Today’s Ramble was lead by Linda Chafin.

Here’s the link to Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos, except those credited otherwise, in this post
are compliments of Don.)

Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt, Linda Chafin and
Don Hunter.

Attendees: 25

Announcements:

Visit
this page to see
the current Announcements.

Today’s reading: Ed read excerpts from an article about recent discoveries in Lichen
symbiosis in a recent issue of The Atlantic
magazine. You can find the article here.

Don
read a Robert Service poem, Fallen Leaves,
appropriate to the first day of Fall. You can find the text of the poem here.

Today’s
route: We took a quick trip through the Shade Garden,
stopping only to look at the Hurricane Lilies, then crossed the road on the
White trail, turned off the trail briefly to examine the test plots for getting
rid of Bermuda and Fescue grasses, then rambled up the Power line ROW before
returning back to the Arbor.

Bald-faced Hornet (L) and European Hornet (R)

Hornets at the Arbor: The White Oak next to the Arbor is still seeping sap and the fermenting sap continues to attract a variety of insects. This morning the show consisted of European Hornets and a single Bald-faced Hornet. The larger Europeans succeeded in chasing off the Bald-faced.

Today’s
focus: Grasses. While we were still at the Arbor Linda
passed around examples of three easily recognized grasses: River Oats, Yellow
Indian Grass and Foxtail and told us a little about how grasses differ from
other flowering plants. The flowers of grasses are much reduced. Being
wind-pollinated they have no use for petals, nectaries or floral scents. A
grass inflorescence consists of spikelets, each of which contains 1 or more
florets. The group of spikelets that make up the flower cluster is also known
as the seed head.

River Oats

In River Oats the groups of spikelets resemble fish, a
similarity that gives rise to another common name: Fish-on-a-Pole.

Yellow Indiangrass seed with awn (Sam C. Strickland, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)

Yellow Indiangrass flower with stigma and yellow anthers. (Carolyn Fannon, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)

The spikelets of Yellow Indian Grass are much
more diffusely arranged, creating a yellowish haze when viewed from a distance.
Linda recommends a trip down GA-15 this time of year to see the numerous stands
of Yellow Indian Grass on the roadside. An awn,
bent at an angle, is attached to each seed. When the seed is ripe and falls to
the ground the awn twists and turns in response to changes in humidity. This
twisting action drives the seed into the ground and the bristles on the seed
surface keep it buried.

Grasses are wind pollinated, so to ensure that each flower captures enough pollen to fertilize its ovum the stigma has an enormous surface area. It looks like a bottle brush hanging out of the spikelet. Similarly, the pollen dispensing anthers dangle out of the spikelet allowing the pollen free access to the air so it may be carried to the exposed stigmas of other plants plants.

Yellow Foxtail Grass

The Yellow Foxtail grass, a non-native, has a
distinctive cluster of spikelets at the end of the stem. It looks like the
bushy tail of a Fox. 

After this brief introduction we left the Arbor and
hustled through the Shade Garden, stopping only once, near the bottom. 

Hurricane Lilies

At
the bottom of the Shade Garden some Hurricane
Lilies (also known as Surprise Lily
or Red Spider Lily) are still blooming
(we saw this group three weeks ago). These flowers are native to China and
Japan and are in the Amaryllis family, which means that nearly every part is
toxic – even deer will leave them alone. The Hurricane in the name refers to
the late summer season in which the flowers appear, about the time when
hurricanes or tropical storms begin to threaten the Atlantic coastal states.
The odd thing about the plants is that the flower and foliage appear at
different times of the year. The naked stems with their flowers emerge suddenly
during late summer (the origin of the Surprise name) but the foliage only
appears after the flowers are gone. It persists sometimes through the winter
and then disappears in the spring. There is no sign of the plant during the
summer until the flower stalk pops up again in August.

Japanese Stilt Grass (Nepalese Browntop, Microstegium)

Microstegium (Japanese Stilt
Grass, Nepalese Browntop): This plant looks like a miniature bamboo. The midvein
of the leaf is silvery or pale and shiny, and is slightly off center; the leaf
blades are 2-4 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide. It is an annual plant
producing numerous seeds that can remain dormant in the soil for up to 5 years.
Control is achieved by pulling plants before they flower. Mowing is less effective
because the plants simply flower on shorter stalks. The best control is
preventing it from establishing. In addition to the long viability in the seed
bank the seeds are tiny and easily transported on soil that adheres to shoes or
automobile tires. Linda has observed Microstegium
on the Appalachian trail where only hikers could have brought it in. 

