The Bruce Peninsula Part IV: Roadside Plants & Critters

 *Part I* *Part II* *Part III* *Part IV* *Part V* *Part VI* *Part VII*

I'm back and ready to march on with my seven part series on the wild and wonderful Bruce peninsula. However, this time around I'd like to do something a bit different. Instead of focusing on a specific place and exploring its depth, I'd like to share the plethora of plant and animal life one can come across by sticking to the roads. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the Bruce is largely an untamed wilderness that's comprised of national park land and nature reserves, and thus quite conducive to high diversity. Roadside botanizing can produce great results and many times one doesn't have to walk much further than a few meters to see dozens and dozens of wildflowers in the spring time.

So with that being said, I'd like to start things off and share some of my favorite wildflowers and critters my group and I came across during our week there in early June. Each photo will be accompanied by a little information but the pictures will definitely do most of the talking!

Incredible wildflower display at Cabot Head

The rule is usually to save the best for last but I thought I'd try and grab everyone's attentions right away with the phenomenal wildflower display at Cabot Head. The open meadows are completely covered in a primary color explosion come early June. Scarlet paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea), balsam squaw-weed (Packera paupercula), and northern blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium montanum) all pop off the landscape unlike anything I'd seen before or since.

Starflower (Trientalis borealis)

Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense)

Two common spring-blooming flowers that occur throughout the Bruce's cool, shaded coniferous forests are the starflower (Trientalis borealis) and Canada mayflower (Maianthemum candense). Both occur in Ohio, too, but they are done flowering by the time they get going this far north. Botanizing up here is like a literal time machine in the spring!

Wild Prickly Rose (Rosa acicularis) 

Some wildflowers only look attractive; others are better suited to be enjoyed with your olfactories. Then there's the ones that are a two-for-one and treat both senses well like the wild prickly rose (Rosa acicularis). This northern species can often be smelled before it's seen, although it would be pretty difficult to not immediately see their bright pink blossoms.

Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)

Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)

An intriguing member of the Bruce's roadside flora is the rare male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas). Like many other odd species in the Great Lakes region, the male fern is a disjunct occurrence this far east. It's much more widespread and common out West but only grows in a few scattered locations this far east. Male fern was one of the dozens of life plants I had the pleasure of making acquaintances with while up there and was a surprise find!

Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum)

If ferns aren't exactly your thing and not aesthetically appealing enough to make you want to visit the Bruce then I think I have you covered with the gorgeous wood lily (Lilium philadelphicum). Come mid-June the dry, gravelly roadsides and other open areas explode in fire orange as the lilies open their tepal (petals and sepals that look identical) perfection. Wood lilies are excruciatingly rare in Ohio and I easily saw more along a mile of roadside on the Bruce than still exists in the entire state. That's a sight I never, ever got tired of!

Showy Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium reginae) 

Yet another stunning wildflower to be found in select spots along the Bruce's roadsides is the stately showy or queen's lady's slipper (Cypripedium reginae). They bloom in the second half of June and weren't ready to show off during our 2015 visit but we did find several spots getting ready to bloom. The photo here was from my 2011 trip. 

Large Yellow Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium pubescens)

Northern Small Yellow Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium parviflorum var. makasin)

The Bruce is an orchid wonderland and not a single post during this long series will be bereft of their beauty. I wish I had a photo to really show off exactly how common and dense the yellow lady's slippers are along the roadsides in many spots but even then it wouldn't do much to beat seeing them in person. Both the large and northern small yellow lady's slippers (Cypripedium pubescens & C. parviflorum var. makasin) occur and can often times form extensive hybrid swarms of integrating plants, making true identification one way or the other nigh on impossible.

Female Ruffed Grouse with her chicks, sadly not seen in photo

One of my favorite roadside happenings was seeing a gorgeous female ruffed grouse perched on a log not more than ten feet off the road. She stayed completely still for a long while and allowed for some photos to be taken. It was easily the best, and really only time I've seen this bird up close. Most times they're exploding at/near my feet and about giving me a heart attack. My friends, Paul Marcum and his wife Jean Mengelkoch were in the car behind mine and later informed me she had a line of chicks with her! A shame I didn't have the angle to see them...

