High Altitude Respite

 

Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) on Giant Purple
Hyssop (Agastache scrophulariifolia).
Blue Ride Parkway, North Carolina.

This summer cooked the Southeastern Piedmont.  Long stretches of hot, dry weather shriveled the plants and reduced flower production.  All the animals that depend on plants have suffered too.  But a few hours west there was a high-altitude oasis where it felt like spring and meadows were thronged with insects.  We had a respite from the heat in the Appalachian Mountains with a group of friends. 

 

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 
Photo courtesy of Diane Coggin. 

The highest point on the Blueridge Parkway, North Carolina. 
Photo courtesy of Diane Coggin. 

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a two-lane motor road that runs 469 miles from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Cherokee, North Carolina near the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The Parkway is part of the National Park System and runs near the summit the Blue Ridge.  In North Carolina some sections of the road are over 5000 feet.  The weather there is much cooler and is more akin to Northern Maine. Even in late summer wildflowers were blooming.  

Cutleaf Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata).
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

Bumblebee (Bombus sp.) on Cutleaf Coneflower. 
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina.

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) on Cutleaf Coneflower.
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

The Parkway has many small fields with blooming wildflowers.  Cutleaf Coneflower (Rudbeckia lacinata) with its yellow ray and disk flowers were abundant.  Bubblebees (Bombus sp.) and Great Spangled Fritillaries (Speyeria cybele) popped from one plant to plant sipping nectar and moving pollen. 

Pipevine Swallowtail on Giant Purple Hyssop.
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

Vast flocks of Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor) were feeding on flowers including Giant Purple Hyssop (Agastache scrophulariifolia) with its spikes of purple blooms.  This stunning butterfly has black wings with iridescent blue patches.  These butterflies started life as a larva on Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla) a forest vine.  The leaves of Dutchman’s Pipe contain a highly toxic compound, aristolochic acid, and the larvae of the Pipevine Swallowtail store it in their bodies.  When they transform into butterflies they retain the poison and are protected from predators.  The blue on their wings advertises their toxicity to birds in the neighborhood. 

Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)
on Mountain Mint (Pycanthemum muticum).
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

Mountain Mint (Pycanthemun muticum) flowers were visited by stunning Silver-spotted Skippers (Epargyreus clarus) that probed flowers with their long proboscises.  A Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) rested on a boulder opening and closing its wings in the sunlight.  

Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis).
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

Yellow Jewelweed (Impatiens pallida).
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

Two species of Jewelweed, both the orange and yellow (Impatiens capensis and Impatiens pallida) were flowering along the Parkway.  These flowers, with their long spurs extending from the back, are favorites of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) fueling up for migration. 

Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) leaves.
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

Rattlesnake Plantain plant with flowers.
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

A small native orchid, Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) was flowering in the woods.  This beautiful little plant has green leaves with white veins and delicate white flowers.  

False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum) fruits.
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

Nodding Mandrain (Prosartes maculata) fruits. 
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

Virginia Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana).
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. 

Both False Solomon’s Seal (Maianthemmu m racemosum) and Nodding Mandarin (Prosartes maculata) were in fruit.  These plants sport bright red fruits bringing color to the forest understory.  Virginia Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) with its bright blue flowers was blooming at the edge of the woods.  

Even in the river valleys below the crest of the Blue Ridge temperatures were more moderate than in the flatlands  Plants were blooming and insects buzzing.  

Cranefly Orchid (Tipularia discolor) flowers.
Dupont State Recreational Forest, North Carolina. 

Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) female.
Dupont State Recreational Forest, North Carolina. 

European Hornet (Vespa crabro).
Dupont State Recreational Forest, North Carolina.  

Cranefly Orchids (Tipularia discolor) were in flower.  A damselfly, the Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata), was hunting from a perch above a river.  This striking black insect with an iridescent blue body glittered in the sun.  It was a female with the characteristic white spots on the wing tips.  A swarm of invasive European Hornets (Vespa crabo) were chewting bark from the trunk of a streamside tree.  The hornets will expand their paper nest with the macerated bark.  European Hornets were introduced to the New World in the mid-19^th century and are now found across much of Eastern North America.  Females of this hornet can inflict a painful sting.

Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia).
Looking Glass Falls, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina. 

Looking Glass Falls.
Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina.  

A female Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope auranita) built her sun-spangled web in the spray of a waterfall.  After a break in the mountains with the spring-like flowers, insects and waterfalls, it was back to the baking Piedmont Plain with thoughts of autumn coming on.  Thanks to our friends Steve and Malia Kline and Janet Palmer for sharing our adventures. 

Moth Nights, Pollinator Counts and Citizen Science

 

Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)
on Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum).
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Citizen science has a long tradition.  Before science became institutionalized it was practiced in large part by amateurs. The longest-running citizen science project is the National Audubon Christmas Bird Count.  It started on Christmas Day in 1900 when people took to the field counting all the birds they saw, rather than shooting them as was the custom.  This 125 year data set is invaluable in assessing many biological and climate questions.  The information age has spawned platforms that make citizen science easier to do.  These include eBird and iNaturalist where millions of people submit information about the natural world that is raw data for scientific analysis. 

We have been involved in a couple of citizen science projects this summer, National Moth Week and the Great Southeastern Pollinator Census. 

In July people all over the world went out and stayed up late to observe moths.  This year  over 51,000 observers on six continents identified more than 11,000 species of moths, other insects and spiders. 

 

National Moth Month event.
Catawba College. Salisbury, North Carolina. 

