Today's Ramble was led by Dale Hoyt.
The photos in this post, except where
noted, came from Don's Facebook album (here's the link).
Today's post was written by Dale Hoyt
who hastily compiled notes taken by Don Hunter.
24 Ramblers met today.
Announcements:
Today's reading:
Because this
year's Harvest Moon occurs on October 5 Dale read two passages about it. The
first is an excerpt from Joe Rao's Skylog column in the October 2017 issue of
Natural History magazine:
At 2:40PM EDT the moon
officially turns full. This month’s full Moon occurs closest to the autumnal
equinox; thus, it is referred to as the harvest moon.
Usually, this event
happens in September. However, from 1970 to 2050, it happens in October with
some frequency, about once every three years, althought as much as eight years can
pass between occurrences, as from 1990 to 1998 and from 2028 to 2036.
Next was the entry for September 24 in
An Almanac for Moderns, by Donald
Culross Peattie:
I try each year to disbelieve what my senses tell me, and to look at
the harvest moon in a cold and astronomical light. I know that it is a small
cold sphere of rock, airless, jagged and without activity. But the harvest moon
is not an astronomical fact. It is a knowing thing, lifting its ruddy face
above the rim of the world. Even to the thoroughly civilized mind, where
caution for the future is supposed to rule all impulse, the strange moon of
autumn invites the senses to some saturnalia, yet no festival of merriment. The
harvest moon has no innocence, like the slim quarte moon of a spring twilight,
nor has it the silver penny brilliance of the moon that looks down upon the
resorts of summertime Wise, ripe and portly, like an old Bacchus, it waxes
night after night.
The second reading was provided by
Bill Pierson, the designer of our Nature Rambler t-shirts. Bill showed us his
own sumi-e (Chinese ink drawing)
inspired by the Buddhist poem and read some additional commentary:
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| Bill holding his sumi-e inspired by Zhuang Zhou |
庄周梦蝶 Zhuāng
Zhōu mèng dié (Zhuang Zhou Dreaming (he is a) butterfly.)
"Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly
flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He
didn’t know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and
unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn’t know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he
was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and
a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation
of Things. (2, tr. Burton Watson 1968:49)”
Door prize: In honor of the
Harvest Moon Dale passed out hickory nuts to all the Ramblers. The nuts were
collected from a local tree and are most likely a hybrid, possibly between a
Mockernut Hickory and a Pignut Hickory. Germination is best if the nuts are
shallowly planted in the fall. If held over to spring germination is unlikely
until the following spring.
Today's route: From the
Visitor's center we picked up the White Trail off the lower parking lot and
followed it to the power line right of way. Then walked to the river, turned
left on the Orange Trail and returned via the Orange Trail Spur back to the
White Trail and to the parking lot.
Apology: Please accept
my apologies for the abbreviated post; we are going out of town tomorrow and
short of time.
Visitor Center
Parking Lot:
We came upon a Brown Ground Skink warming up on the
sidewalk around the tree island. It ran
off into the mulch before it could be further observed and photographed.
Power line ROW:
As soon as we popped out of the woods on the mown path
out to the ROW the first thing we noticed was the heavy dew on the ground and
all of the tall vegetation. Inquiring minds wanted to know why all the plants
were so wet.
Air contains water vapor; the warmer the air, the more
water vapor it can hold. We refer to this as the humidity, but, more precisely,
it is the relative humidity. The relative humidity is a percentage. When we say
that the humidity is 90% it means that the air contains 90% of the maximum it
could hold at its current temperature. If it contained the additional 10% water
vapor it would be fully saturated. When air is fully saturated with water vapor
what happens when its temperature drops? As the temperature lowers the air can
hold less water so the excess water condenses to form liquid water; we call it
fog. When fully saturated air cools not only is fog formed but water also
condenses on surfaces, like plant leaves and stems. A useful measure of how much
water vapor is contained in the air is the dewpoint. It is the temperature at
which the air becomes saturated and starts to condense. Whenever the air
temperature is less than the air dewpoint dew will form. During a Georgia
summer the overnight temperature seldom falls below the dewpoint, so we don't
get our feet wet when we walk through the grass to get the morning paper. But
during spring and fall the overnight temperature is almost always below the dewpoint
and your feet will be wet if you venture outside.
 | |
| Goldenrod bent over by Irma, but still blooming |
We noticed lots of goldenrod and yellow crownbeard
growing in close proximity to each other.
The crownbeard has more or less gone through it's blooming season and
has begun to set seeds but the tall goldenrod is still blooming and is an
important source of pollen for honeybees at this time of year.
