One of my favorite things to do is explore waterways, especially wetlands. And I get paid to do this when I lead guided paddles of Rich Lake as part of my job!
Yesterday was my first paddle of the season, the earliest I've been out on Rich Lake. Many of the plants that I usually encounter as blooming on this trip were nowhere near putting out blossoms yet. Still, we found some interesting plants up in the wetland at the western end of the lake: gentians (we were too far away to determine if they were bottle or narrow-leaved), fragrant water lily (Nymphaea odorata), spatterdock (Nuphar variegatum), and bittersweet/deadly nighthade (Solanum dolcamara). The latter was a surprise - I've never encountered this nightshade in a wetland before, so it came as a bit of a shock to find it here.
Plenty of birds were singing, and the redwings were flying all around, in and out of the tall marshy plants, no doubt guarding their territories and feeding. Winter wrens, vireos and cedar waxwings all made their presence known along the shores of the lake.
The highlight for the paddlers was no doubt the sighting of a group of three adult loons.
****
Other plants now blooming along the roads and elsewhere: chickory (Cichorium intybus), white sweet clover (Melilotus alba), bedstraw (Galium spp. - I will have to key it out to determine the species), and spreading dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium).
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
The Latest Natural Happenings
In the flower world, white sweet clover (Melilotus alba) and twin flowers (Linneae borealis) are now blooming.
On our walk down to the pump house down on the Hudson River last Tuesday, I saw my second wood turtle of the year laying eggs. This one was much smaller than any other wood turtles I've seen laying eggs - maybe 7" or so along the length of her carapace. She had eggs in her nest and she was taking a pause while Toby and I were nosy. I wished her well and we moved on. When I checked on her next yesterday, it was undisturbed - no fox or raccoons have raided it yet.
Despite the rainy days of the last week, we probably gained no more than a half-inch of moisture. The Hudson River is down, although still paddle-able. I may try and put in the Spitfire one of these days down at the pump house before the water gets too low. Today would be a good day, I have the time, but it is Guaming again out there, and that's never a joy to be out in.
I've seen a couple bats darting over the yard at night during the last week or two. They are most likely big browns (Eptesicus fuscus), which, according to an article I just read, are one of the few species that have not been hit by white-nose syndrome (WNS). It seems that little browns, Indianas, eastern pipistrelles and northern long-earreds are the ones affected. I plan to attend a lecture on WNS on the 7th down in Bolton Landing. If you are in the area and interested in the topic, stop on in for the talk. You can find it listed in the event schedule for the Adirondack Invasive Species Awareness Week, which is the second week of July. Take a gander on-line at http://www.adkinvasives.com/InvasiveSpeciesAwarenessWeek.html.
On our walk down to the pump house down on the Hudson River last Tuesday, I saw my second wood turtle of the year laying eggs. This one was much smaller than any other wood turtles I've seen laying eggs - maybe 7" or so along the length of her carapace. She had eggs in her nest and she was taking a pause while Toby and I were nosy. I wished her well and we moved on. When I checked on her next yesterday, it was undisturbed - no fox or raccoons have raided it yet.
Despite the rainy days of the last week, we probably gained no more than a half-inch of moisture. The Hudson River is down, although still paddle-able. I may try and put in the Spitfire one of these days down at the pump house before the water gets too low. Today would be a good day, I have the time, but it is Guaming again out there, and that's never a joy to be out in.
I've seen a couple bats darting over the yard at night during the last week or two. They are most likely big browns (Eptesicus fuscus), which, according to an article I just read, are one of the few species that have not been hit by white-nose syndrome (WNS). It seems that little browns, Indianas, eastern pipistrelles and northern long-earreds are the ones affected. I plan to attend a lecture on WNS on the 7th down in Bolton Landing. If you are in the area and interested in the topic, stop on in for the talk. You can find it listed in the event schedule for the Adirondack Invasive Species Awareness Week, which is the second week of July. Take a gander on-line at http://www.adkinvasives.com/InvasiveSpeciesAwarenessWeek.html.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Mystery Plant
I put this one out there for any and all to try and identify. I found this mystery plant growing in my "field" two days ago, and I don't know what it is. I've tried keying it out using Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (which until now has never failed me), and I even tried to find a matching photo in the Audubon wildflower field guide, but to no avail.
