Rainy Day on the Hudson River Ice Meadows

Wednesday was a day that waffled in the weather reports. First it was going to rain, then it was going to be sunny and mild, then it was going to rain in the morning and clear by afternoon. Regardless of what the weather gurus said, Jackie and I had made plans to visit the Hudson River Ice Meadows just outside Warrensburg, and no silly weather report was going to keep us away - there were rare plants in bloom and we wanted to see them.

The weather alternated from misty drizzle to actual rain, but we forged ahead. After meeting up at The Glen, we drove the short distance down the river road and parked in a sandy pull-off. A narrow footpath was partially obscured by the soggy vegetation, but we made our way through the woods towards the river.

Along the way we encountered some lovely patches of Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea), lovely plants that unfortunately look a lot like cow parsnip, a plant to avoid because it can burn your tender flesh.

And poison ivy (Rhus radicans) was everywhere. We saw some with flower buds just starting to appear,

and some with last year's berries. Poison ivy is a hugely beneficial wildlife plant and one we should be willing to let live. Sadly, it has gotten a bad rap because many people are allergic to the oil (urushiol), which can cause a "contact dermatitis." I made sure not to touch it, altough my boots and pant legs certainly came in contact with a fair amount. Still, despite taking boots and pants off at the end of the day, I have not suffered any ill effects. Perhaps I'm one of the lucky ones who aren't allergic.

Here we are at the Ice Meadows. This area is one of the very few native grasslands left in New York State, which makes it extra valuable. The name "ice meadows" comes from the fact that during the winter the ice on the river (frazil ice) piles up here, sometimes fifteen or more feet deep. This is heavy, hard-packed ice, which grinds along these cobbled lowlands as spring's warm weather starts the melt. Patches of ice can be found along these shores long after the rest of the area has been snow- and ice-free.

The river cobbles are indeed beautiful. I suddenly felt like a kid again, wanting to pocket every pretty rock I found. But these rocks are not tiny - one or two are enough to fill any pocket, and weigh them down. One will only want to schlepp these rocks just so far.

In some areas little pools were formed. We heard several frogs and even a trilling toad (first of the season for me), but we didn't see any.

Our primary target this drippy morning was this plant: dwarf sand cherry (Prunus pumila var. depressa).

This low, creeping shrub was in full bloom, filling the air with its delicately sweet scent. Everywhere we turned, there it was - either a whole shrub or a lonely sprig. Dwarf sand cherry is listed as a rare plant on the New York State Natural Heritage Program page (www.acris .nynhp.org/report.php?id=10009).

Another great find was this really beautiful plant. To my untrained eyes, it looks like a lovley grass, but it is actually a sedge. Specifically, it is Buxbaum's sedge, or brown box sedge, (Carex buxbaumii). NY's Natural Heritage Program also lists this as a rare plant. Interestingly, neither of my grass/sedge ID books lists it. For me, it was the black and green pattern of the flower scales that caught my eye and imagination. This plant is not yet in bloom, but it should be shortly.

Because this was my first trip to the ice meadows, I was able to add a few new plants to my life list. Star-flowered Solomon's seal (Smilacina stellata) was one of them. Thanks to the low light of the day and the increasingly windy conditions, I regret to say I didn't get very good shots of this lovely plant. While the flowers are nice, it is the pattern of the leaves that enchanted me.

Here's a close-up of the star-shaped flowers:

Because this was a wetland, it was no surprise to find sweet gale (Myrica gale) along the way. Previously I have posted photos of the female flowers; here are the male flowers.

The marsh St. Johnswort (Hypericum virginicum) was struggling along among the rocks. Its lovely pink and green colors were delightful to see on this grey day.

Jackie was eager to check out all the violets we found. They were dutifully photographed and examined in an attempt to secure an ID. Violets are difficult, she asserts, because they easily hybridize. And to make it just that much more difficult, "they" have now decided to lump together many previously distinct species. We didn't have our updated violet ID charts with us, so we made do with Jackie's not insignificant knowledge.