We participated in several moth nights where we found a startling variety of species.  The rig for these moth nights was an open nylon tent with a string of ultraviolet LED lamps.  The moths were drawn to the UV lights and landed on the tent.  There observers could study and photograph the moths and the information was posted on iNaturalist.

Here are some of the moths that came to our National Moth Month events. 

Rosy Maple Moth (Dryocampa rubicunda).
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Eastern Grass Tubeworm Moth (Acrolophus plumifrontera).
Catawba College. Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Eastern Grass Veneer (Crambus laqueatellus).
Catawba College. Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Common Tan Wave (Pleuroprucha insulsaria).
Catawba College. Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Cherry Dagger (Acronicta hasta) and mosquito.
 Catawba College. Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Green Cutworm Moth (Anicla infecta).
 Catawba College. Salisbury, North Carolina. 

American Lotus Borer Moth (Ostrinia penitalis).
Catawba College. Salisbury, North Carolina. 

The Great Southeastern Pollinator Census is a program where citizen scientists in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina record pollinators visiting flowers.  The Agricultural Extension services in these states coordinate the events.  Observers pick a beach ball sized area of flowers and counts each visit to any flower in the area.  During the 2025 count more than half a million pollinator visits were recorded by over 27,000 people. 

Diane doing a pollinator census.
Rowan County, North Carolina.  

We visited a friend’s garden and saw butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, hummingbirds and other pollinators.  These are some of the pollinators we saw.  

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilo glaucus) on
Purpletop Vervain (Verbena bonariensis).
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) on 
Purpletop Vervain. 
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) on
Purpletop Vervain.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris thysbe) on
Purpletop Vervain.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica) on
Black and Blue Sage (Salvia guaranitica).
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina sp.) on Cup Plant.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus) on
Clustered Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum).
Rowan County, North Carolina.  

   

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) on
Silver Sage (Salvia guarantica var Argentine Skys). 
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

The American evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson argued that people have a innate need to connect with the natural world. He called this biophilia.  Citizen science is a way to channel biophilia into usable data that could help address a myriad environmental problems we now face. 

Thanks to Dr. Carrie DeJaco for guiding us through Moth Month events.  Further thanks to Michael and Jennifer Board for inviting us to census the pollinators in their garden. 

Duckweed Arrives

 

Duckweed (Lemna minor).
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

The Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) has hit our area hard.  The swamp forest of the Catawba College Ecological Preserve in Salisbury, North Carolina has lost almost all its White Ash (Fraxinus amercana) trees to this invasive insect.  Emerald Ash Borers are small beetles that burrow into the trunks and kill the mature trees.   This massive die off of large trees has changed the nature of the swamp.  Where once a solid canopy of leaves shaded the swamp, now sunlight floods in.  Herbs, shrubs and trees are growing, and tiny floating plants are thriving between the trunks of the dead ash trees. 

 

Swamp forest with floating plants and dead
White Ash trees (Fraxinus americana) .
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Galleries dug by Emerald Ash Borers (Argrilis planipennis)
in a dead White Ash tree.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve,
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Dead White Ash trees and the open canopy.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Duckweed (Lemna  minor) is one of these small plants.  It is among the smallest of flowering plants with leaves just a few millimeters long. Each plant bears a single root that grows straight down in the water.  They carry out their whole life cycle floating on the surface of still, fresh water.  Duckweed is classified in the family Araceae, a group that also contains Philodendron and Jack-in-the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum).  Lemna minor is found on all continents except Antarctica with the Australian population consisting of introduced plants. 

Duckweed with its roots hanging in the water.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Male Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) with Duckweed.
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. 

Three Duckweed plants on my
 fingertip each with a single root.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve,
Salisbury, North Carolina.  

While Duckweed is a flowering plant, but it rarely flowers.  Plants grow and divide asexually. It is carried to new habitats as whole plants by birds, often clinging to the feet or feathers of their namesake ducks.  Ducks are probably how Duckweed was introduced to the Catawba College Ecological Preserve swamp.  

Greater Duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) with the
smaller Lemna minor.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Greater Duckweed on my
fingertip showing multiple roots. 
Catawba College Ecological Preserve, 
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Another floating plant in the swamp is Greater Duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza).  Its leaves are larger than Lemna minor and each plant has multiple roots.  Greater Duckweed is common in the northern hemisphere worldwide but is rarer in the southern hemisphere.  

People have found many uses for Duckweed.  It is used as a fertilizer, as a high protein animal feed and in wastewater treatment.   Duckweed is also highly efficient at removing and concentrating toxic metals from water.     

Carolina Mosquito Fern (Azolla cristata) and Duckweed.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Another small floating plant that is now common in the swamp is the fern Azolla cristata or Carolina Mosquito Fern.  These tiny ferns have fronds that are covered with fine hairs that give them a velvety appearance.  The fronds may be green but can turn red in winter. The roots of Carolina Mosquito Fern harbor a symbiotic cyanobacterium Trichomus azollae.  This photosynthetic bacterium fixes nitrogen and supplies some of the organic nitrogen to the fern.  Because of its high nitrogen content some species of Azolla are used as biofertilizers.  

Duckweed and Greater Duckweed.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

It was tragic for this swamp to lose one of its predominant trees to an invasive insect.  But my friend, Dr. Jay Bolin has studied the effect of Emerald Ash Borers on the White Ash trees.  He says “There are winners and losers in any ecological change”.  The losers are clearly the ash trees and the winners are the the tiny aquatic plants that are thriving in the newly illuminated understory of the swamp.