Bang, Zoom, Straight to the Moon

River walking is perhaps my favorite pass time. In the past year I’ve visited nearly all the major rivers draining into Lake Superior within the boundary of Minnesota. Most of these multiple times. Each new visit brings new discoveries and new sights. Deepening your relationship with the river, and in turn coming to better understand the entire watershed. While I’ve probably said each of these rivers is my favorite at least a dozen times, the serious contenders are the Cascade, Kadunce, and Devil Track. Although the Onion, Temperance, and Caribou are not far behind. After today the Cascade might be edging out the others (at least until I visit one of them next). 

Today’s adventure really began on April 5th, I knew that Otto had seen fringed moon lichen just further downstream than I had been on this section of the river. So I figured I’d better go look for it. Although rare it is a distinctive species. I guessed that it wouldn’t be too hard to find.

As I approached a nice looking section of the river, I slowed down thinking this is where it would be if I found it. A few other sensitive species got me looking even closer for it.

Methuselah’s beard lichen (Usnea longissima)
State Special Concern Species

Grey horsehair lichen (Bryoria nadvornikiana)
State Watchlist Species

Mealy-rimmed shingle lichen (Pannaria conoplea)
state Watchlist Species

Yellow ribbon lichen (Usnocetraria oakesania)
State Threatened Species 

White-rimmed shingle lichen (Fuscopannaria leucosticta)
State Watchlist Species

Once I saw a specific cedar tree hanging over the river, I knew something cool had to be on it, probably the spot where I’d find the moon lichen. It just seemed like the perfect microhabitat. But, my confidence got the best of me and I had to head home in defeat as the sun began to set. Although it wasn’t a total failure there was some yellow speckle belly growing on it. Surprisingly there were even individuals about 6 feet up the tree. Usually this species grows low to the ground, below the snow line and protected from dry winter air. This site is exceptionally humid, with the nearby waterfall, so it makes sense that it’d grow up higher. 

A majestic grandmother cedar

yellow specklebelly (Pseudocyphellaria holarctica)
State Endangered Species

That brings us to today. Logan wanted to learn more about lichens and suggested we go to Gooseberry. A fine river, it is nothing compared to the Cascade. So, I persuaded him to go there instead. After showing him some of the fun species listed above (and finding some that I had missed all the times I’d been to this part of the river) we made our way to the cedar to see the yellow specklebelly. We looked at the tree for probably 10 minutes, but another failure. This made no sense, I knew we were at the right tree. I also remembered the lichen being nearly at eye-level. But, no yellow specklebelly in sight. We did however see the moon lichen, right at about eyesight on the very same tree. I’m guessing it was buried in snow when I was here last. After all, they do like growing low to the ground, protected from the wind. Then, thinking about the last time I was here and found the specklebelly, I looked up. Sure enough there it was about 2-3 feet above eye-level. In the winter I was standing on the thick ice, now we were on the river’s edge balanced precariously on a rock. It just goes to show you the value of visiting, and revisiting, and revisiting a place. That is the only way you’ll come to understand and truly appreciate it. You are sure to miss most of the interesting stuff during each visit, but take all the visits together and you start to piece together the intricacies of the ecosystem. These two species probably have a few individuals on the surrounding trees, or maybe not. This one tree seemed to be unique in a hot-spot of lichen diversity. How many such individuals are in this area, or along the river. It’s easy to identify some of what makes this tree unique, but what are all the reasons that it seems like a better habitat than the trees surrounding it? Another set of fond memories on my “favorite” river, the Cascade!

Fringed moon lichen  (Stictica beauvoisii)
State Special Concern Species 

Port-hole lichen (Menegazzia terebrata)
State Special Concern Species

Spicy Mustard lichen (Pyxine Sorediata)
State Watchlist Species

On the way back we spotted a peregrine or Merlin flying overhead. We also found the other of the pair sitting in the nest along the rock face. 

Cannot really see it, but the nest is about 1/2 way up right next to the cedar growing out of the face






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Huckleberry and Blueberries

Image
One of my goals is to see all of the species within the heath (Ericaceae) family that are native to MN. This family is pretty diverse, with about 4,000 some odd species, making it the 14th most species-rich plant family. In MN, the numbers are a little bit more manageable with 28 species. This family is often found in nutrient poor habitats: fens, bogs, boreal forests, rock outcroppings, dry forests.... As such many of them have very specialized adaptations that allow them to survive these conditions. Not every member has these but some common adaptations include: leathery leaves, pubescence, and evergreen or semi-evergreen leaves. But the most interesting adaptation is that almost all heath family plants have very strong mycorrhizal associations with fungi in the soil. In fact there is a special group called the ericoid mycorrhiza that form relationships with these plants. This is a key component of these plants' versatility, allowing them to uptake nitrogen in nutrient poor envir...
Read more

Bogwalking

Image
I made my way out to explore some peatlands in the Isabella area with Norma (bogwalker on iNat). This is an ecosystem that I have not explored much yet. Although we were only out for a few hours, I found quite a few new species to me, with many more to come.  Northern yellow eyed grass (Xyris montana) State Special Concern Species Inundated bog clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) White beaked sedge (Rhynchospora alba) Rosemary tar spot (Rhytisma andromedae We made our way to a second location in search of yellow specklebelly lichen (Pseudocyphellaria holarctica) and were successful. We also spotted a handful of other rare species, all of which I had seen before, but never in this type of habitat.  Yellow specklebelly lichen (Pseudocyphellaria holarctica) State Endangered Species Spiny gray horsehair lichen (Bryoria nadvornikiana) State Watchlist Species Mealy-rimmed shingle lichen (Pannaria conoplea) State Watchlist Species Pale-footed horsehair lichen (Bryoria fuscescens) State ...
Read more

Rare and not so Rare Species in Ontario

Image
I made my way up to the Thunder Bay area with my mom this weekend while she was up on vacation. We stopped at quite a few ecologically interesting spots: Mt. McKay; quite a few sections of Superior's shoreline, mostly bays protected by islands; and some cool, moist rivers that run into the big lake. I was mostly just enjoying the landscape and the break from work, but of course my eyes were also on the lichens, plants, and insects.  With very little effort, I surprisingly found quite a few rare species. I have a few ideas as to why it was so easy. Many of the spots we stopped at were quite scenic, long expanses of shoreline, mountains, cliffs... these features are unique, hence they have unique species that are specialized to growing in those conditions. Going up north it was far more mountainous, being deeper into the Canadian Shield. While we definitely have similar habitats in MN, they are often more remote and inaccessible. There were also some unique rock types that I haven...
Read more