Mount Pleasant Hike - Views

Yesterday our hiking group hiked the Henry Lanun Loop Trail at Mount Pleasant in Amherst County. This is a not-too-difficult trail with stunning views and lots of interesting wildflowers.

The east side of Pompey Mountain had numerous small streams to cross.

The summit of Mt Pleasant has rocky outcrops at the northwest and southeast ends. This is the outcrop at the west end.

The view from the west summit is about 180°. This is a small portion of the view looking southwest.

The rocks at the east summit are easier to get to and move around on. The tops of the peaks clearly have fewer leaves on the trees than the lower elevations do.

Looking to east and the agricultural lands of the piedmont.

We liked the way these large boulders were stacked - and how it looked as if the tree was holding them in place. They also reminded us of the rock niches where early Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka took shelter.

Birds, Birds, Birds

Splitting our time between Pittsburgh and home, I've been able to observe a lot of birds this spring.

I'll start with one of the most well-known birds - the American Robin. It's a thrush and the only thing it shares with its European namesake is the rusty-red breast.

Another thrush with a rusty-red breast is the Eastern Bluebird. The male (left) has more vivid color than the female (right).

Another small blue bird is the Indigo Bunting.

The House Finch is widespread throughout the US. The male (left) is has a bright fuchsia head and breast. The female (right) is drab and could be mistaken for a sparrow.

This male Song Sparrow spent nearly all day defining his territory from a series of high perches.

Cedar Waxwings travel in substantial flocks, and do a great job of clearing berries from a tree. Here they are sitting in a chestnut oak, and I counted at least 12 in just this part of the tree top.

A closer look at the Waxwings. Their high-pitched squeaks are distinctive.

We've seen Cedar Waxings for as long as we've lived here, but they were much easier to see in the same tree in 2007 when the tree was barely alive. The top has really leafed out in the last two or three years. I count at least 25 birds here.

This year a pair of Brown-Headed Cowbirds has taken up residence around our house. They have even chased the cardinals from their favorite perches. Here the male (left) and female (right) are in a persimmon tree just starting to leaf out. Cowbirds lay eggs in other birds' nests and leave the hard work of raising chicks to others.

Turkey Vultures may not the best-looking bird when they're pecking at a carcass, but in flight they are fun to watch.

They hardly ever flap their wings and know how to take advantage of "thermals" to gain altitude. The shallow "V" they make with their wings while soaring is very distinctive and make identification easy - even from a distance.

Our game cameras have also been photographing birds -Wild Turkeys.

Turkeys are inquisitive birds. This one was clearly interested in the camera.

More Spring Botanicals

We hiked a new-to-us local trail yesterday - the Oliver Mountain Trail that starts near Lake Moomaw. It was a glorious day and the wildflowers were abundant.

At the start of the trail these interesting fungi were growing with their "feet wet" in the creek. They are "Swamp Beacons" (Mitrula elegans).

While we were marveling at the orange fungi, we came across the find of the season - a Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens, formerly Cypripedium calceolus). Lady's Slippers are spectacular orchids and an uncommon find.

A closer look at the not-quite-mature flower.

Across the creek were a few Wake-robins (Red Trillium, Trillium erectum)

In the same general area there were quite a few Mayapples (also called Mandrakes,  Podophyllum peltatum).

Wild Geraniums (Geranium maculata) were common throughout.

At first glance Squawroot (also called Cancer-root, Conopholis americana) looks like a fungus, ...

... but up close you can see the individual flowers. Squawroot is a saprophyte and lives on the roots of hardwoods. Later in the season they dry to a dark brown and can be mistaken for a strange-looking pine cone.

A related plant, One-Flowered Cancer-root (Orobanche uniflora), is also a saprophyte on deciduous tree roots.

After a steep climb at the beginning, the trail gently ascends a dry shaly slope. We continued to see an abundance of wildflowers. This is a Birdsfoot Violet (Viola pedata) in the less common bicolor variant.

Another unusual fungus - Devil's Urn (Urnula craterium).

Yellow Mandarin (Prosartes languinosa, formerly Disporum lanuginosum - love those name changes!)

The delicate Sessile-Leaved Bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia).

The appropriately named low-growing Moss Phlox (Phlox subulata) were very common and ranged in color from white to deep pink.

There were a number of other flowers we saw that are not pictured: Wild Ginger, Star Chickweed, Spring Beauty, and a number of violets.

Spring Ephemerals

The earliest spring blooms are collectively called "spring ephemerals". Locally, the flowers hit their peak in April.

With COVID-19 keeping everyone at home, we've had more opportunity to walk the woods this year than we have in several years, and consequently, we've noticed more flowers this year.

Trout lily (Erythronium americanum) is the earliest bloom. It blooms in early March and the flowers are gone before anything else appears.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) usually comes next. The flowers are gone by mid-April, but the leaves continue to grow through the summer and can become very large.

Hepatica is another early flower. This is most likely sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) - while I didn't see any leaves associated with this flower, all the leaves I did see in the area were sharp-lobed.

Spring beauty (Claytonia virginica)

Rue-anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides)

Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica)

Vernal Iris (Iris vernal, also called Dwarf Iris) likes poor, acidic soils, so it grows well on our shale hillsides.

Large-flowered trillium (Trillium grandiflorum, also called White Trillium) marks the end of the spring ephemerals, blooming in April and very early May.

T. grandiflorum starts out white, but as it ages, the flower turns pink.

Spring Forests

It's early spring in the Alleghenies. I love the delicate colors as the trees flower and leaves emerge.

Serviceberries (white) and red maples (red) are the first trees to bloom. Actually, these are not the flowers of the red maples, but rather the beginnings of the "helicopter" seeds (samaras).

Redbuds line the forest edge and most roads.

As the redbuds begin to fade, dogwoods come into bloom, and other trees begin to leaf out.

Red maple samaras (winged seeds) start out a brilliant red, ...

... then slowly turn brown as they mature. These have been knocked off the trees by recent high winds.

We had a surprise dusting of snow on Friday, April 10. It's difficult to see, but this snow is caught in a cup-like spider web. There were quite a few of these "snow cups" in the forest.

Butterflies have also emerged from overwintering as either a larvae of a pupa. Here duskywings and a zebra swallowtail "puddle" on dung on the road.

A closer look at the zebra swallowtail. The caterpillars of these butterflies eat pawpaw leaves exclusively, so we must have some pawpaws nearby.