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| Eastern Fringed Prairie Orchid |
Wow, today I had two botanical discoveries! I finally found the ultra rare Eastern Fringed Prairie Orchid at Ojibway Park which is a plant that I've been wanting to see for years. It's an endangered plant [
link] and I was able to see it at the very end of its flowering stage.
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| Sullivant's Milkweed |
Another fantastic discovery that I made today was this Sullivant's Milkweed - another rare plant found in prairie habitat. This plant is similar to common milkweed, but has pink central vein in the plant's leaves and two-tone colours for its flowers.
I have found several other interesting flowers while looking for the orchid above. I've done alot of reading and researching online as well as referencing a botany guide I was recently given. A cool bug that I found recently is the Candy-striped Leafhopper. I will let the photos below tell the story of some of my other recent nature highlights.
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| Wood Lily or Prairie Lily |
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| Michigan Lily |
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| Butterfly Milkweed |
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| Swamp Milkweed |
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| Purple Milkweed |
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| Northern Broken Dash? |
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| Black Dash Skipper |
Good Birding, Leping, Herping and Botanizing!
Dwayne
Great pics!
ReplyDeleteI saw Sullivants Milkweed at Sadler's Pond yesterday. It doesn't seem rare in these parts. A very neat plant, though!
ReplyDeleteMark, Prairie Milkweed is S2 Imperiled in Ontario from the reading that I've done. At the same time, I've read articles that four types of milkweed, including Sullivant's has been planted along some farm fields in southwestern ontario. So its ironic - Milkweed grows like weeds yet its imperiled and considered rare. Oddly enough, I found this milkweed within a few hundred meters of my new house in Windsor.
DeleteCool. Thanks for that explanation. Very interesting!
DeleteThere was a recent report that a Ghost Orchid specimen is blooming well at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary outside of Naples, Florida. I hope to get there to make my first observation of the species in the near future. It has also been interesting to read of the extirpation of several species of orchid, possibly due to their plunder, at Everglades National Park in south Florida. Your search for the Eastern Fringed Prairie Orchid was well rewarded at Windsor's Ojibway Park, Dwayne. You have inspired me to pay much closer attention to my surroundings.
ReplyDeleteBob, thanks for the nice comments! I've tried to include more butterflies and now flowers as I learn about them. With photography, you not only document a species but raise awareness about biodiversity and help others know the story of the bird, plant, insect or habitat that others may not know about. I humbly walk in the footsteps of excellent naturalists who inspire me to continue learning and increase my understanding of our natural history. I hope you can catch up with some of those Orchids at Corkscrew Swamp... one of my favorite places in the beautiful state of Florida!
DeleteA fine adventure!
ReplyDeleteThat last skipper may be a Black Dash!
Blake, thanks for weighing in on the ID of this last skipper photo. I was thinking Long-dash but I just can't seem to conclusively ID this lil' insect. I had a few photos of the underside of its wings, but while the upper wings were quite fresh, the undersides were quite worn and indistinguishable. Thanks for the comments.
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