Our expert on the control of invasive plants, Gary Crider, said that Microstegium can be controlled with an herbicide that is grass-specific. The active ingredient of one such product is Sethoxydim, a compound that inhibits the formation of lipids in grasses. (Lipids are components of cell membranes.) More information about Sethoxydim can be found at this Cornell University Weed Ecology and Management Laboratory website. Gary also says that this herbicide is available locally.

Grass removal test plots: Linda gave an overview of the Garden’s native prairie conversion project. Over thirty years ago the area between the road and the White trail was planted in Bermuda grass. The first task in creating a native prairie is to get rid of the Bermuda grass, which is difficult to control because it is very resistant to most herbicides. The Bermuda eradication project is being funded by a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences. Different methods of removal are being tested in this area. When all the grass has been successfully removed from one of the plots the Garden is planting it with native prairie species to get them established. All the new plants were grown, plugged and planted by Heather Alley and her staff. Approximately half a dozen species have already been planted, including Yellow Indian Grass.

Cool and Warm
season grasses.
Two types of grasses are defined by their periods of active growth and
flowering. Cool-season grasses start growth either during the winter or in
early spring and flower in late spring. Warm-season grasses begin growth in
spring and flower in late summer and fall.

More about Bermuda Grass

Following
are excerpts about Bermuda grass from All
About Weeds, by Edwin Rollin Spencer. First published (as Just Weeds) in 1940, before the use of chemical
herbicides, it is of
interest for the recommended methods of control, as well as the delightful writing style. The author is also willing to
see several sides of a controversy. In this book weeds are neither wholly evil or wholly good. Spencer (Ph.D, University of Illinois) was
a farmer as well as a Professor of Biology at what was then Southeast Missouri State Teachers College (subsequently Southeast Missouri State College and, later, University) in Cape
Girardeau, Missouri.

   No one in the South has to be told what Bermuda
grass is, but some Southerners should be told that it is not entirely a weed.
That it is bad under certain conditions the most ardent advocate of the plant
has to admit. It can take a cornfield or a cotton patch, and the farmer who
hopes completely to eradicate it from his cultivated fields can expect to fight
throughout a growing season, and be ever on the lookout every season
thereafter.

   But
Bermuda grass has virtues as well as faults. It is the peer of grazing grasses.
It has no equal as a pasture grass, especially in the South. . . . It has two faults as a lawn grass: it starts late in the spring and
it refuses to grow in the slightest shade. Of course, the lawn owner wants a
grass that will shoot up green as soon as the growing season starts. The
Bermuda grass will not do this, but in July and August when other lawn grasses
have to be pampered the Bermuda grass is luxuriant.

   It
is in the pasture that the Bermuda grass excels, however. A good field of
Bermuda will pasture five head of cattle to the acre throughout the growing
season. . . .

   For
the information of him who does not know Bermuda grass it should be said that
its general appearance is somewhat like that of Crab grass. It has the
fingerlike fruiting top that the Crab grass has, but the fingers are smaller
and much shorter than those of the Crab grass. They also extend out
horizontally, almost perpendicular to the supporting stem. The leaves are not nearly so long as those of the Crab grass, and much finer
in texture and there are runners sent out from the main bunches. . . .

   The prejudice against Bermuda grass has all come about because
the southern farmer does not know how to keep it out of his cultivated fields.
This is easily done by shallow plowing of the field just before the ground
freezes in late autumn or early winter. After the ground freezes the Bermuda is
easily killed. This one plowing, which turns the rootstalks up on top of the ground,
and so destroys them by freezing, leaves little to be done except the essential
cultivation of the next year. . . .

   The feeling against the Bermuda is so great that farmers in the
South refuse to allow a field to produce Bermuda hay. They fight Bermuda all
summer and buy hay all winter. Only the dairymen of the South seem to
appreciate fully the value of this wonderful weed. Ten or twelve acres of
Bermuda grass are the equivalent of five or six times that acreage of bluegrass
or red top and timothy. . . .

   It
is one of the very best plants to use for controlling soil erosion. Ditches may
be actually filled by planting a few bunches of Bermuda grass in the bottoms of
them. It will hold dams for impounding water almost as effectively as a
concrete core and it can be used very effectively on terrace outlets or
spillways. There are so many places where Bermuda grass will grow and serve the
landowner that it is almost sacrilege to call it a weed, but what else is it
when the enraged farmer finds that it has choked large areas of his cotton
plants to death?