Conclusion, these might just be marsh blue violets (V. cucullata)...unless, of course, they aren't.

After tripping along the cobbles for an hour or so, we got back in our cars and drove a little further down the river. The ice meadows extend for about sixteen miles along the Hudson here, giving people who are interested a great deal of space to explore. Our next site was quite different from the first:

Large up-thrusting slabs of rock made up this stretch of shoreline.

A low, flat area among the rocks was a typical wetland. Thanks to the scouring effects of the ice each year, woody vegetation doesn't get much of a chance to take hold. This is what makes the ice meadows the special habitat that they are.

Clinging to the rocks around the edge of the wetland were some soggy wood anemones (Anemone quinquefolia), aka: windflower. This one was not quite open yet, but I just loved the dark pink color contrasting with the pale pink petals.

We also found Canadian burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis), which I discovered for the first time last year just on the other side of the river. It is too early for this plant to be in bloom, but we marvelled at its leaves, with the purple outline running along the toothed margins.

Everywhere we turned, there seemed to be little plant arrangements. This one reminded me of some bonsai "forests" I've seen at garden shows.

Here was another one made entirely of one species. It was difficult to photograph, but if you click on the photo you should be able to see the plants more closely, with their golden tips soon to flower. I suspect this is another sedge, but it might be a rush. Any experts out there are encouraged to chime in.

I loved the colors on this newly unfurling fern.

Eventually the constant drizzle began to put a damper on things. Walking on these rocky shores can be a challenge in the best of times, but in the rain, when the rocks are wet, it is even more so. So, after about two or three hours, we finally decided to call it quits. We walked back to our cars along the old railroad bed and each of us headed back towards our respective homes.

And Dragonflies

We also saw a number of dragonflies while on our walk along the bike path. They were soaking up the heat from the pavement, but did not want to wait around while we tried to sneak up on them to take their photographs!

Not that this deterred us - no. We continued to try and sneak up on the things, and finally I was able to capture a couple shots.

In this first, we see what I believe is a male common whitetail (Libellula lydia). The wing patterns certainly match for this species, but the abdomen is what is throwing me. The male common whitetail typically has a pale blue abdomen with the white marks on the sides. I wonder if this one simply is too newly emerged to have reached its full coloration.

I'm pretty sure, however, that this is a female common whitetail. I was able to ID her first, which led me to look up the male for the above ID. If there are any dragonfly experts out there who would like to chime in on this, please do so.

Meanwhile, the common whitetail is a percher, who often perches on the ground (as these were doing). The males are territorial and very active around their breeding sites. This could explain why they were so difficult to sneak up on. They are fairly tolerent of disturbed areas, so it isn't too much of a surprise they were along this bike path. Streams are one of their preferred habitat types, and a lovely babbling stream ran all along the bike path. All of these clues lead me to believe that these are indeed common whitetails, despite suspect abdominal coloration.

A Day in the Field - Queensbury

Is there a better way to spend a day off than going into the field with a good friend? Today I met up with Jackie to walk the bike trail (formerly a train track) near Glen Lake in Queensbury. She was going to show me some "life" flowers to add to my list.

The biggie, of course, was this splendid orchid: the yellow ladies slipper (Cypripedium claceolus):

It just makes you sigh to see it, doesn't it? There were several of these, blooming right alongside the road. It is hard to believe that a) they are there, and b) they are still there! What a treat - and how lucky we are that she discovered them the other day when driving by.

We parked by the bike path and I was immediately drawn to this large flowering shrub. I thought at first it was a mock orange, but Jackie informed me that it is a variety of spirea. Up close, the flowers are wonderfully delicate:

Another life flower for me was this strange-looking thing: gaywings, or fringed polygala (Polygala paucifolia). It reminds me of some odd little creature, rather than a flower. They are quite tiny, and most were past their prime, but whole swathes of slope along the path were covered with them.

