Recent explorations in the central Ohio natural places have been good to us. As mentioned in previous posts the warblers are becoming quieter and much harder to find but as is often the case we find other things to fascinate. Below are some discoveries from the past week.
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Early summer wildflowers and flowering trees and bushes.
Squaw Root, Highbanks Metro Park. Never what one would think of as attractive this example is a bit past it’s prime
Virginia Waterleaf, Highbanks. It’s unusual that the leaves are still variegated. The variegated leaves are one of the beautiful things to look for on the forest floor in the early spring.
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While we’re not seeing the warblers now other birds are still cooperating.
The Prothonotary Warblers continue their nesting activity below Griggs Dam along the Scioto River, SX40.
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This past week it was fascinating to see Snapping Turtles laying their eggs at Griggs Park.
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Other reptiles and amphibians also made an appearance.
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We’re heading into the insect time of year. Confirmed by the number seen recent walks.
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When you’re looking for interesting insects and flowers other things magically appear.
Dead tree, the victim of “bootstrap fungus Bootstrap fungus is caused by honey mushrooms, which are parasitic on live wood and send out long root like structures called rhizomorphs between the wood of a tree and its bark”. (thanks NH Garden Solutions for the ID help!), Highbanks.
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Hope everyone enjoyed our nature menagerie.
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Until next time, thanks for stopping by.
xxx
Category: Central Ohio Nature, Central Ohio Parks, Fungi, Glacier Ridge Metro Park, Griggs Reservoir, Highbanks Metro Park, O'Shaughnessy Nature Preserve, Ohio Nature, photography, Scioto River, Wildflowers Tagged: Barn Swallow, Bleeding Tooth, Blue Dasher, Blue Flag Iris, Bootstrap fungus, bullfrog, Bumble Bee, Cabbage White, Canon 3ti 18-135mm lens, Canon 60D with Sigma 150-500mm, Canon SX40, Common Whitetail, Eastern Phoebe, Field Sparrow, Fire Pink, Goats Beard, Great Blue Heron, Hairy Beardtongue, Hairy Hawkweed, Panasonic FZ200, Panasonic ZS50, Prothonotary Warbler, Purple Rocket, Rat Snake, Red-eyed Vireo, Red-tailed Hawk, Silver Spotted Skipper, Snapping Turtle, Song Sparrow, Spiderwort, Squarrose Sedge, Squawroot, Tawny-edged Skipper, Tulip Flower, Virginia Waterleaf, Zabulon Skipper
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Great post!
Snakes above me make me nervous!
One does wonder how it got up there
You’ve got some excellent photos here.
I think your mystery flower might belong to one of the dogwoods, gray dogwood or silky dogwood maybe, if it was on a shrub. Gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa) blooms earliest of the two so I’m guessing that’s what it is.
The veining on the dead tree is what killed the tree. It’s called bootstrap fungus, which is caused by honey mushrooms (Armillaria mellea), which are parasitic on live wood.
Thanks Allen, I was hoping you might know what the veining was.
You’re welcome!
What a great selection in this post. Your photographs never cease to delight.