Nature & Wildlife Thread

[JBtheExplorer]

Pretty fun morning hike. Ended on a sour note when I watched someone litter in front of me. But don't worry, I picked up their crap and threw it in a garbage can that he walked past 60 seconds after he threw his crap on the ground.

Wood ducks

Canada geese

Red-winged blackbird

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I meant to go for a 20 minute walk and it turned into two hours.

Wood duck and female mallard. I've seen these two together multiple times now. Wood ducks and mallards do breed and make hybrid ducks.

I saw three wild turkeys today! That's the most I've ever seen at once in this park.

About three minutes later I found a turkey feather.

red-winged blackbird

canada geese

great horned owl

And then I got home and saw the european goldfinch back again.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Went out for another hike again today. I wanted to check out the hidden cascade since we had some thunderstorms this morning. It was flowing well.

And a walk through the steaming prairie.

And the first turtle sighting of the year.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I ended up hiking nearly 6 miles yesterday, which is about three times as much as I usually hike in a day.

Tree swallows are back. They were all over the place along the Pike River.

A marshy area with a wood duck house. And they're not visible but there were lots of western chorus frogs calling.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Cold hike tonight but not bad.

golden-crowned kinglet

eastern phoebe

pussy willow

pussy willows and redtwig dogwoods

 

[JBtheExplorer]

We had heavy rain this morning so I knew it'd be a good time to check out the hidden cascade. This is possible the most this stream will flow until next year unless we get any really heavy rain.

While out, I also got to see some birds. I've been lucky to see a decent amount of bird activity this year. It helps that I've also gotten out more than I have the last few years.

Coopers Hawk

Belted kingfisher across a pond.

Bufflehead

 

[JBtheExplorer]

32°F and lightly snowing, but I went for a 30 minute hike. I wasn't able to get photos of it, but I saw an American woodcock along the edge of the prairie! Such a unique bird that I rarely ever see.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Turkey feather

Eastern phoebe

Wood duck

Wild leek

Crayfish burrow

 

[JBtheExplorer]

On today's hike:

Siberian squill. Non-native and highly invasive.

And it was with it's invasive friends, garlic mustard and daylily.

 

[j.w]

On today's hike:

Siberian squill. Non-native and highly invasive.
View attachment 167628

And it was with it's invasive friends, garlic mustard and daylily.
View attachment 167629

So a bad plant gone wild! Are they telling people to get rid of it when they see it or what?

 

[JBtheExplorer]

So a bad plant gone wild! Are they telling people to get rid of it when they see it or what?

Yes, siberian squill is highly invasive, nobody should ever have/keep it. It seems like it's in the awkward phase where everyone in the area knows how bad it is but somehow it's still legal for garden centers to sell it, at least in some states. I don't think many do anymore, though. Extremely invasive especially in the midwest and east coast states. It spreads across lawns and easily escapes yards and spreads into the wild. This map shows where it has spread into the wild. Worth noting here, each square is not one single documentation. There are 12,500 individual documented locations.

Years ago I took this photo at Hawthorn Hollow Nature Sanctuary. I thought it looked amazing - and it does, but then I looked into what the blue flowers were and that's when I learned about it. It can completely take over deciduous forest floors and completely crowds out the native plants. This area should be filled with virginia blue bells, rue anemone, trillium, trout lily, and so many other great natives. Thankfully they've been working to remove it at Hawthorn Hollow, but it still pops up there every year.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Bummer. The peregrine falcons I've watched on youtube the past couple years have died, at least the female. The male disappeared shortly after.

 

[mrsclem]

We had temps in mid 80s last week. This week can't get above 50 and yet I saw a tiger swallowtail butterfly yesterday and hubby swore he saw a hummingbird at the window. Put up a feeder and have had several hummers come by even with 42 ° temps!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Looks like I found the source of the previously mentioned siberian squill. This homeowner let it run wild in the yard next to the park.

Eastern phoebe

great blue heron

canada goose in a vernal pond

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I watched two coopers hawks follow eachother around the prairie restoration today, and then a third came in and a fight broke out! They were buzzing over my head, locking talons, and plummeting down before releasing. It was fun!