So, here is a photo of the flower head (there were/are two, each on its own stalk), and one of a leaf (note how it wraps around the stem).
The insects on the flower are rose chafers, which arrived en force yesterday, much to my dismay, and are eating all the flowers on fruiting trees and shrubs, such as grapes and viburnums, as well as the leaves of apple trees, hops, et al. If anyone has a cure for these, please send it along, too. There are just too many for picking off (I've done that and filled entire mason jars in under an hour), and garlic spray doesn't seem to deter them any (plus, spraying the garlic when the plant is in bloom deters the bees, which means no pollination, and thus no fruit - might as well let the chafers eat the flowers as it will have the same result).
So, here is a photo of the flower head (there were/are two, each on its own stalk), and one of a leaf (note how it wraps around the stem).
The insects on the flower are rose chafers, which arrived en force yesterday, much to my dismay, and are eating all the flowers on fruiting trees and shrubs, such as grapes and viburnums, as well as the leaves of apple trees, hops, et al. If anyone has a cure for these, please send it along, too. There are just too many for picking off (I've done that and filled entire mason jars in under an hour), and garlic spray doesn't seem to deter them any (plus, spraying the garlic when the plant is in bloom deters the bees, which means no pollination, and thus no fruit - might as well let the chafers eat the flowers as it will have the same result).
Sunday, June 22, 2008
One-flowered Cancerroot - a short tale
About, oh, four years ago, while mowing one of the paths through the “field” portion of my yard, I came across this strange flowering plant. It was a pale pinkish-lavenderish color, with yellow down the throat, and no discernable leaves. In fact, it had no green on it anywhere – the stem was as ghostly in color as the flower. Upon consultation with my trusty “Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide,” I determined it was one-flowered cancerroot (Orobanche uniflora), aka: ghost pipe, and naked broomrape.
I looked for it the following year, but didn’t see it again until yesterday, when I was once again mowing a path around my “field.” I found not one flower, but several separate clusters, and none in the same place as the ones I discovered four years ago. As it turns out, this delicate plant rarely appears in the same place twice.
So today I began a search for information on one-flowered cancerroot. As it turns out, there is not a whole lot of information “out there” about this plant; most of what I found was clinical statistics, like height, color, habitat. Still, weeding through it all I think I can piece together a fairly interesting natural history of this ephemeral plant.
O. uniflora is a member of the Broomrape Family. All but one member of this family are parasitic, unable to produce their own food via photosynthesis (hence the lack of green parts). Instead, broomrapes obtain their food (and water) from other herbaceous plants (such as clover, saxifrage and sunflowers) via their roots, which attach to the roots of their oblivious host plants.
I looked for it the following year, but didn’t see it again until yesterday, when I was once again mowing a path around my “field.” I found not one flower, but several separate clusters, and none in the same place as the ones I discovered four years ago. As it turns out, this delicate plant rarely appears in the same place twice.
So today I began a search for information on one-flowered cancerroot. As it turns out, there is not a whole lot of information “out there” about this plant; most of what I found was clinical statistics, like height, color, habitat. Still, weeding through it all I think I can piece together a fairly interesting natural history of this ephemeral plant.
O. uniflora is a member of the Broomrape Family. All but one member of this family are parasitic, unable to produce their own food via photosynthesis (hence the lack of green parts). Instead, broomrapes obtain their food (and water) from other herbaceous plants (such as clover, saxifrage and sunflowers) via their roots, which attach to the roots of their oblivious host plants.
A denizen of damp woodlands and thickets across much of North America, one-flowered cancerroot is described as rare or of special concern in many locations, while in general it is considered to be common. Since the plant only grows 3-10” tall, and is often hidden among its taller neighbors (and rarely grows in the same place twice), I imagine it can be difficult to ascertain a concise record of its presence.
Based on photographs I found on the internet, this flower varies in color from a real purple to essentially white. It has a splash of yellow down its throat (reproductive parts), and the stem is sticky (at least according to descriptions; I felt the ones in my yard and while they do have some fine hairs along their stems, they were not sticky). According http://www.illinoiswildflower.info/, one-flowered cancerroot is pollinated by bumblebees. Based on the flower structure, this does not surprise me. I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled the next sunny day that I’m home and see if a bumblebee visits “my” clusters of flowers.
