose, lesser four-point
• fern, bracken

  

  Rockcap fern

• fern, bitter bladder-
• fern, interrupted
• fern, lady
• fern, maidenhair
• fern, ostrich
• fern, rockcap
• fern, sensitive
• flax, grooved
• fleabane, daisy
• fleabane, prairie
• germander, American
• goldenrod, Canada
• goldenrod, early
• goldenrod, elmleaf
• goldenrod, giant
• goldenrod, gray
• goldenrod, prairie (white flat-topped)
• goldenrod, showy

  

  Just blooming purple poppy mallow
  Image - Kris Lawson

• goldenrod, stiff
• goldenrod, tall
• harebell
• jewelweed
• mallow, purple poppy
• milkweed, butterfly
• milkweed, whorled
• mountain mint, Virginia
• mullein, common
• onion, prairie
• pagoda plant, hairy
• partridge pea
• poppy mallow, purple
• rattlesnake master
• self-heal
• snakeroot, white
• spiderwort, Ohio
• spiderwort, Virginia
• spurge, flowering
• sunflower, few-leaf
• sunflower, false
• sunflower, stiff
• sunflower, thinleaf
• sunflower, woodland
• toadflax, yellow (butter-and-eggs)
• verbena, hoary
• yarrow

Sprouts/unbloomed/past bloom:

• anemone, candle

  

  False Solomon’s seal fruit

• aster, aromatic
• aster, white heath
• blazing star, rough
• goldenrod, showy
• goldenrod, stiff
• indigo, white cream
• leadplant
• milkvetch, Canadain
• milkweed, common
• sagebrush, white
• Solomon's seal, false
• thimbleweed, tall

Fruited

• false Solomon's seal
• mayapple
• Solomon's seal seal

Grasses/Sedges:

• grass, big bluestem
• grass, little bluestem
• grass, bottle-brush
• grass, eastern bottle-brush
• grass, Canada wildrye
• grass, side-oats grama
• grass, smooth brome
• grass, switchgrass
• indiangrass, yellow

Fungi/Moss/Lichen:

• mushroom, American slippery jack

  

  American slippery jack - it’s slimy!

  
  
• mushroom, brown bitter bolete
• mushroom, conifer sulpur
• mushroom, crown-tippedcoral
• mushroom, inky
• mushroom, lumpy bracket
• mushroom, lung oyster
• mushroom, milk cap (lactarius)
• mushroom, ruby bolete
• mushroom, scarlet elfen cup
• mushroom, turkeytail
• mushroom, veiled oyster
• mushroom, weeping bolete
• mushroom, wrinkled peach

Wildlife Observations (seen, heard, detected)
Birds:

• blackbird, red-winged
• bluebird, eastern
• blue jay
• cardinal, northern
• catbird, gray
• cedar waxwing
• chickadee, black-capped

  

  Eastern kingbird

• crow, American
• finch, house
• flycatcher, great-crested
• goldfinch, American
• hawk, red-tailed
• indigo bunting
• killdeer
• kingbird, eastern
• nuthatch, white-breasted
• oriole, Baltimore
• oriole, orchard
• purple martin
• robin, American
• sparrow, field
• sparrow, song
• swallow, barn
• swallow, cliff
• titmouse, tufted
• towhee, eastern
• warbler, yellow
• woodpecker, downy
• woodpecker, pileated
• wood-pewee, eastern
• wren, house
• wren, sedge
• yellow-bellied sapsucker
• yellowthroat, common

Waterfowl:

• crane, sandhill

Insects/arachnids:

• bumblebee, American

  

  Common eastern bumblebee

• bumblebee, common eastern
• bumblebee, brown-belted
• bumblebee, black-and-gold
• bumblebee, lemon cuckoo
• bumblebee, two-spotted
• butterfly, monarch
• butterfly, great spangled fritillary
• caterpillar, pale tiger moth
• damselfly, citrine forktail
• damselfly, stream bluet
• damselfly, tule bluet
• damselfly, white-legged
• dragonfly, eastern amberwing
• dragonfly, autumn meadowhawk
• dragonfly, white-faced meadowhawk
• dragonfly, 12-spotted skimmer
• spider, yellow garden

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/location of the trails found online

Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI (2); Great River Bluffs State Park, Nodine MN; Apple Blossom Overlook Park, Winona County, MN; Wildcat Mountain State Park, Ontario WI

Walking into the storm on the weekly
Holland Sand Prairie phenology hike
Image -Kris Lawson

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.