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| Torpid Bumblebee on Goldenrod |
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| Torpid Bumblebee on Wingstem blossom |
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| A large orb weaving spider wraps its prey in silk. |
Someone noticed an orb weaving spider with a reddish
brown body and translucent red legs, with the back legs having yellow and black
segments. It had just bitten its prey
and was wrapping it up silk for later consumption
.
 | |
| Ripening seeds of a wingstem; notice that each seed has a wing. |
Linda pulled Don over to photograph ripening wingstem seeds,
that are also winged.
 |
| Sunflower Rust spore producing structures on the underside of a Sunflower leaf. |
Someone noticed many orange specks on the undersides of
Rough Sunflower leaves. Dale suspects
they are fruiting bodies of a fungus; Don finds that they are probably Sunflower
Rust.
 | |
| Arrowleaf Tearthumb |
We saw that the Arrowleaf Tearthumb is now flowering.
Also seen was Dotted Smartweed and Pennsylvania
Smartweed, closely related to the Arrowleaf Tearthumb.
 | |
| Differential Grasshopper |
Dale captured a Differential Grasshopper lacking one of
the jumping legs. Some wanted to know if the leg could grow back. The answer is
no, because it is an adult insect. If it had been a nymph the leg would slowly
regenerate each time the exoskeleton was shed. Since adult insects don't molt anymore
it will remain one legged. Grasshoppers drop their legs they are attacked by a
predator (or a human grabbing them by their leg). It's better to lose a leg
than a life.
 | |
| Climbing Buckwheat fruits |
Before reaching the river we saw the first of many climbing
buckwheat vines in the floodplain and along the riverbank.
White Trail:
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| Carolina Coralbead |
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| Carolina Coralbead seed |
Carolina Coralbead, a vine with red berries, was seen growing
up a stalk of River Cane. Linda crushed one of the berries to reveal the pulpy
seed inside.
A Gulf Fritillary butterfly was observed flitting around
the new River Cane that had been planted by volunteers from the local Audubon
Society.
 | |
| Exposed sand bar on Middle Oconee River |
Everyone commented on how low the water level in the
Middle Oconee River is right now. Dale
feels like the water levels in the river have been impacted by the opening of
the Bear Creek Reservoir several years ago.
Orange Trail
(along Middle Oconee River):
 | |
| Velvet Ant, Through a Glass Darkly |
Eleanor found a Velvet Ant, which is not an ant, but a
solitary wasp.
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| River Oats |
The River Oats along the river are beginning to turn
brown.
 | |
| Climbing Hempvine |
We saw Climbing Hempvine growing over downed trees next
to the trail. Linda commented that the
flowers look much like those of the bonesets (thoroughworts).
 | |
| Fall Webworm caterpillar |
Dale found a fuzzy Fall Webworm Moth capterpillar. When
the caterpillars reache the size to pupate they leave the web and crawl off to
look for place to form a cocoon.
 | |
| Bur Cucumber |
We saw several vines of Bur Cucumber growing along the
river.
 | |
| Blue Mistflower |
Just before we turned onto the Orange Trail Spur to head
back, we saw several blue mistflower plants growing next to the trail.
SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:
|
Brown Ground Skink
|
Scincella lateralis
|
|
Tall Goldenrod
|
Solidago altissima
|
|
Wingstem
|
Verbesina alternifolia
|
|
Yellow Crownbeard
|
Verbesina occidentalis
|
|
Bumblebee
|
Bombus sp.
|
|
Orbweaver
|
Family Araneidae
|
|
Fragrant Sedge
|
Cyperus odoratus
|
|
Rough Sunflower
|
Helianthus strumosus
|
|
Sunflower Rust
|
Puccinia helianthi (?)
|
|
Arrowleaf Tearthumb
|
Polygonum sagittatum
|
|
Dotted Smartweed
|
Polygonum punctatum
|
|
Pennsylvania Smartweed
|
Polygonum pensylvanicum
|
|
Differential Grasshopper
|
Melanoplus differentialis
|
|
Climbing Buckwheat
|
Fallopia scandens
|
|
Carolina Coralbead
|
Cocculus carolinus
|
|
River Cane
|
Arundinaria gigantea
|
|
Gull Fritillary Butterfly
|
Agraulis vanillae
|
|
Cow Ant/Velvet Ant
|
Family Mutillidae
|
|
Solitary Wasp
|
Order Hymenoptera
|
|
River Oats
|
Chasmanthium latifolium
|
|
Climbing Hempvine
|
Mikania scandens
|
|
Fall Webworm Moth
|
Hyphantria cunea
|
|
Bur Cucumber
|
Sicyos angulatus
|
|
Blue Mistflower
|
Conoclinium coelestinum
|