Fire Cherry (Prunus pensylvanica)

Prickly Currant (Ribes lacustre)

A couple neat woody plants exhibiting their pretty flowers during our stay were the fire cherry (Prunus pensylvanica) and prickly currant (Ribes lacustre). I'd seen fire cherry a handful of times before when botanizing up north but the prickly currant was a new life plant for me and curiously growing literally right beside our cabin. Nice to find a lifer without much effort!

Limber Honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica)

One of the best parts of the Bruce is the fact that invasive species, while present are fewer and farther between and not nearly the issue they are down home's way. While honeysuckle is largely heard as an evil name in Ohio, the Bruce is home to a handful of indigenous honeysuckle vines/shrubs like the limber honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica) featured here. It occurs all over the place in large, dense tangles and was in picture perfect flower.

American Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis)

Swamp Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera oblongifolia)

A couple more native honeysuckles I was fortunate enough to see while on the Bruce was swamp fly honeysuckle (L. oblongifolia) and American fly honeysuckle (L. canadensis). Both are more shrubby in form and have exquisite blossoms. Interestingly, the American fly honeysuckle (odd it's commonly called American with the epithet meaning 'of Canada') was just barely still in flower at the beginning of my trip; the the swamp fly honeysuckle just barely starting to bloom on my last day. It felt like I timed it just right to get both on my list!

Black bear out foraging in a meadow

One of the best critter sightings of the trip was a large black bear foraging in a meadow off the road. Black bears are a common occurrence throughout the Bruce but I'd yet to lay eyes on one in the flesh. This fella was a few hundred yards away and my zoom lens was able to get a decent shot or two. Hilariously, my friend Rob decided to do his best moose call impression and got the bear to stand up on its back legs and look back our way a few times!

Federally Threatened Dwarf Lake Iris (Iris lacustris)

Federally Threatened Dwarf Lake Iris (Iris lacustris)

No tribute to the region's best roadside botany would be complete without mention of the federally threatened dwarf lake iris (Iris lacustris). I went into more detail about this globally rare wonder in my earlier post on the Singing Sands but its splendor was more than worth sharing again! I tossed in an iPhone photo with my hand in the frame to give you a grasp on just how dainty these irises are.

A splendid wetland complex full of awesome flora

Wetlands dot the landscape throughout the northern half of the peninsula and just about every one of them is worth taking the time to explore. One particular boggy pond near our cabin was full of exciting plants, including a mass of one in perfect flower I almost never get to see.

Bog Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)

Bog Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)

The bog buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) isn't a rare plant to come across while up in the northern Great Lakes by any stretch but finding it blooming en masse can be a fickle task. One edge of the pond was covered in the stuff and a wonderful chance to enjoy their unique flowers adorned with hair-like fringing. The pseudo-bottom of the pond was covered in a thick mat of dead, sunken vegetation that could just barely hold my weight and keep the waterline below my boots. One wrong step could, and did a time or two send my leg plunging deeper down and soaking me thoroughly. Well worth it to see such a wonderful wildflower!

Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)

Perhaps my favorite plant of all to be found in the northern woods is the bunchberry (Cornus canadensis). This member of the dogwood genus is a small trailing vine/shrub that produces stunning flowering dogwood-like bracts and flower clusters each spring but at your feet instead of above your head. The Bruce is covered with the stuff and I never, ever got tired of seeing it.

Flat-leaved Bladderwort (Utricularis intermedia)

Northern Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea var. purpurea)

Even the roadside wet ditches can be a botanical treasure trove up on the Bruce. In the more secluded back roads it wasn't uncommon to see long stretches of ditch covered in a medley of carnivorous plants such as the northern pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea var. purpurea) and flat-leaved bladderwort (Utricularia intermedia). If only home's roadside ditches could be this cool, eh?

Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

The large patches of wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) were impossible to miss with their ruby red flowers quivering in the cool breezes. Not too shabby a place when your roadside 'weeds' are gobs of columbines!

Blanding's Turtle!

Blanding's Turtle!

