Pine sap, beech drops, and flying ants

August seems to be a good time to find the parasites in the botanical world. First a definition-parasite(in the plant world) refers to any plant that feeds solely off another plant(host plant), but not always harming the host.

In this case I’m referring to the non-chlorophyll-producing plants-like Indian pipes, beech drops(pictured above), pine sap, and giant bird’s-nest.

So what are they living off of? In the soil, growing among the many roots of nearby plants, are tiny hair-like fibers known as mycorrhizal fungi. These fibers are supporting the bigger tree & wildflower roots. But it is these mycorrhizal fibers that the pine sap, and others, are getting their nutrients from.

A slight deviation from that relationship is the parasitic life of beech drops which live entirely off of the nutrients of a host beech tree (Fagus grandifolia) root system. If you could dig down along the stem of beech drops you would find a connection directly to the beech tree root.

Amazing to think that there is a whole other world of plant relationships under the soil that we are just beginning to unravel!

A great spot to observe these parasitic plants(better in early August) is along the new trail system at Henry’s Woods in Lake Placid.

Other notes from the field are the recent swarming of winged ants that are coming out of their underground tunnels to fly around, mate, and then die…all in about 24 hours!

As I waited at a traffic light one early evening I saw hundreds of flying insects flying through shafts of sunlight and then they would disappear in the shadows. As I later parked my car at home I could see thousands of winged ants crawling all over the lawns, looking as if the ground was literally moving under my feet.

Can anyone tell us the species of these ants??

The next day I saw a large group of ring-billed gulls flying in circles and feeding on the flying ants. As a human I can relate to this….when blueberries come into season, I’m all over those fields plucking berries for a few days!

Photo Credit: Beech Drops(wikipedia)

Getting to know the Composite family

I always look forward to the gentle slide from late summer to early fall; the cooling nights that require one more layer on the bed; the sounds of crickets calling through the windless nights; and….having to re-learn all the goldenrods that I forgot last fall. This can be a pain in the aster!…sorry.

Anyways, I truly devote a few days each August to carefully look over the latest batch of goldenrods along the trail. But everytime I open the field guide I’m overwhelmed w/the possibilities.

The Peterson Field Guide to Wildflowers devotes 7 pages to the voluminous goldenrod family. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide crams 30 species of goldenrod into 4 pages – not to mention the 37 species of aster that follow on the next five pages.

Well, have no fear, the New York Flora Association is here. On their blog they offer a few websites that look specifically at goldenrods and asters. However, I missed the memo on changing the family “Aster” to “Symphiotrichum”. I need a degree in plant taxonomy to understand that change!

Having said all this I think it best for you to go out to your favorite sunny trail and just admire, and learn if you’d like, all the wonderful goldenrods and “asters” that joyously demand our attention.

Locally I’ve enjoyed “botanizing” along the very level trail of Bloomingdale Bog (access off Rout 86 in Saranac Lake or Rout 55 near the hamlet of Bloomingdale) where I just found New York “Aster” growing. Another good site for both species is the north end of Adirondac Loj Road outside Lake Placid. Just by walking(carefully) along the road you might find 5-8 species of goldenrod.

On a walk up Cascade Mt last year, we found a few species of goldenrod that will only grow at higher elevations.  And while walking  over the boardwalk on the Forest Ecology Trail of the Paul Smiths Visitor Center, you will find Bog Goldenrod peaking its yellow head above her fellow bog plants.

Gosh, I’ve run out of time! Looks like next blog I’ll have to talk about the three species of Joe-Pye Weed and 8 species of Sunflower….you gotta love the composites!

Photo Credit: goldenrods among the blueberries-Brian McAllister

Shorebirds on the move

Shorebirds(by that I mean the family of birds made up of sandpipers, plovers, and related species) are slowly winging their way south from that magical region in Canada known as the tundra. Having arrived there in mid to late May, shorebirds quickly take advantage of the sun-warmed tundra surface to breed.

It’s not always that welcoming in the tundra with the occasional late spring snowstorm that arrives or the lingering snow-pac and ice still clinging to the shorelines of many tundra lakes and ponds. But a breeding pair usually find a soft, protected spot of tundra ground to hollow-out and call home.

The shorebirds endure the often chilly days and nights and eventually produce eggs and successfully brood/hatch 2 to 3 young on average, during June and early July. Again, the dangers of tundra living await the young in the forms of predatory falcons, jaegers, fox,  and the fearless gulls that come looking for an easy meal.

Once reaching fully-fledged status, the young are on their own(can fly after about 20 days). In the paradoxical world of idyllic settings of nature, we find many bird species (after a few quick lessons in feeding) leaving their young to fend for themselves.

Shorebird females are usually the first to leave the breeding grounds, then the males, followed by the “hatch-year” young a couple weeks later. All eventually “regroup” on the wintering grounds of coastal South America(Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil)

OK, but how do the Adirondacks enter into this amazing migration pattern? Well, we are not on a huge flyway for shorebird migration but we do get few winging their way over the Eastern Adirondacks, specifically along the Lake Champlain Valley.

On this map you can find Hudson Bay, and it’s smaller “tongue” of James Bay, directly north of the Great Lakes. Many shorebirds nest along the shorelines of these bays and nearby tundra. During the “fall” migration south(from late July to late September) many species of shorebird use a direct flight path from James Bay south through Ontario and Quebec, and are often funneled down through the Champlain Valley, eventually reaching the Hudson Valley and out to the Atlantic Ocean. Once on the ocean, most shorebirds make a bee-line for S. America!

Where should I look for shorebirds? In the agricultural fields of eastern Clinton and Essex Co’s., and over in Addison Co., VT, take a look at newly-plowed fields. It gets even better if there is standing water along the rows of the fields. This draws out the insects from the mud and reveals a good food source for the shorebirds.

One notable migration stop-over site is Noblewood Park, in Willsboro, NY. Slowly walk out onto the sand spit that builds-up at the mouth of the Boquet River. In mid August to late September, look carefully for some shorebirds and gulls sitting along the sand-spit.

Just watching one sandpiper feeding along the shore allows you a glimpse into the monumental journey that these bird make twice a year from Canadian tundra to the warm beaches of a South American winter.

Photo credit: Semipalmated sandpiper – Wikipedia photo