Four-Wheeling Finds in E Hills

Last Sunday the Huz and I took a 4-wheeler trail ride in the E Hills...we have easy access to a trail from our house and we'd probably use it a lot more if we were younger and less affected by the lumpy-bumpiness of the ride...it can wear on a body...thankfully some of the trail is fairly smooth...

We took a side trail off the main one and took a break in our usual spot...out in the peaceful, quiet woods...until this chipmunk came out to tell us emphatically and in no uncertain terms that we were disrupting the natural balance of things, and encroaching on its territory...

The stiff sunflower it turns out...am hoping to see the Nuttall's sunflower...and the Maximillian, which blooms in Aug....

With all the rain we've had this spring/summer, I knew that the pinedrops would be abundant this year. It's from the Indian Pipe Family, very unique as you can see. They're a saprophyte, the roots carry a fungi that enables it to take 'food' from things that are rotting in the soil. Native Americans in E. No. America used the mashed stems of pinedrops as a treatment for saddle sores on their horses. FYI.

I've been looking for a shot of the goatsbeard (a.k.a. yellow salsify) where the two stages are together...the yellow flower matures into this 'dandelion' type orb...properly known as long-beaked achenes. It's waaay larger than a dandelion achenes, tho, at about 3-4" in diameter.

The  trail...

Above, white prairie clover, below the purple prairie clover...they're legumes...as you can see, they bloom from the bottom, up...

While stopped at a favored spot, a field where wildflowers grow...I wandered under the trees behind the field, following a very loud, startling bird sound...didn't find the bird but another one, this Western tanager, found me...not the same one I'd taken photos of previously in a nearby spot...not sure if this is a female or immature/non-breeding male.

Next I'll post more from this outing, including the reason I wanted to be at that particular field...

Birds, Bugs, Blooms

This past Saturday, I took a drive up Iron Mt. Road/Hwy. 16A...I.M. Rd. runs up the NE corner of Custer State Park and further N beyond the park, to the tourist town of Keystone, which is near Mt. Rushmore...the tourists were thick, what was I thinking?! No guts, no glory...

First find was this large 'shroom growing up through a hole in a fallen tree...

A hoary comma managed to pose for me...

Talk about baby blues...one of the bluet damselflies...

An ebony jewelwing damselfly? I've found a site to ID odonata by state/county... it indicates that the ebony jewelwing is not found in this part of S Dakota...I beg to differ...

A small wood nymph...other wood nymphs have spots on the bottom wing as well...

Still within Custer Park, this spotted towhee was crooning away from a treetop, never pausing due to my presence...another one somewhere nearby was echoing his call...

A skipper on bee balm...there are too many skippers to ID this one...

Dakota Lake...I stopped to see if the gentian was in bloom, but instead I found....

Possibly a female or juvie brown-headed cowbird, on one of last year's cattails...

Bugs, on the prairie coneflowers (that look like black-eyed Susans)....

The pink deptford, photo is at least double the actual size...from the Carnation Family...

...And instead of the gentian, the Canada tickclover, a.k.a. showy tick trefoil, a legume...this is a wildflower lifer for me! It's uncommon in the Hills and the first I've seen it in five years of wildflower hunting...

Moving on N., a green bug on a sign, warning against digging due to buried fiber optic cable...it doesn't say anything about loitering...

Finally, a photo of a grasshopper sparrow that has a touch of light in the eye...they've always come out with 'dead' eyes before, and I've taken many photos...

I looped over to Ghost Canyon Rd. but didn't see anything of real interest like I did the first time I drove thru there earlier this year, except a small flock of Canada geese by a watering hole.

Mr. and Mrs. Common Yellowthroat

Last Wed., after a drive along Spring Creek, I headed N. to Vanocker Canyon and my favorite stop along Elk Creek. Stepping into the creekside 'jungle', it wasn't long before I was the subject of a yellowthroat couple's ire and their diligent attempt to shoo me away from a hidden, nearby nest...