Hands down my favorite wildlife sighting during our Bruce trip was also our most serendipitous find. While cruising over to the Cabot Head region along the Georgian Bay we happened across this Blanding's turtle trying to cross the road. I'd never seen one before but instantly recognized it by its distinct yellow markings. As it turns out, Blanding's turtles are quite rare in Ontario, as they are in Ohio and listed as a threatened species. Rob turned in an electronic record for our sighting in the Ontario database and was shocked to see this was only the second or third recorded sighting of a Blanding's turtle on the Bruce in the last 20 years! Hopefully that's just folks being lazy and not turning in their data and they're more common than that. Regardless, it was so awesome to spend time with this increasingly rare but always beautiful reptilian critter.

Red Thimbleweed (Anenome multifida)

Yet another example of the Great Lakes playing home to disjunct western plants is the red thimbleweed (Anenome multifida). I had hopes to find some and managed to luck out on a single flowering plant along the road. The sun was bright and the wind constantly blowing so I only managed a quick iPhone photo and figured I'd come back with my camera for a better chance later in the day...only to come back to the petals fallen! Quite the ephemeral flower, I'd say. Even so, it was another check next to a life plant on my list! The magic of the Bruce continues.

Rough-leaved Ricegrass (Oryzopsis asperifolia)

Sweet Grass (Hierochloe odorata)

I'll cap off this long blog of Bruce roadside botany with a pair of grasses to please my inner grami-nerd'ness. The rough-leaved ricegrass (Oryzopsis asperifolia) won't win any awards for its looks but as a critically endangered species back home in Ohio and a life plant, I was ecstatic to find some! On the other hand, sweet grass (Hierochloe odorata) isn't nearly as rare in Ohio but is restricted to higher-quality fens and wet meadows. Always nice to see and get a whiff of its sweet aroma!

I hope everyone enjoyed this look at but a small sampling of the pretty, rare, unusual, exciting etc. plants one might find along the Bruce's roadsides in spring. I also hope you're enjoying this series as it hits its mid point! I have three more posts to go and think the best is yet to come. So check back soon for more on the wild and wonderful Bruce peninsula!

- ALG -

Showy Lady's Slippers at Cedar Bog!

My previously promised series on my time in the Adirondacks of upstate New York are in the works and will be arriving this week.  I just wanted to take this time to get a quick public service announcement out there to all interested parties that the showy lady's slippers (Cypripedium reginae) are nearing peak bloom at Cedar Bog now! I wrote about them in much greater detail last year in a post that can be found right here.   I was too busy to publish the post before/during their flowering period last year and wanted to correct that this time around!

Showy Lady's Slipper Orchid - Cypripedium reginae)

If you've never seen these beauties in person before, I couldn't recommend some time spent with them more.  It's worth the drive from any corner of Ohio to see our largest and arguably "showiest" orchid in perfect bloom.  Your blogger was there earlier last week to do a census count on the population; something that had apparently never been done and I was more than happy to take the time to do so.  The final count was almost 500 flowering plants.  That's almost 500 gorgeous reasons to get in your car and make the drive to Cedar Bog sometime this week.  There's plenty more to see than just these so make sure to walk all around the boardwalk trail and see what other fascinating plants and habitats it has in store.

Just please be sure to remain on the boardwalk at all times; each year it seems to get worse with trampled "livestock" paths off the boardwalk to the best clumps of these orchids.  These rare plants take up to a decade or more to reach flowering maturing and can live for decades more as they grow into larger, double-flowered specimens.  No one wants to see all that time and potential lost because of our own over-eager attempts to see them closer and more personally.  So if you have telephoto lenses or good zooms on your camera utilize them and not your feet!

Cedar Bog is located near Urbana, Ohio in Champaign county.  You can check out their website for directions and more information here: http://www.cedarbognp.org/.

Shoreline Fens of the Bruce Peninsula

I wonder if it's perhaps time to start rethinking the name of this blog.  With the amount of out-of-state traveling and botanizing I do throughout the surrounding states and regions, I feel like it has as much to do with the natural treasures of those places as it does with home sweet Ohio.  I'm only thinking out loud and have no real intentions of tackling the matter but it does stand to reason this blog is much more than just the fine buckeye state!  Recent times have seen focus on some of those extended forays; such as upstate New York and the southern Adirondacks, as well as the cranberry glades of West Virginia.  All were quite tardy and well past due but still worth the time to produce and share.  That being said, your blogger has decided to keep with that theme and travel back in time even further to catch up on some old business!  What better way to waste away the last days of winter with some warming tales of summers past?