Beefsteak plant (Perilla mint)

On the way up the power line ROW Gary pointed out the Perilla mint (Beefsteak
plant) that he and Linda agree is becoming another invasive species. It is
widely used in Chinese, Korean and Japanese cuisine. There are reports in the
United States of toxicity issues in cattle, but there is no clear evidence that
all varieties of the plant or even all parts of the plant are responsible.
These reports are at variance with the usage of the herb in Japan and Korea.

Grasses
in the Elaine Nash prairie.

Several species are currently flowering or about to.
Those that we took special note of were Purple Love grass, Purple Top (or Greasy
grass), Little Bluestem, Beaked panic grass and Silver Plume Grass.

Purple Love Grass

Seed heads of Purple Top Grass (Greasy Grass)

 Purple Top Grass: Edwin Spencer (in All About Weeds) says that “Stock almost never eat it; never after its beautiful panicle of flowers is formed, for there is a viscid substance that issues from the branches of the panicle and from the stem below it, and that substance has a strange odor. It is the odor that gives the tang to the evening air that time of year; a peculiar, Oriental smell that is almost entrancing to some nostrils, but is evidently disgusting to those of grazing stock. For this reason it is on the increase. Nearly every roadside is lined with it now, and it is likely to be seen in partially grazed pastures, in neglected town lots and in unmown farm fence rows.”

Little Bluestem flowers; when tapped clouds of pollen are released from the brown anthers and float away.

Silver Plume grass; note the tiny stamens hanging from the flower spikes.

Gulf Fritillary; compare the upper surface with the Variegated Fritillary.

Gulf Fritillary; silver spots are absent in the Variegated Fritillary

Variegated Fritillary

Variegated Fritillary: Last week we saw the distinctive  caterpillar of the Variegated Fritillary feeding on Purple Passionflower vines. Today we spotted an adult butterfly warming itself up in the sun. This species is a little drab, compared to the Gulf Fritillary — it lacks the dazzling silver spots on the under surface of the wings. It has a larger host range — the caterpillars can be found feeding on violets as well as Passionflower vines.

Potter wasp nests

Potter
wasp nest. George discovered two small clay jugs, the work of
a potter wasp. Even Alice was impressed with the workmanship. Each little jug
was assembled from tiny globs of clay, carried one at a time by a single wasp
builder. Once constructed the wasp provisions the little jug with caterpillar
prey that she hunts and subdues with a sting. When the jug is full she lays a
single egg and then seals the opening with a glob of mud. The wasp grub feeds
on the caterpillar and, after pupating, has to chew its way out of the sealed
nest. One of the two nests on the twig had several tiny holes in the wall.
These were probably made by parasitoids that either fed on the potter wasp
larva or on the paralyzed caterpillars in the nest.

Ailanthus Webworm Moth

Ailanthus
webworm moth

This curious looking and colorful moth is commonly
seen all summer into fall. It was originally found only in tropical regions,
but began to appear when the Ailanthus tree was planted in the US. Ailanthus is
native to China and became a popular urban tree because it was very tolerant of
pollution. The moth discovered that it could feed on Ailanthus and has spread
over the US where ever Ailanthus trees are available. The caterpillars tie
several leaflets together to form a silken web or nest within which they feed.
I have never seen an Ailanthus tree in Athens or the Garden, so I’m curious as
to where these moths come from.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Today’s Ramble was lead by Dale Hoyt.

Here’s the link to
Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post are compliments
of Don.) Don also put together an album of nifty photos he calls “Monroe
County Lichen Foray Lagniappe.” If you want to know what lagniappe means or
look at more of Don’s photos just visit this link.

Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt.

Attendees: 22

Announcements: 

There were quite a few announcements relevant to Ramblers
today:

·       
The Alhuda Islamic Center of Athens is inviting us
for Eid dinner Sept. 18.

·       
Anne Shenk’s retirement gathering Sept. 27

·       
Sandy Creek Nature Center’s annual bird seed
sale begins.

·       
Barnes & Noble bookfair Oct. 7-9 benefiting
the Garden’s children education program.

·       
Oct. 8 our own Gary Crider will teach a course in
the Certificate in Native Plants program on how to identify and control exotic
pest plants.

For details about these announcements visit this page.

Misc. links you’ll enjoy:
 

My friend, Dac Crossley, reminisces here
about spiders he has known.

