The route… I’ve described it here, here, here, and here This walk doesn’t have the variety of wildflowers as my other
walk from the Group A Shelter to the Old Fort but it does have some gems. One
of the Smallflower Pawpaw (Asimina
parviflora) had developed fruit that, unfortunately, it had lost; the Pink
Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule)
Orchids had bloomed, and some Green Adder’s-mouth (Malaxis unifolia) Orchids had bloomed and two were setting seeds. The
slime molds appeared to be finished for the season. For the moment, some
wildflowers we still blooming but there was a lull between seasons.
The seed capsules were still developing on the Green
Adder’s-mouth Orchid. The plant's only leaf that was wilting in the dry
weather the previous week, looked even…
As I turned to walk down the trail, I noticed a…
spike in the woods. It looked like a Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) orchid. I walked
over to take a closer look.
The orchid had finished blooming and was starting to develop
seed capsules; remnants of the flowers were still attached.
There were at least five plants in this cluster but,
apparently, only one had bloomed. I was kicking myself for missing this orchid
when it had been blooming; I’d have to remember it for next year. This makes a
total of three different orchids that bloom in this small area.
A little further down the trail, I found a…
cicada casing attached to a leaf.
On a fallen log, I found a plain white shelf polypore
fungi, Trametes elegans. I had first
noticed it when it was an amorphous white ‘blob’ of fungal material. I was
curious as to what it would be when it ‘grew up,’ and now I knew. Above it,
attached to a small branch, was an…
Intriguing leaf egg case.
A little further along the trail, a number of…
Zebulon Skippers (Poanes
zabulon)
were attacted to a large Greenbriar (Smilax
sp.) vine.
My next encounter was with a cheeky little…
Chinese Mantis (Tenodera
sinensis).
At first it was fearful but then became confident and ran up my arm only my
shoulder. I had to make sure that it was back on a leaf before I walked on.
Back on the open section of the trail. I encountered a couple
of butterflies on the remains of a fish that had been abandoned; a…
Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis
arthemis),
and a…
Juvenal’s Duskywing (Erynnis
juvenalis).
Nearby, some…
Bushy Seedbox (Ludwigia
alternifolia) were blooming at the water’s edge.
The final sighting for the day was a single…
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) that was feeding high in the tall Trumpetweed/Joe
Pye Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum)
plant at the lake shore near the end of the trail.
Related posts:
- Summer On A Fort Yargo State Park
Trail: Section B To The Dam, July 29th (Part 1)
-
Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 1st
(Part 2)
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