Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, May 6th, 2015 (Part 2)

May 6th. (Continued from… ) I started to walk again at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, Georgia. One of my favorite walks is from the Group Shelter A to the Old Fort and back.This is a rewarding walk for viewing wildflowers and I’ve been trying to walk it weekly and document the wildflowers I see.

The route, which I described here, here, and here.

 

As I started towards the Rock Garden, I found a couple of small shrubs blooming out over the water.

I think this is an Arrow-wood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum). The shrub has opposite leaves that have serrated margins. However, I couldn’t reach the flowers to get a closer look.

A Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica) was setting buds.

The Resurrection Ferns (Pleopeltis polypodioides) were curling up as they dried in the absence of rain.

  

The seedpod on a Eastern Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) by the trail in the Rock Garden was still developing.

I’d been following a Perfoliate Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata) plant that hadn’t died back after blooming, indicating that it might develop a seedpod. However the flower stem I’d been following wasn’t showing any sign of enlarging. It finally occurred to me to look at the leaf behind another flower on the side of the plant away from the trail and found…

a seedpod that was developing. Again, I’ve never seen a seedpod develop on a Perfoliate Bellwort. Hopefully this seedpod will develop to maturity.

I made my way along the trail to the…

Smallflower Pawpaw (Asimina parviflora) plants. Some fruit were still developing.

As usual, I completed my walk along the main trail to the Old Fort.

As I turned to walk back down the trail I saw some Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon) butterflies. I've seen a lot of these this spring.

As I made my way back along the trail from the Old Fort, I found more fallen…

Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) flowers.

When I got back to the Fishing Area, I poked around among the...

Elliott’s Blueberry (Vaccinium elliottii) plants. One of the plants had a good crop of berries.

Looking back along the trail to the Fishing Area as I walked south.

All that remained of the Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) plants that had been blooming just south of the Fishing Area for the last few weeks.

Heading further south, there were still more fallen…

Tulip Poplar flowers.

  

One of two Pipsissewa (Chimaphila maculata) plants developing flowers in the woods just north of the first bridge.

I startled another…

Five-lined skink as I walked to the first bridge. I also startled a small Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) nearby but didn’t manage to photograph it before it disappeared into the safety of the leaf littler.

I’d been hoping to find some Virginia Sweetspire with opened blooms and, finally, found some by the first bridge. These are so pretty when the flowers are fully opened.

Related posts: 

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, May 6th, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 30th April, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 30th April, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 22nd April, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 22nd April, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 16th April, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 16th April, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 10th April, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 10th April, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 4th April, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 4th April, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 26th March, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 26th March, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 20th March, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 20th March, 2015 (Part 1)

Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 1st (Part 1)

May 1st. When I visited Fort Yargo State Park in mid-February, there were few signs of Spring. The only wildflower plants that were obvious were the leaves of Cranefly Orchids (Tipularia discolor) that I found in many places.

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 (Asimina parviflora) had developed fruit, the Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) Orchids had been blooming for a week or so and some Green Adder’s-mouth Orchids (Malaxis uniflora) were beginning to bloom.

Setting out on the trail on another sunny morning; so nice after the many gray days we’d had.

There were many Virginia Pepperweed (Lepidium virginicum) plants in the grass. The flowers are so tiny that they go unnoticed until the…

seedpods are developing on the stems.

I was checking some lichens on a branch that also had a lot of Amber Jelly Roll (Exidia recisa). I’d never thought much about what happens to a jelly fungus when it dries up. This is what one looks like when it's dry. 

A Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) was warming itself up in the sun.

The woods were becoming more shady. 

Having found the dried-up Amber Jelly fungus, I looked for the…

  

Witch’s Butter (Tremella mesenterica) that had also dried up. It was still there.

One of the hawthorns (Crataegus sp.) in the woods still had a couple of blooms.

Then to climb up ‘The Hill’ to check on the…

Smallflower Pawpaw fruit. Several fruits were still attached.

Two little pine seedlings were still growing in the cavity on a fallen log.

I took the trail to the…

Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). Many of the flower buds had fallen off; only one remained close to the trail.

There were a lot of Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon) butterflies around this spring but they rarely stayed still.

The woods, viewed from the end of the dam, were still a mixture of different greens.

Then off down the trail to the Pink Lady’s Slipper Orchid patch. 

(To be continued…)

Related posts: 

- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 26th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 26th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 17th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 17th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 12th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 12th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 5th 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam 
- Out With The Old; In With The New (Part 2) 

- Out With The Old; In With The New (Part 1) 
- Well… So Much For Walking The Beach 
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 4) 
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 3) 
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 2) 
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 1)

Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon)

Success at last! Before today, I’d seen three butterflies this year but haven’t been able to photograph or identify them. All three were orange; one was in the woods and two were in the field.

Today, I saw three Spring Azures (Celastrina ladon) at the lake. One was on the trail near a pool of water. The other two were drinking along the lake shore. All were quite skittish.

But I managed to stalk one and got a photograph.
Click on an image to view a larger image

Identification resources:
- West Central Georgia Butterflies by Michael Beohm: Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon)
- BugGuide: Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon)