Last night we got more rain, an intense late afternoon downpour along with some big hailstones. After such rains, we’re careful to avoid churning up the trails if they are very muddy. People have a tendency to go around the edges of the puddles, which widens the trails, and churning up muddy trails adds to erosion. So this morning I got to the preserve a little anxious about how our Know Your Nature Neighbors walk would go.
As it turned out, the trail up the sandy hillside to the bluff was very walkable. Annabelle Corboy and Jan Miller helped me lead the group and identify some of those neighbors we saw as we climbed the hill. We had three guests, two of whom had not been introduced to the Glen Rose Yuccas, White-mouth Dayflowers, and other plants and invertebrates that we saw.
It is a privilege to introduce people to all those different living things at the preserve, and to tell something about the stories of their lives. For example, the “toothache tree” or Prickly Ash, whose leaves have a tingly taste when chewed, along with a slight numbing effect (we do not recommend that visitors try chewing or eating anything at the preserve since some things would be unpleasant or even poisonous).
On the lower slopes, some Spiderwort is still blooming, and in places the Dayflower is going strong. And when I looked into it, I found that they’re in the same family! (I can hear it now: “If discovering something new about woodland flowers makes your day, you just might be a nature nerd.”)
We passed a beehive that is easily visible from the trail. Also, we were careful not to annoy the wasps feeding on Spotted Beebalm at the edges of the trail. That turns out to be surprisingly easy. Those big red wasps would fly after you and sting you if you stumbled against their nest, but if you are just politely making your way up the trail – “pardon me, excuse me” as you turn to slip by a few inches away – they are happy to coexist. They will fly off or maybe just ignore you.
It’s easier to walk past butterflies, and I saw one that I mistakenly identified as a Pearl Crescent. Turns out that iNaturalist identified it as a Silvery Checkerspot, which looks pretty similar. One difference is that the hindwings of the Silvery Checkerspot have a row of spots near the margin in which at least a few have white centers. The Pearl Crescent has a similar row of spots but they’re all dark. Silvery Checkerspots are also a little bigger and the edges of the wings have more dark color.
And so this walk was a real delight, and there was much more to see than obscure details of butterfly wings. Our guests said they enjoyed it and would like to join us again – and we would love that!
