I ventured over to Bakers Mountain Park yesterday for a "personal" escort from Frank to see the Pink Lady Slippers that are blooming. Wow! It has been 10 years or more since I've seen them blooming and they were every bit as gorgeous as I remembered them to be!
This species is pollinated exclusively by bumblebees who get lured into the lobe where they get trapped inside (until they can figure their way out, at least!) and get loaded with pollen.
I sure don't know how John found these out in the middle of the woods--nowhere near a trail! But I sure am glad he did. This species isn't common and I really enjoyed seeing it again. I found a
great website that explains the pollination and illustrates the life cycle of the plant.
It seems like every Red Maple I see these days have Maple Eyespot Gall on them. It is amazing to me how a Gall Midge, which is a tiny fly, can make such a unique design when laying their eggs!
Their Mountain Laurel is just starting to bloom--and should be at peak by the weekend. The whole mountain is covered in laurels and I can only imagine how beautiful it will be when they all open up.
The platform up top didn't disappoint us either! We had a nice clear view of the Catawba Valley below.
A male Summer Tanager landed just above our heads and sang us the prettiest song you've ever heard.
And on the way back, we found this growing along the trail. It had me stumped at first--but after flipping through a few books, I now know that it is Wild Quinine.
I liked how the leaves clasped to the stem and knew it had to be a diagnostic field mark!
I ventured over to Bakers Mountain Park yesterday for a "personal" escort from Frank to see the Pink Lady Slippers that are blooming. Wow! It has been 10 years or more since I've seen them blooming and they were every bit as gorgeous as I remembered them to be!
This species is pollinated exclusively by bumblebees who get lured into the lobe where they get trapped inside (until they can figure their way out, at least!) and get loaded with pollen.
I sure don't know how John found these out in the middle of the woods--nowhere near a trail! But I sure am glad he did. This species isn't common and I really enjoyed seeing it again. I found a great website that explains the pollination and illustrates the life cycle of the plant.
It seems like every Red Maple I see these days have Maple Eyespot Gall on them. It is amazing to me how a Gall Midge, which is a tiny fly, can make such a unique design when laying their eggs!
Their Mountain Laurel is just starting to bloom--and should be at peak by the weekend. The whole mountain is covered in laurels and I can only imagine how beautiful it will be when they all open up.
The platform up top didn't disappoint us either! We had a nice clear view of the Catawba Valley below.
A male Summer Tanager landed just above our heads and sang us the prettiest song you've ever heard.
And on the way back, we found this growing along the trail. It had me stumped at first--but after flipping through a few books, I now know that it is Wild Quinine.
I liked how the leaves clasped to the stem and knew it had to be a diagnostic field mark!
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