First Mr. Yellowthroat was chitt-ing at me, flitting here and there among the shrubs and trees...if he'd of just come out in the open more and held still (the males never do, in my experience, unless at a good distance), I'd of gotten my shots and left quickly...

Mrs. Yellowthroat, however, was like a mama bear protecting her cubs...she gave me the what-for and then some, chitt-ing and flitting about, exposing herself and allowing for several shots. This has got to be one of the best bird photos I've ever gotten to date. I love it!

The silver-spotted skippers were also flitting about on the gravel road

The stiff sunflowers are blooming...there are several types of sunflowers growing wild in the Hills, not just the common sunflower...

A white-winged version of the dark-eyed junco on a dead branch over the creek...

The common tansy, an aster, is blooming...

The Northern crescent butterflies like the gravel too...

The common hops is growing but not mature yet...(yes, the stuff beer is made with)...

It's not often I see blue ox-eye daisies growing wild in the Hills...in one area along the road in Vanocker Canyon, the daisies had been sprayed...weed killer?

The baneberry comes in red or white, and as the name implies it's poisonous (to people and grazing animals)...it's also real hard to find without any worm holes in it...

Spotted knapweed is only occasional in the Hills...I've found that it grows along a county road off of the N. end of the canyon...

As I mentioned in a recent post, the best place to find the dark-red variety of the blanketflower is along the roadside at the N. end of Vanocker Canyon. This is the only dark-red wildflower in the Hills, so for me it really stands out.

Into the Misty Jungle...

Right now the greenery in the Hills is at its utmost peak, and on a muggy day like Wednesday, creeksides do feel like a jungle, it's awesome...but don't forget the mosquito repellent...Wed. I headed out to see what the Hills had to offer along Spring Creek off Sheridan Lake Rd., and then along Elk Creek in Vanocker Canyon...despite the dismal weather. It was mostly overcast, dark, with eventual misty to light rain...but did that stop me? Ha....note that the comparison photos are 'sunny' cause they were taken on a different day...

Above is the ebony jewel-winged damselfly I shared recently...

Below is another damselfly but note the wings are not solid black and are narrower...it may be a banded demoiselle except (from what I see on Google) the wing tips aren't black, the 'band' is below the tips...

Update: Thanks Frank, it sure does appear to be a river jewelwing!

Above is another earlier post, of the woolly vervain (verbena), a common sight right now around the Hills...

Below is the blue vervain, not nearly so common...

A song sparrow ventured out into the mist to send forth a damp tune...

Golden Alexanders along Spring Creek...it's from the carrot family...

Poison ivy is blooming...I've yet (knock on wood) to get a reaction, so either I've yet to come in contact with the resin or I'm not allergic...hope springs eternal that it's the latter...

Someone had a pine cone picnic, didn't clean up their mess!

Was it you?! I guess not...what an earful he gave me for even implying...

Pretty in pink...above, the marsh smartweed (a buckwheat)...below, the spotted joe-pyeweed (an aster)...

Western snowberry is a wild honeysuckle...

I kept thinking this is black-eyed Susan even tho a tiny voice in the back of my pea brain kept saying it was 'off'...BE Sue's center disc is smaller, dome-shaped and all dark-brown (not black actually; see previous post)...field guide says this is a prairie coneflower but my Black Hills "Botany Bible" as I call it, has something totally different for the prairie coneflower...I'm so confused...

The wild red raspberries are ripening...

The sensitive fern is named so due to its fronds' sensitivity to frost, which causes them to shrivel and turn brown...

The cutleaf coneflower has come on strong this year...

Marsh skullcap is another mint...how many mints have I posted so far? More to go...

Wed. I checked out a trailhead on Spring Creek for the first time...rough road getting to it but thankfully it wasn't far off the paved road...the creek banks are just bursting with lush greenery now, which means it only has one way to go unfortunately...but not quite yet.

Tues. I'll post a Part 2, which includes an awesome shot/story...I finally took the time to figure out how to put a water mark on my photos in fact to help protect them from being stolen, I'm so happy with this one shot in particular.