Fraxinus in floodplain

A seedling ash tree in a floodplain habitat at Bicentennial Nature Area (Lake Harner County Park).  Probably green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) due to the wet habitat.  This is part of the floodplain of the Wabash River even though it is fairly far from the river.  Silver maple (Acer saccharinum) is dominant here.  The only other mature size trees seen here are a few ash trees (Fraxinus) and all these mature ash trees appear to be completely dead, presumably because of the emerald ash borer.  A dead mature ash tree is in the center background of the photo.  The Fraxinus population here may persist if these seedling trees can survive long enough to produce more ash seeds.

Photo taken April 16, 2017.

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Pokeweed is coming up

Pokeweed shoots are starting to appear.  This photo taken yesterday April 16, 2017.  I've never seen it come up this early, usually I see it coming up around here in the last week in April or first week in May.

This is at the new Bicentennial Park, a Tippecanoe County park that just opened up last week.  The park is an old gravel pit just north of Sagamore Parkway between North 9th St. and Schuyler Avenue.

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Ranunculus ficaria

Lesser celandine, found along the main trail in Happy Hollow Park.  The currently accepted botanical name is Ranunculus ficaria, although a synonym is Ficaria verna.  This species is an invasive and has not been seen in this park before now.

Photos taken April 9, 2017.

A view of the root tubers of Ranunculus ficaria.

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Black squirrel and white-tailed deer

I noticed this squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) with an unusual black color at Catherine Chevalier Woods, which is a Cook County, Illinois forest preserve.  Most squirrels here are the normal gray color.

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A couple white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the same park.  This park has a large population of deer, sometimes you can see as many as a couple dozen in the park.  The heavy deer population contributes to the overgrazing of the woods, the understory is dominated by Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)  The wildlife here is quite used to human beings, one can be walking on the trail here and the deer will just walk by, apparently not bothered by the presence of people.  It's almost like a petting zoo here with the animals.  I've seen a skunk, an opossum, and a pack of raccoons wandering through the woods and parking lots here before.  The woods is close to O'hare airport and has constant noise of aircraft flying low overhead as they approach the airport for a landing.

Photos taken March 11, 2017.

Veronica polita

Veronica polita, now flowering along Swisher Road about a quarter-mile NE of N. 9th St., Tippecanoe County.  Photos taken March 5, 2017.

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Sandhill cranes over the State House

I was outside the State House, 1:25 pm, Monday Feb. 21, 2017, heard the call of sandhill cranes. Looked up and got this photo of the flock high in the sky, directly over the State House.  They were flying north.  After a couple minutes flying further north, the flock made two or three tight circles as if they were considering looking for a place to land.  Then continued on going north.

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Wabash River at Lafayette

Wabash River looking north from Harrison Bridge.  About four mature bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) were perched in the trees on the left bank.  About four more were soaring high in the sky above the river.  Photo taken about 1 pm, Feb. 19 2017.

Close up of one of the bald eagles.  This bird sat in this spot for at least twenty minutes.

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