It seems that cancerroot seeds can stay dormant in the soil for quite some time – up to several years – just waiting for the right chemical compounds to become available in the soil courtesy of other living plants. Once the seeds germinate, their roots seek out host roots and latch on, stealing water and nutrients in order to keep themselves alive.
I paged through my Native American Ethnobotany tome to see if anyone had a use for this strange plant, and while other members of the genus Orobanche were used for a variety of medicines, O. uniflora apparently never has been. Two of its relatives, beechdrops (Epiphagus virginiana) and squawroot (Conopholis americana), are known for their astringent properties. As for the name “cancerroot,” it seems it was applied without much forethought, merely taking into account that other members of the family do have medicinal properties.
And there you have it: one-flowered cancerroot. 2008 seems to be a good year for it, at least in my yard. This is a spring-flowering plant (April through June), so the next time you find yourself in damp woodlands or thickets (or unmowed lawns near the forest’s edge) before the summer solstice, keep an eye turned to the ground and scan for these pale purplish plants. Let me know if you see any bumblebees pollinating them.
Slugs, Wood Sorrel and White Birch Leaves
Yesterday evening, for a change of pace, Toby and I took our evening stroll over at the Camp Santanoni Preserve, detouring from the traditional route in to the Farm and Camp by taking the connector trail over to the VIC property. It had been raining off and on throughout the day, and temperatures had become quite pleasant...although humidity was high. As a result, the mosquitoes were out in great numbers.
Still, it was a pleasant walk in the early evening and Toby got to sniff new stuff, which is always a joy (to him).
Learned something new, but not too surprising: slugs are repelled by dog urine. As all dog folks know, new routes mean a lot of territorial marking on the part of the pooch, and Toby was going full bore, marking every other tree, shrub, log, tall plant, rock, etc. When he went to sign in on one particular log, I noticed a rather large slug stretched out along the side (looking rather leech-like, actually). As soon as the golden stream splashed upon its slimy back, the slug recoiled, releasing its hold on the log and plopping to the ground in a tight wad. When we walked passed the log again later on (as we were leaving the trail), the slug was still there, still bunched up. I'm pretty sure it was still alive, though. Could it be the salt in the urine that the slug objected to? Or might it be the whole chemical cocktail that makes up urine? Hm.
Two other discoveries yesterday evening: wood sorrel blooming, and white leaves on an American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) seedling (see photo below). One leaf was half green and half white, the other totally white. I brought them in to work to photograph, but the color has faded to tan - like the tan of dead beech leaves in winter. Still, one gets the idea. Is this color variation caused by a virus, as it is in tulips and in other plants with variegated leaves? I can see that someone could possibly make a fortune breeding beech trees with white (or variegated) leaves for the landscaping/horticultural market.
Other blooming observations: lots of one-flowered cancerroot (Orobanche uniflora) is "blooming" in my yard (will try and get photos tonight and blog it tomorrow), and viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare) opened up overnight (I suspect the rain).
Still, it was a pleasant walk in the early evening and Toby got to sniff new stuff, which is always a joy (to him).
Learned something new, but not too surprising: slugs are repelled by dog urine. As all dog folks know, new routes mean a lot of territorial marking on the part of the pooch, and Toby was going full bore, marking every other tree, shrub, log, tall plant, rock, etc. When he went to sign in on one particular log, I noticed a rather large slug stretched out along the side (looking rather leech-like, actually). As soon as the golden stream splashed upon its slimy back, the slug recoiled, releasing its hold on the log and plopping to the ground in a tight wad. When we walked passed the log again later on (as we were leaving the trail), the slug was still there, still bunched up. I'm pretty sure it was still alive, though. Could it be the salt in the urine that the slug objected to? Or might it be the whole chemical cocktail that makes up urine? Hm.
Two other discoveries yesterday evening: wood sorrel blooming, and white leaves on an American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) seedling (see photo below). One leaf was half green and half white, the other totally white. I brought them in to work to photograph, but the color has faded to tan - like the tan of dead beech leaves in winter. Still, one gets the idea. Is this color variation caused by a virus, as it is in tulips and in other plants with variegated leaves? I can see that someone could possibly make a fortune breeding beech trees with white (or variegated) leaves for the landscaping/horticultural market.