A couple years ago during the summer of 2011 found myself wandering the botanical and geological masterpiece that is the Bruce peninsula in Ontario, Canada.  I began to weigh in on my travels and findings a ways back but lost track and it unfortunately got lost in the shuffle.  I'd like to dive back in and finish up my tales of the Bruce before spring fully awakens and my blogging switches back to more relevant topics.

Large shoreline fen complexes the Bruce peninsula is widely known for

One of the most spectacular aspects to this limestone derived slab of the Niagara escarpment are its huge expanses of shoreline fen complexes.  Unlike the small, isolated fens that pocket west-central and northeast Ohio, these graminoid dominated ecosystems stretch on as far as the eye can see in some places and are hundreds of acres in size.  Lake Huron's adjacent nippy waters play a direct role in the hydrology of these fens and keep their soils saturated and thriving with spike rushes (Eleocharis spp.), sedges (Carex spp.), and other fascinating flora characteristic of this habitat-type.  Areas of the Bruce such as Dorcas Bay, Petrel Point, Oliphant, and Red Bay claim prime examples of these shoreline wetlands and their associating plants; some of which are exhibited below.

Northern Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

My mid-June visit happened to coincide with the en masse blooming of the fen's most noticeable occupant: the northern pitcher plant.  Literally thousands of its large, blood-red flowers were suspended over the stunted pitchers growing below in the nutrient-poor and mucky soil.  The wetland almost seemed to suffer from an aggressive case of the chickenpox due to the mass-flowering of pitcher plants.

N. Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

N. Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

The chilled, water saturated muck and marl soil of fens rarely hold any appreciable amount of nutrients (most specifically nitrogen) and require some plants to find ulterior methods for fulfilling their nutritional needs.  For the pitcher plants, sundews (Drosera spp.), and bladderworts (Utricularia spp.) that grow and persist in these fens, that other tactic is being insectivorous.

Linear-leaved Sundew (Drosera linearis)

Linear-leaved sundew's (Drosera linearis) glistening, enticing leaves intermingled with the pitcher plants across the swathe of fen and established an intimidating web of death for any winged insect.  Upon capture through a plant's own unique practices, the insects are broken down by the plant's natural enzymes and converted into a usuable form and ingested.  Speaking from experience itself, I don't see how these plants could ever go hungry with the unlimited number of mosquitoes, midges, and biting flies etc. that abound.

Fen orchid (Liparis loeselii)

Fen orchid (Liparis loeselii)

Naturally, my main draw to the Bruce was its famous flora and most specifically its orchid diversity.  At the conclusion of my week spent there, I found no less than 20 species of orchid at one stage of its seasonal life cycle or another.  One of the most exciting of orchid discoveries occurred while scanning the drier hummocks of Oliphant fen for anything unusual.  The appropriately named fen orchid or Loesel's twayblade (Liparis loeselii) may pale in comparison to the physique of the forthcoming orchids in this post but their intricate lime-green flowers don't fail to impress.

Large expanse of shoreline fen on the Bruce peninsula

Gazing out across the open meadows allows your mind to soak in the details and impressive size of the Bruce's shoreline fens.  Come July these wetlands come alive with a pink/purple sea of rose pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) and grass pink (Calopogon tuberosus) orchids that would make even the least botanically-interested stop and take notice.

Cotton Grass (Eriophorum viridicarinatum)

Cotton Grass (Eriophorum viridicarinatum)

My visit was a few weeks too early for the orchid fireworks show and I was instead greeted with the conspicuous fruiting stalks of cotton grass (Eriophorum viridicarinatum) gently weaving in the cool breezes off Lake Huron.

Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum)

Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum)

Another strikingly white and easily discernible plant showing off its seasonal charm throughout the fens was Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum).  This was a huge get for your blogger and provided a very satisfying opportunity to photograph and mark off another predominant life species; not to mention finally experience the spicy and refreshing aroma of its crushed foliage.

