Mayapple Feast

I returned to a place I had just visited the previous day to find that something had eaten a substantial meal of Mayapple plants.  I know that all of the plants were untouched the night before, so this was the result of a single night’s activity.

Other than loss of the fruit, I rarely see any damage done to Mayapples.  I was curious as to the identity of the culprit.  Three notorious plant eaters came instantly to mind:  Cottontails, Groundhogs, Whitetail Deer.  The feast consisted of several plants.  The heights of the remaining stalks suggest that in some cases, very little of the plant was actually consumed.  This doesn’t seem consistent with the feeding behavior of the Cottontail.  Cottontails bite a stalked plant off at the base and then sit upright while eating their way up the stalk.  They rarely eat from the top down to the ground.  I imagine their feeding method allows them to watch for predators while feeding. 

Groundhogs have a feeding pattern that’s similar to that of Cottontails.  If they were not going to consume the leaf, they would eat the stalk right up to the base of the leaf and leave little or no stub.  With an almost machine like proficiency, a Groundhog would have left each leaf with the same amount of stem attached.

The partially cut, partially torn stub makes me lean towards deer.  Deer are the most likely animal to leave varying lengths of stem both on the leaves and standing from the ground.  I’ve also watched deer leave this same type of bite signature on many different types of plants.

I still don’t know why an animal with constant access to Mayapples would suddenly make this one time assault on the plants.  Maybe the plant corrected some dietary deficiency present in the animal.  The single meal may have brought the deer back into normal balance.  I’ll probably never know for sure.  Many discoveries just leave me with a lot of unanswered questions.

Just up the hill from the Mayapples and in plain sight of my location, a group of Wild Turkeys engaged in courtship activities.  I saw them look in my direction, but they never stopped what they were doing or attempted to move away.  This bunch includes four Toms who are regular visitors to my yard.  They move out of the yard when I’m around, but come right back when I leave.  Now they seem to be getting used to my presence where ever we happen to meet.  I guess they don’t realize that there are a few more days left of Turkey season and they should be a little more wary of anything wandering around on two legs.

Some Woodland Flowers

I made a check of the Yellow Lady’s Slipper orchid to see what I might expect in the way of blooms this year and found a single stalk growing.  Last year’s two stalks produced a total of three flowers.  Unfortunately, the flowers ended up withering before there was even a hope of them producing seed.  Each year seems to bring some new surprise from these plants.  I’m still waiting for the year the surprise turns out to be more plants.

I searched the slope in vane for more Yellow Lady’s Slipper plants.  This hillside doesn’t have an abundance of wildflowers, but there are a few of interest.  Basal leaves of the American Columbo are looking bright and fresh.  For some reason, I was reminded of tropical climates when I looked at this plant growing at the base of a young Sugar Maple.

A few Columbo plants have produced stalks that will bear a crop of flowers.  It’s always an odd sight to find one of these tall plants towering in the woods.

The Columbo flower buds are in place awaiting the elongation of the flower stalk.  A few of these plants bloom each year.  The other plants remain as a collection of basal leaves and return as such each year until the conditions are right for them to reproduce.  The flowering year is its last year of life.

Mayapple numbers seem to increase each year.  There are now large sections of the woods that support these plants. 

Many plants produced flowers this year.  Annual flower numbers fluctuate greatly, but I haven’t noticed any correlation between weather conditions and flowering.

Fruits are already developing in some flowers.  Most will disappear long before they become ripe. 

One of the showiest blooms on the hillside is that of the Violet Wood Sorrel.  These petals seem to luminesce in the woodland shadows and catch my attention whenever I walk by.

The plants prosper in places that tend to be free of leaves.  The downhill side of a fallen log is a perfect place to find these plants.  Leaves displaying a purple blush are almost as attractive as the blooms.

Violet Wood Sorrel also commonly grows in the raised soil around the base of large trees.  Not all leaves are heavily marked with purple patches, but all show some degree of violet coloring.

This hillside used to support a good population of Jack-in-the-pulpit.  Now I rarely see any blooming plants.  Most of the population is now composed of young, non-flowering plants.

Squawroot has finally pushed itself up through the leaves and is beginning to bloom.  These parasitic plants are without chlorophyll, so their color is quite pale.  They may look like a sign of ill health, but only a healthy ecosystem can support parasites.  I take them as a sign that the overall health of the Blue Jay Barrens woodlands is good.

Fence Row Natives

Despite the mess of invasives, the old fence row has maintained a nice collection of native species.  This Wild Plum has put on a good display of blooms, but it’s been several years since any of the Blue Jay Barrens plums have produced ripe fruit.  Late freezes are rough on this tree, so early warm weather just sets it up for failure. 

It would be nice to see all of these lovely flowers turn into bright yellow-red fruit.  We’ve had a hard mid May freeze each of the last three years and Wild Plums have dropped their fruit after each freeze.  It’s hard to imagine that we’ll make it through to summer without at least one more freeze this spring.

A Brown Thrasher entertained me for an entire morning.  It produced quite a variety of mimicked songs.  Many of the songs were unfamiliar to me, so I’m guessing these were learned somewhere far from Blue Jay Barrens.

Despite the abundance of Japanese Honeysuckle, many native flowers are showing themselves in the old fence row.  Several colonies of Mayapple are present.  I’ll be sure to leave enough native trees and shrubs to give the Mayapples the shade they prefer.

Bluets are common in the areas that hadn’t been completely shade covered.  It’ll be interesting to see if these persist or if they become overwhelmed by other sun loving species.

Spring Beauties have covered large sections of the fence row.  These plants seem to compete well against many invasives.

Adder’s Tongue Fern has colonized the entire fence row.  I originally found this plant growing in limited colonies in the fence rows.  It has since spread across the old crop fields.  It’s definitely a species that’s on the increase.

I’m still finding Olive Hairstreaks everywhere I look.  This guy was using one of my marking flags as a perch from which to fly out to chase other butterflies crowding into its territory.  The abundance of these butterflies makes me optimistic about finding some of their larvae feeding on Eastern Red Cedars.  I see the adults each year, but I’ve never seen a larva and I would really like to enjoy all stages of the butterfly life cycle.