A Steamy July Along the Haw River

I always tell people on my nature walks that they should strive for two things in studying the overwhelming biodiversity of our complex habitats. First they should attempt to learn the basic species of plants and animals (a difficult job given the myriads of species present), and then most importantly take that knowledge and look for PATTERNS in nature and evaluate what these might mean. Very few people make it to this second stage of pattern recognition but it is crucial in understanding what is healthy and not so healthy in various habitats. This first photo illustrates one of my favorite patterns namely plant succession, in this case a pine forest intermixed with hardwoods. This represents the result of 30+ years of pine growth in an originally open field (young pines are shade intolerant), followed by rapid growth of competing hardwoods such as tulip poplar, sweet gum, and maple. The pines are a sub-climax forest to be replaced gradually by hardwoods, the coming climax forest. The area of our property along the Haw River is a mosaic of habitat types depending on the times since the widespread agricultural fields were abandoned and the height above floodplain.

Other than due to succession we also have changes due to phenology or predictable seasonal flowering of plants. So I always look forward to flowering of the beautiful pink Sabatia or rose gentians along our front roadway where we have mini-grasslands under the power lines. Another favorite is the native red hibiscus, a wetland plant introduced into our garden. It is unusual among hibiscus in producing nectar which attracts pollinators. A plant in the same family (mallows) planted in our garden is the okra originally from Africa with a very interesting culinary history in the dish gumbo. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okra ) The flower is not only beautiful but illustrates the presence of a “nectar guide” in the center which leads insects to more effectively accomplish pollination.

One predictable and distinct pattern you will notice along pathways that are not paved is that there are often predictable linear arrangements of plants. In the center where foot or bicycle traffic is most severe, there may be only dirt or often only a species of tough “path rush,” Juncus tenuis. On either side there are often grasses (unfortunately including the very invasive stilt grass) grading into a more biodiverse flora as you move further from the severe physical damage done by the traffic in the path. It is very interesting that often some species of rare plants such as orchids will thrive in this zone of less competition between the middle of the path and the diverse flora further away.

A recent pattern I have noticed among insect visitors to our flowers is a drop in numbers of butterflies, some changes in species yet a continuation of the presence of many bumblebees. So here are three flowers that are attracting many bumblebees. A bright yellow canna, a sunflower with five bees in one flower head, and a bear’s foot aster with a bumblebee. The most numerous butterflies now are pearl crescents, with an occasional tiger and zebra swallowtail, and this new variegated fritillary not seen previously. Zebras are especially interesting since their caterpillars fed on toxic paw paw, and I presume this toxicity is passed on to the adults which are brightly colored presumably as a warning to birds. Yet this is not generally considered to be the case although I did find one reference to it ( https://www.fws.gov/story/2022-06/beautiful-zebra-swallowtail-butterfly ).

An extraordinary beetle I found in our house is this “triceratops beetle.” This rhinoceros or scarab beetle has small horns on its head. They are rarely seen so not much is known about their life history but they feed in decaying logs which we have plenty of in our woods. A much more frequent insect is this common white tailed skimmer dragonfly. The adult males, females and juveniles look somewhat different so this juvenile male is distinctive- more like a female than the adult male it will become. A peculiarity of this photo is that the dragonfly seems to have more than two pairs of wings which is due to shadows cast by the sun.

A very unusual structure is found on one particular individual of musclewood or American hornbeam on our property. These “witches’ brooms” are thought to be growths stimulated by some pathogen ( https://extension.umd.edu/resource/witches-broom-trees/ ). It is not a common thing seen in many places and there does not seem to be any obvious reason for this tree to be infected.

I usually see several box turtles every week during my walks. They are usually adults since the younger turtles are much more cryptic. I am always very happy to see these turtles since they have become rarer as roads kill so many. The proliferation of dogs in parks also contributes to the death of many young turtles which are picked up and crushed.

A mourning dove in our back yard was recently seen in an unusual posture with its wings spread. I have noticed various birds doing something similar which may be related to cleaning of parasites from the feathers. Sometimes ants are thought to be associated with similar behavior. A close up view of a brown headed nuthatch which came to our water bath is quite interesting. This is a small bird with very BIG feet ! The better to cling to bark and walk/run down the tree, providing a different perspective to search for insect prey ( https://woodlandwoman.ca/nuthatches-upside-down/ ).

I enjoy watching the numerous cottontail rabbits in our yard which for the most part do not eat flowers. This bunny feels so comfortable it can stretch out and relax. This is somewhat surprising since we have both bobcats and coyotes in the area but the yard may be somewhat of a refuge from these predators. This was not the case in our Florida residence where I reported previously on a female bobcat that appeared and ate all of our rabbits very quickly. This photo shows a young coyote I saw down along the river where it was looking along the water line for food.

During a recent hike around Saxapahaw Island about six miles upstream from our house I was impressed by an unusually well preserved Indian fishing weir. This particular weir unlike our own has only one primary flume area for trapping fish, likely migrating shad, in baskets. The long sloping sides would have directed the fish to the trap area. Since Indians disappeared from this area in the late 1600’s these weirs must be more than 300 years old, perhaps much older. It is fortunate that the rocks used for construction have persisted for so long allowing us to visualize a long forgotten mode of life.

Despite the heat and humidity I find that it is relatively cool in early morning and very late afternoon to encourage walking and observation of wildlife and flowers. If you can readjust your sleeping to get up very early that makes this schedule much easier. Try it and I think you will like it!