Today’s reading:

Dale read the lyrics to Misalliance
by Flanders and Swan; hear them sing the lyrics here. If you have trouble understanding the English accents you can find the
written lyrics here.

Today’s
route: We’ve been having trouble getting to the floodplain power line right-of-way
lately – we’ve run out of time the last two weeks. So today we hustled down the
cement walkway to the access road without stopping. We walked down the road to
the Passion vines on the fence and from there to the power line and down
towards the river. We returned to the arbor via the White trail.

Gulf fritillary caterpillar; in some individuals the purple stripe is more pronounced.

Variegated fritillary caterpillar; beautiful red with white stripes.

The Variegated Fritillary challenge: We stopped at the Passion
vines we’ve been watching disappear the past two weeks. Our challenge was to
find caterpillars of the Variegated Fritillary (VF) with only a description of
them to go on. By far the most numerous caterpillar was the Gulf Fritillary
(GF). The VF caterpillar looks very similar to the GF, but has a red body color
with white stripes that runs the length of the body. It was quite a challenge
but the Ramblers were up to it and soon discovered two VF caterpillars. The
adult VF butterfly is not as common as the GF and we didn’t see one this
morning. But if you come to the power line an hour or so later, when the sun is
shining on all the flowers, you may see one or two nectaring and searching for
uneaten Passion vines. While we were gazing on the remains of the Passion vines
Avis stomped on one of the fruits to show another Rambler why they are called
“Maypops.” But that origin of the name is folk etymology.
The real origin is an English corruption of the Indian word for the fruit: maracock, which means
“rattle-fruit.” When the gourd-like fruit is dried the seeds rattle
within it.

More about
insect metamorphosis.

The pupal stage of a butterfly is called a chrysalis or chrysalid
(pl.: chrysalides or chrysalises). Strictly speaking, the chrysalis is the hard
covering of the pupa which is inside the chrysalis, but, in general usage, it
is often used to mean the pupa plus the shell.

It is in the chrysalis that the miracle of metamorphosis takes place.
Within the body of the caterpillar, in addition to the customary organs
(muscles, digestive tract, nervous system, etc.), there are tiny sacs of
embryonic tissues called imaginal disks (ID) that will give rise
to all the parts of the adult. (You can think of these as equivalent to embryonic
stem cells.) During the formation of the chrysalis all the caterpillar tissues
and organs, except the nervous system and the ID, undergo self destruction. The
death of all these cells releases the substances that will fuel the growth of
the ID to make the adult form.

Two hormones, ecdysone and juvenile hormone (JH), are
involved in controlling the growth of the caterpillar through several molts and
its transformation into the chrysalis and then the adult. In simple terms,
pulses of ecdysone stimulate the molting process. What emerges from the molt is
determined by the level of JH. When JH is high the growth of ID is inhibited
and a caterpillar emerges from the molt. At the end of the last caterpillar molt the levels of JH begin to drop. The caterpillar stops eating, evacuates its hindgut and begins to wander. When it finds a suitable place to form a chrysalis it stops and after suspending itself begins to molt into the chrysalis stage. During the chrysalis stage the levels of JH
continue to decline and the ID are no longer inhibited. The ID cells start to divide rapidly and they begin to form
the adult structures. At the last molt the adult emerges from the chrysalis. 

Silver-spotted skipper

Silver-spotted skipper on Ironweed

Butterfly egg under the folded edge of American wisteria vine; the egg is a little less than 1 mm in diameter.

A Silver-spotted skipper egg from another source for comparison with the one above. from https://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarch/egg_butterflies_gallery.html

Rosemary noticed that the American wisteria vine growing on the rail
fence by the road had several leaves with a section of the edge folded over. I
examined one and didn’t find anything under the fold, but a second leaf had the
empty shell of a butterfly egg under it. Several Ramblers were amazed at the
intricacy of the structure; the egg is less than a millimeter in diameter. What
kind of egg is it? One possibility is the Silver-spotted skipper. It’s
caterpillar feeds on wisteria and other legumes and this egg shell looks very
similar to pictures on the internet. The Butterflies of North America indicates
that the egg is: laid singly on the
upperside of host leaves. . . .Young larvae live in a folded-over flap of a
leaf. That matches what we saw.

Butterfly
supplement

Cloudless sulphur; we’ve seen the caterpillar feeding on Maryland senna.

Gulf fritillary;underside of wings showing the silver spots.

Gulf fritillary; upper surface of wings.

Sleepy orange; the upper surface of the wings is orange; they almost never rest with the wings open.