Other blooming observations: lots of one-flowered cancerroot (Orobanche uniflora) is "blooming" in my yard (will try and get photos tonight and blog it tomorrow), and viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare) opened up overnight (I suspect the rain).
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Luna Legacy
Yesterday evening while on our walk down to the Hudson River, I found the right hind wing of a luna moth in the weeds along the roadside. No other evidence of the insect was about. A bat's late night meal?
I brought it home so I could include it here with a photo because what struck me about this wing is how furry it is:
What is the purpose of this furriness? Does it, like the furry hairs on early plants like coltsfoot, help it keep warm? I don't know. I'm still looking for information.
Meanwhile, here is some background info. about the luna moth:
I brought it home so I could include it here with a photo because what struck me about this wing is how furry it is:
What is the purpose of this furriness? Does it, like the furry hairs on early plants like coltsfoot, help it keep warm? I don't know. I'm still looking for information.
Meanwhile, here is some background info. about the luna moth:
- The luna (Actias luna) is a Saturniid moth.
- The adults live for only about a week and have no mouth parts (in other words, they don't eat - that could explain the short life span as an adult).
- Up in the northern part of its range (Canada), the luna only produces one generation a year, while in NY and NJ (and similar latitudes) it produces up to two, the first adults generally appearing around April and May, and the second generation 9-11 weeks later.
- The larvae are usually listed as feeding on hickory and walnut leaves, but this gave me pause since we don't have those here. As it turns out, they also eat birch, alder and sumac, all of which grow up here in the mountains.
Other recent sightings:
Last night I saw my first fireflies of the season. Actually, it may have been only one firefly. Still, it was the first of the season.
Last Thursday (11th) evening, along the same route to the Hudson, we encountered two snapping turtles digging nests and one wood turtle. I used to see several wood turtles along this stretch of road in early June, all digging nests and laying eggs, but a couple years ago they paved the sandy turn-around and this has severely limited potential nest sites.
The latest bloomers include marshmallow (Althaea officinalis), sow thistle (Sonchus olaraceus - a non-native with aggressive tendencies), blackberries (Rubus alleghaniensis), yarrow (Achillea millefolium - also non-native, but naturalized), purple vetch (Vicia americana) - all your common "roadside weeds." My favorite is birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus cornicalatus), another non-native currently in bloom; I love it for its stunning yellow color.
The wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) are starting to fruit now - I saw the first ripe ones along the roadside this morning.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
After the Storm
It was a blustery day in the Adirondacks yesterday (actually, it was blustery pretty much all around NY). Severe thunderstorms crossed the state, and tornado watches were initiated. As we sat here in the dark, listening to the weather radio and watching the temperature drop from 81 to 64 degrees (Fahrenheit), and tracking the storm on the computer, we were pretty sure that the darkening sky and the whipping wind spelled doom for us. And yes, the storm was headed for Newcomb...but the other end of town. The VIC got maybe a drop or two of rain and that was it.
The boss was greatly disappointed.
Still, the weather redeemed itself later on when a second stream of storms passed over during the night, yielding great thunder and lightning displays, and strong gusting winds. No hail or tornados, and only 0.2" of rain, but it was a more impressive display.
Today, however, it is a different world. The heat and humidity of the last several days has passed and it is a glorious true Adirondack day. The air is cool thanks to the strong wind that is blowing, which is serving double duty by helping keep the insects at bay.
On a quick trip around the Rich Lake Trail, we had some neat finds:
a funky red slime mold;
bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) - note the flowers are actually in the center, and the white "petals" are actually bracts, like the red "petals" on poinsettias;
dragonflies (how many wings do you see?);
and the day's star - rattlesnake fern (Botrychium virginianum).
The dragonflies have me flummoxed (what a great word). Eight wings?!? I have two photos, taken about 15 minutes apart (one when I headed out on the trail and the other when I came back), so they are likely of two different individuals, and each one shows eight wings! Could it be a trick of the light? It's not shadows, because the colored spot on the leading edge of the wings is in color on all eight wings. Could it be from the wings moving and the camera capturing what is essentially double exposure (but I don't recall the wings being in motion when I took the photos)? Or maybe we have mutant dragonflies! The jury is out on this one. I have a call in to a dragonfly person - will keep you posted.
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