Shrubby, wooded borders of the fen complexes

Surrounding the large fen complexes were cool, mossy coniferous swamp forests comprised of white cedar (Thuja occidentalis), balsam-fir (Abies balsamea), tamarack (Larix laricina), and black spruce (Picea mariana) that allowed for even more fascinating plant life to mesh at their margins.

Showy Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium reginae)

The most exciting of those plants utilizing the forested margins of the fen meadows was easily the showy lady's slippers (Cypripedium reginae).  I was lucky enough to feel the adrenaline of coming across a flowering clump of these majestic orchids twice during my stay on the Bruce.

Showy Lady's Slippers (C. reginae)

Showy Lady's Slippers (C. reginae)

I'd seen this species many times before back home in Ohio but the chance encounters here were not taken for granted and still sit high on my list of most exciting and appreciable finds.  The contrasting pink and white of their remarkable flowers is set perfectly against the vivid greens of the cedars and surrounding vegetation; it's hard to think they could ever really hide from anyone with such a loud display.

Sage-leaved Willow (Salix candida)

Shining Willow (Salix lucida)

It's not only the fen's herbaceous plant life that is endlessly diverse and intriguing but its woody plant compositions and associations as well.  While walking through a shrubbier section of the Dorcas Bay complex I came across many species of willow (Salix spp.) either already in fruit or just breaking bud.  One of the most noticeable was the accurately named sage-leaved willow (S. candida) with its silver-green foliage reminiscent of the western state's sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) plant.  Another shrubby willow in the fen's thickets and borders was the shining willow (S. lucida) just coming into flower.  The above photo on the right exhibits the shining willow's golden staminate flowers.

Wet area of the sedge meadow full of bladderwort (Utricularia spp.) flowers

In the soupier, more saturated parts of the fens grew a host of weird and unusual plants, including another of the Bruce's numerous carnivorous species.  The speckling of yellow flowers in the water-logged area above belong to the flat-leaved bladderwort (Utricularia intermedia).  The bladderwort's "roots" have a series of bladders that pull in water and its accompanying tiny invertebrates to digest and break down in a similar fashion to the aforementioned sundews and pitcher plants.

Tall White Bog Orchid (Platanthera dilatata)

Just beginning to break bud among the bladderworts was a species of orchid I had never laid eyes on before and was pleasantly surprised to find in flower.  Tall white bog orchid (Platanthera dilatata) has been found and recorded in Ohio's northern surrounding states but never Ohio itself, despite some habitat existing during pre-settlement times.

Tall White Bog Orchid (P. dilatata)

Tall White Bog Orchid (P. dilatata)

Also known as white bog candles, this orchid ranges clear across the continent in its northern boreal habitat and additionally in the higher elevations of the mountain west.  Throughout its range taxonomists have separated it into three varieties depending on the size comparisons between the inflorescence's spur and lip.  Here on the Bruce and the rest of the eastern half of the continent only the typical variety (P. dilatata var. dilatata) occurs.

Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) in fruit

Small Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos)

Not all is fair in botany though; the success of a find is often followed by the sting of defeat.  I had hopes of seeing a major lifer, the buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) in flower but as it turned out the sole time I came across some the flowers were long gone and the fruits swelling with maturity.  I'll just have to return earlier in the season to catch their sensational flowers scattered throughout the wet meadows.  Certainly something you wouldn't have to pull my hair to get me to do!  On the opposite side of the flowering spectrum the small cranberries (Vaccinium oxycoccos) were just beginning to get going and carpeted small areas of the fens with their reddish-white, nodding blossoms.

Northern Leopard Frog

My time spent on the Bruce may be approaching two years in the past but I still often times find myself reminiscing on my experiences and discoveries with aspirations of returning sooner than later.  I've been fortunate to have done quite a bit of traveling across our continent in my life thus far and while many places are worth remembering, it's spots like the Bruce peninsula that you leave a piece of year heart behind upon your return home.  There is still plenty to share on the Bruce's wonders and I hope to get to them.  No matter how delayed they may be, their song deserves to be sung for all to hear.