Don went back to the power line later in the morning when the sun was
high enough to shine on the vegetation. Butterflies are sun lovers and aren’t
usually very active until it warms up. Direct sunlight is their friend. So Don was
able to photograph several of the butterflies that we have only seen in the
caterpillar stages.

Other
insects.

Kissing bug; it can inflict a painful bite.

Catherine pointed out a small insect nimbly moving through the vegetation
and I couldn’t get a good look at it. It kept scrambling away so I grabbed it just
as Catherine said: “I think it’s an assassin bug.” I immediately
regretted my haste. I felt a sharp, painful burning sensation in my index
finger. I finally got the critter in a box where I could get a good look at it.
It was a true bug in the Assassin bug family, Reduviidae. More specifically, it
was a Kissing bug, or Blood sucking conenose, Triatoma sp. Like all true bugs the assassin
bugs have a needle-like mouth part which they stab into their victim, injecting
a venom that paralyzes and digests at the same time. The digested liquid us
sucked back up. If you’ve read Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek you probably remember her stumbling upon a
frog that had been reduced to hollow sack of skin by the bite of another kind
of true bug. Kissing bugs normally feed on small mammals, ingesting small meals
of blood, like vampire bats with tiny straws. In Latin America a related species
transmits Chagas disease, a serious illness, but thankfully the North American
species do not. The initial pain I felt was uncomfortable, but not as bad as a
Fire ant or Honeybee sting; it was gone after 5 or 10 minutes.

It’s hard to pick out the Chinese praying mantis from among the vegetation.

The sharp spines on the mantis front limbs insures a tight grasp on their prey.

Nearby a large female Chinese praying mantis was found on a
Wingstem. This large predatory insects has raptorial front legs, meaning that
they function like the legs of raptors: they seize and hold their prey, which
consists of a variety of small and large insects. The mantis is an ambush
predator. By hanging out in flowers it comes in contact with pollinators like
bees, butterflies or moths. All it has to do is maneuver into striking distance
and quickly grab its victim. Because the mantis is not selective in its food
choice it is really not a good choice for pest control in the garden even
though it is often promoted as a “natural” or “organic”
solution. It can’t tell a harmful from a beneficial insect – they’re all food
to the mantis. Which I hope will cause you to contemplate the meaning of
“harmful” and “beneficial.” Is the enemy of my enemy my
friend?

During mating the female mantis is famous for eating the head of her mate
who blithely continues doing his duty. (Insert warning against anthropomorphic
comments.)

Common Ragweed showing foliage and inflorescence

Each tiny white bump is a pollen-spewing flower in this enlargement of a Ragweed inflorescence.

Ragweed is
flowering right now and, fortunately, there is not a lot of it in this part of
the garden. Ragweed flowers are very tiny and inconspicuous, so small that most
people either don’t notice them or don’t recognize them as flowers. It is
responsible for most of the allergies in late summer and fall. The plant is
wind pollinated and the pollen grains are very small and dry, so they can be,
and are, carried by the wind for hundreds of miles. Because the Ragweed flowers
are so unnoticeable another plant, Goldenrod is often blamed for causing
allergies in late summer or fall. This is because it, Goldenrod, begins to
bloom at the same time as Ragweed. Noticing the correlation between Goldenrod flowering
and the onset of allergy symptoms caused people to mistakenly blame it for
causing the runny nose and itching eyes. But Goldenrods are insect pollinated
and they have large, sticky pollen grains that are not transported by the wind.
Goldenrod is blameless, the victim of confusing correlation with cause.

The Wingstems

Today was a review of how to identify the three species of Wingstems (genus Verbesina) that are all blooming in the garden right now. In this case the scientific names are more stable than the variety of common names. Remembering the combinations of flower color and leaf arrangement is the first step in identifying them. (Recognizing them comes later.) I’ll use the common names from Linda’s book in the summary below:

Yellow flowers:

   opposite leaves: V. occidentalis (Southern Crownbeard)

   alternate leaves: V. alternifolia (Wingstem)

White flowers

   alternate leaves: V. virginica (Frostweed)

Sunflowers

There are two sunflowers (genus Helianthus) blooming in the Garden right now. They are a little more difficult to identify than the wingstems, so Don made a special effort to take pictures of the crucial parts. I hope this helps.