Prairie goldenrod (white flat-topped)

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

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

Margined calligrapher fly
on a grooved flax

I felt like we were on a cycle of "rinse and repeat" as we slide our way to August. These last weeks perfectly mirrored the first two weeks. High heat (80s and 90s) and humidity mixed in with an 2.5-3" of occasional rain - and a last blast of storms at the end of the month. Throw in a week  of wildfire-fueled, very poor air quality days, some brutal heat-advisory days, a ton of mosquitoes - and BOOM - that's our weather during all of July.

Thankfully, we had two really gorgeous low-humidity days to provide a way too brief relief. So, as you can imagine, very early mornings were my hiking jam the past two weeks. 

Yep, it's a chantarelle!

I did a couple of guided "nature school" hikes in late morning/early afternoon high 80s weekend heat. I didn't melt and the information was worth the sweat!  Two were guided fungi hikes and the shaded summer woods are full of some tasty - and nasty - delights. I am feeling more confident in the identification of some of our hidden fungi gems thanks to my patient and knowledgeable guides!

Sugar Creek Bluff (WI) SNA prairie

On the prairies, bergamot, spotted beebalm, flowering spurge, partridge pea, poppy mallow, and hoary vervain are in their glory.

The following flowers are fading or beginning to set seed: prairie coreopsis, purple and white prairie clover, hoary alyssum, leadplant, tall cinquefoil, purple and grey-headed coneflower, butterfly milkweed, many of the early sunflowers. They were still going these past two weeks but are clearly on their decline.

Coming up: white heath aster, blazing stars, boneset and goldenrods are ready in the wings, waiting to bedazzle your eyes!

Black-and-gold bumblebee
Image - Margaret Mills

It has also been fascinating these two weeks to see the number of pollen-gathering bumblebees and nectaring butterflies on blossoms of bergamot, coneflowers, partridge peas -  and asphalt and animal dung. There are also many hunting dragonflies and damselflies skidding through the sky or silently perched on stalks of grass and leaves. It's given me a chance to practice my slow, silent stalking skills to get closer to identify these insects and take pictures. 

Although yesterday, on the very last day of the month, my chances exploded when I learned to go out early while they are slow. I identified the following bumblebees: lemon cuckoo, two-spotted, brown-belted, common eastern, tricolored, and confusing  - all in 5 minutes. Wowser!

I hope you are finding time to get out, especially in our prairies. If you are, I'll see you on the trails!

Plant Observations

Flowering/mature plants:

• agrimony, tall hairy

  

  One false boneset flower - 
  and a mayfly!

• alyssum, hoary
• anise hyssop
• aster, white heath
• bee balm, spotted
• bergamot, wild
• black-eyed Susan
• blazing star, dwarf
• blazing star, prairie
• false boneset
• chicory
• cinquefoil, sulphur
• cinquefoil, tall
• clover, purple prairie
• clover, white prairie
• compass plant
• coneflower, grey-headed
• coneflower, purple
• coreopsis, prairie
• Culver's root
• cup plant
• Deptford pink
• fern, bitter bladder

  

  So many spotted beebalm

• fern, interrupted
• fern, lady
• fern, maidenhair
• fern, sensitive
• fleabane, prairie
• flax, grooved
• germander, American
• goldenrod, early
• goldenrod, stiff
• goldenrod, wrinkleleaf
• harebell
• hoary vervain
• Joe-Pye weed
• leadplant
• milkweed, butterfly
• milkweed, common
• milkweed, whorled
• mint, Virginia mountain
• partridge pea
• poppy mallow, purple
• puccoon, hairy
• pagoda plant, hairy
• primrose, common evening

  

  St. John's wort

  
  
• rose, prairie
• self-heal'snakeroot, white
• spiderwort, Ohio
• spurge, flowering
• St. John’s wort
• sunflower, false
• sunflower, few-leaf
• sunflower, hairy
• sunflower, showy
• sunflower stiff
• sunflower, tall
• sunflower, woodland
• toad flax, yellow (butter and eggs)
• vervain, blue
• vervain, hoary
• yarrow

Sprouts/unbloomed/past bloom:

• blazing star, rough

  