Another perennial favorite is wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). So many columbines we see are horticultural varieties, but I think the wild ones are the prettiest.

Especially if you lift them up and peek at their bloomers!

Another target species for me was the glaucous honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica). Most of the flowers were past their prime, but the color is still delicious.

And apparently this hummingbird moth thought the flowers were delicious, too, for it was hovering around and sampling as many blossoms as it could. It didn't want to stay in one place for long, though, so it was difficult to photograph. This image caught the coiled up tongue:

And here it is getting a meal:

A lovely view of its back and those wonderful clear wings:

When looked at head-on, the honeysuckle almost looks like a green plate filled with a colorful salad! No wonder the moth was attracted to it.

Carrion flower (Smilax herbacea)was another interesting find. The stem was this lovely purple-black, bruise-like color, with a bit of a whitish bloom to it. The flower itself, which wasn't quite open yet, looked like a bunch of little broccoli florets with long whiskers!

I had to have Jackie stand in front of this large shrub. Can you guess what it is? This is burning bush (Euonymus atropurpureus) - aka: wahoo. Yes, the same as the nurseries sell you because it has beautiful flame red leaves in the fall. But it is an invasive - and when it gets loose, this is what it does. I have two left at home that I need to rip out...along with the last Japanese barberry (another awful invasive).

This is a very small flower: hoooked crowfoot (Ranunculus recurvatus). Another new one for me. As you can see, the flowers are winding up their blooming season.

And why is it called "hooked" crowfoot? Take a look at the center of the flower - it looks just like a burdock burr.

Miterwort (Mitela diphylla) was in bloom. It looks a lot like foamflower, but scrawy by comparison (the flower head of foamflower is much more compact). But, if you look at each little flower up close, it looks like a tiny little snowflake:

Near the profusion of gaywings, we had a gorgeous mountain azalea (Rhododendron roseum) in bloom. I had to use a flash to capture the beauty of its flowers.

And here we have another target plant: nodding trillium (Trillium recurvatum). Nodding trillium is a plant that NYS botanists are trying to map throughout the state because it is very difficult to find, mostly because it is disappearing. Jackie has located two or three colonies of this now rare plant - a great find for her, for me, for the state botanists.

Now, I am quick to judge when it comes to plants. I saw this and said to Jackie - oh, sessile-leaved bellworts. I was surprised to see them because even in Newcomb they are reaching the end of their season. But, Jackie informed me that these were not sessile-leaved bellworts. They are, in fact, bellworts of the perfoliate type (Uvula perfoliata); note how the leaf completely surrounds the stem (or looks like the stem perforates the leaf). Another new plant for my life list.

Red baneberry (Actaea rubra)- the only one we saw. When those flowers ripen into fruit, they will be red. Popular with wildlife, this is not a plant we should eat (note the name: BANEberry).

Here we have another VERY TINY plant. I meant WEENIE! How Jackie saw them, I'll never know. This is thyme-leaved sandwort (Arenaria serpyllifolia). Another new species for me. I wonder how many of these little plants I have encountered in my life without ever knowning it.
It is a non-native species, but not one that seems to be taking over our country, like garlic mustard. Sandworts, as their name suggests, like dry, sandy soils, which is why we were finding them in the shoulder along the path.

Flowers weren't all we saw! We encountered two large toads. Of course we had to have a photo session. The toad, we believe it was a female, was released unharmed.

Further along the bike path we stopped at a wonderful little wetland. A bird was singing and singing away, with a song neither of us recognized. And then we saw it: a gorgeous male oriole. There were actually several in the area, each calling and marking his territory.

We tracked this one down in a staghorn sumac and took many shots while he preened his feathers.

Absoloutely no privacy!

Many other birds were calling and flying around. This yellow warbler (sweet sweet sweet I'm so sweet) was singing away on the far side of the sumac.

Sadly, I had to leave - groceries to buy and a dog to get home to! But we made plans to meet the next day and visit the Ice Meadows north of Warrensburg. Stay posted for photos of that trip next.