Rough-leaf Sunflower:

   mostly opposite leaves

   Upper surface of leaves very rough

   Under surface of leaves with glands, not as rough as upper

   Base of leaf blade rounded

   Petioles longer (3/4 inch)

Woodland Sunflower

   leaves opposite to alternate

   Both surfaces of leaves very rough

   Base of leaf blade tapered

   Petioles short to none

Rough-leaf Sunflower Note rounded base of leaf blade

Woodland Sunflower

Rough-lead Sunflower; Note longer petioles

Woodland Sunflower; Note shorter petioles; tapered base of leaf blade

SUMMARY
OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Today’s Ramble was lead by Dale Hoyt.

Here’s the link to
Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post, except
where noted, are compliments of Don.)

Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt.

No.
Attendees: 20

Announcements:

Sue called everyone’s attention to an article about Bob and his new
poetry book in last week’s Flagpole (August 31).

Weds., Sept. 14, 7-8:30PM; An Evening of Poetry and Nature @ Russell Special Collections Library. Free
parking at Hull St. Deck next to the Library. An evening of local authors
celebrating poetry and nature hosted by UGA Friends of the Georgia Museum of
Natural History. Reading their poems will be: Philip Lee Williams, Clela Reed, Robert Ambrose, Jr. and retired Ecology professor John
Pickering.

Continue reading →

Today’s Ramble was lead by Dale Hoyt.

Here’s the link to Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All
the photos, except where noted, in this post are compliments of Don.)

Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt.

No.
attendees:
20

Today’s
reading:
Dale read an excerpt from an article by Alvaro Jaramillo, Take Note of Taking Notes, that appeared in Bird Watcher’s Digest,
2016, vol. 38(6): 33-37:

Continue reading →

Today’s Ramble was lead by Linda Chafin.

Here’s the link
to Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post are
compliments of Don unless otherwise credited.)

Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt.

No. attending: 20

Today’s reading:

Bob Ambrose treated us to another of his poems:

Continue reading →

Today’s Ramble was lead by Dale Hoyt.

Here’s the link to
Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post are compliments
of Don.)

Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt.

No.
Attendees: 22

Today’s reading was
supplied by Rosemary. She intends to ramble in England in the near future, so she
read a short history of the
British Ramblers Association, followed by Bill Bryson’s account of the famous
(in Great Britain) Kinder Scout civil disobedience in his book, The Road to Little Dribbling:

Continue reading →

Today’s Ramble was lead by Linda Chafin.

Here’s the link to
Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post are compliments
of Don.)

Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt.

Number of
attendees: 24

Announcements:

Thank you, Ed and Sue!!

Find the item you’ve been longing for! Help out the SBGG!

Today’s reading: Linda
read a poem from The Writer’s Almanac: From
a Country Overlooked, by Tom Hennen:

Continue reading →

Today’s Ramble was lead by Dale Hoyt.

Here’s the link to
Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post are compliments
of Don.)

Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt.

Announcements:

The State Botanical Garden of Georgia has a new weather station that is
internet connected. You can get up-to-the-minute weather at the Garden and a
forecast. Visit the website at: https://athensclarke.weatherstem.com/sbg

When at the above website click on the “Handout” menu item to
discover the many other features available: Twitter, Facebook, automated phone
weather information, etc. It’s a wealth of weather information you can explore!

Our fellow Rambler, Bob Ambrose, has published his new book of poetry: Journey to Embarkation, poems written
mostly before he began writing about nature. Bob says that his book will be
available at Avid Books beginning Friday, August 5. He will also have a few
copies that you can purchase from him at our next Ramble. (The book is also
available online from two sources:Amazon and Parson’s Porch & Book Publishing
Co.)

Number of
attendees: 24

Continue reading →

Today’s
Ramble was lead by Linda Chafin and written by Linda with note-taking assistance by Sue Wilde. We are indebted again to Rosemary Woodel for providing the photographs that accompany this post.

Announcements: Bob Ambrose shared the
publication of his new book of poetry, Journey
to Embarkation, poems written mostly before he began writing about nature.
He read a poem for us, The Night Music of San Rafael de Guatuso, which was set in Costa
Rica and featured the call of the Dusky Nightjar, a bird closely related to and
sounding much like our own Whip-poor-will. Bob notes that his book is also
available online from two sources: Amazon and Parson’s Porch & Book
Publishing Co. (Bob will also have some copies available to Ramblers at a reduced
cost.)

23
people appeared for the Ramble today. 

Today’s route: We wandered
down the Orange Trail Spur to the floodplain, turned right at the base of the
slope, and entered the Powerline Right-of-Way.

Continue reading →