  A spent coneflower 

• boneset, false
• bushclover, roundhead
• cactus, prickly pear
• goldenrod, Canada
• goldenrod, giant
• goldenrod, showy
• goldenrod, stiff
• goldenrod, tall
• goldenrod, wrinkleleaf
• indigo, white wild
• sagebrush, white
• snakeroot, white
• sunflower, woodland
• thimbleweed, cylindrical
• thimbleweed, tall
• wormwood, field

Grasses/Sedges:

• grass, alfalfa

  

  Bedewed Indian grass
  on a foggy morning

  
  
• grass, big bluestem
• grass, little bluestem
• grass, bottle-brush
• grass, Canada wildrye
• grass, little bluestem
• grass, sideoats grama
• grass, smooth brome
• indiangrass
• switchgrass

Fungi/Moss/Lichen:

• fungi, coral-tipped merulius
• fungi, crown-tipped coral

  

  Milk-cap mushroom

• fungi, white coral jelly
• fungi, white jelly
• mushroom, artist's conk
• mushroom, red russula
• mushroom, chanterelle
• mushroom, Dryad's saddle
• mushroom, false turkey tail
• mushroom, flat oysterling
• mushroom, golden oyster
• mushroom, milk-cap
• mushroom, lobster
• mushroom, lung oyster
• mushroom, meadow
• mushroom, old man of the woods
• mushroom, oyster
• mushroom pintail 
• mushroom, two-color bolete

Wildlife Observations (seen, heard, detected)
Birds:

• blackbird, red-winged
• bluebird, eastern
• cardinal, northern

  

  Eastern kingbird
  Image - Frank Lehman, Merlin Bird ID

  
  
• catbird, gray
• cedar waxwing
• chickadee, black-capped
• cow-bird, brown-headed
• crow, American
• dickcissel
• eagle, bald
• finch, house
• flicker, northern
• flycatcher, great crested
• gnatcatcher, blue-gray
• goldfinch, American
• hummingbird, ruby-throated
• hawk, red-tailed
• indigo bunting
• killdeer
• kingbird, eastern
• lark, horned
• nuthatch, red-breasted
• nuthatch, white-breasted
• oriole, orchard
• redstart, American
• robin, American
• sparrow, chipping
• sparrow, clay-colored
• sparrow, field
• sparrow, house
• sparrow, song
• sparrow, Vesper's
• starling, European
  

  

  Tree Swallow
  Image - Lorri Howski, Merlin Bird ID

• swallow, barn
• swallow, cliff
• swallow, tree
• swift, chimney
• tanager, scarlet
• thrasher, brown
• thrush, wood
• titmouse, tufted
• towhee, eastern
• vireo, Bell's
• vireo, red-eyed
• vireo, yellow-throated
• warbler, yellow
• woodpecker, downy
• woodpecker, hairy
• woodpecker, red-headed
• wood-pewee, eastern
• wren, Carolina
• wren, house
• yellowthroat, common

Waterfowl:

Timber rattlesnake

• egret, snowy
• goose, Canada
• pelican, American
• swan, trumpeter

Reptiles/Amphibians:

• frog, leopard
• timber rattlesnake

Insects/arachnids:

• assassin bug, pale green
• bumblebee, black-and-gold
• bumblebee, brown-belted
• bumblebee, common eastern
• bumblebee, confusing
• bumblebee, half black
• bumblebee, lemon cuckoo
• bumblebee, tricolor
• bumblebee, two-spotted
  

  

  Northern crescent butterflies

• butterfly, admiral, red-spotted
• butterfly, buckeye
• butterfly monarch
• butterfly, northern crescent
• cicada
• damselfly, forktail
• damselfly, tule bluet
• dragonfly, eastern amberwing
• dragonfly, Halloween pennant
• dragonfly, twelve-spotted skimmer
• dragonfly, widow skimmer
• spider, white banded crab
• wasp, great golden digger

Lemon cuckoo bumblebee

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/location of the trails found online

Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Visitor's Center, Brice Prairie WI; Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI (2);  Yellow River State Forest, Harper's Ferry IA; Hogback Prairies SNA, Crawford County WI;  Vetsch Park, La Crescent, MN; Sugar Creek Bluff, Ferryville WI; Frontenac State Park, Frontenac MN; Bluffside Park, Winona MN

View of the Mississippi River from
Yellow River (IA) State Forest prairie

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.

A foggy morning 
at Holland Sand Prairie

 Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters