Although the typical means of enjoying nature would be by walking, I have found
that biking can be a great way to find natural wonders in any area which has
biking trails. The rails to trails paths are ideal since they tend to be easy
to ride while watching the passing nature show. One of our favorites is the New
River Trail State Park in VA which has repaid repeated rides on the same trail
segment to spot daily and seasonal changes in natural history.
Some butterflies tend to congregate on trails as open spots in the forest. This
eastern comma seemed to be sunning itself with open wings as did a nearby red
admiral. However a clubtail dragonfly, a black shouldered spiny legs, was also
admiring the red admiral and swooped over, caught and ate it ! Another feature
of this trail which attracts butterflies is the prevalence of horse dung which
provides sodium salts; this male spicebush swallowtail seemed to be sipping
fluids from dung in a behavior termed "puddling."
Box turtles are often seen on bike trails, perhaps attracted by the sun light
and/or a place for egg laying and interactions with other turtles. Males
typically have a red iris and a concave lower shell, the plastron. Females have
a darker iris and a convex plastron. Animals sometimes do unexpected things, as
this male box turtle observed swimming in a pond. Although he was an
inefficient swimmer, he did manage to cross the pond safely while floating like
a cork. Since box turtles live to a considerable age, more than 50 years, and
reproduce slowly, they deserve our respect and care for their well being in
coping with the dangers of the modern world.
We observed a great egret along the New River Trail and became excited by this
since we had not seen one this year in the mountains of VA. This indicates that
not only is the value of real estate determined by location, but also the value
of a bird siting. In FL and along the SE coasts the great egret is a "trash
bird" hardly worthy of notice. Yet in the Blue Ridge Mountains it is a regular
but uncommon visitor which attracts some attention. It is also one native
species that is coping fairly well with the changes made by humans to the
planet, since it seems to be able to respond in a flexible manner to feeding
opportunities.
So get that bike out of the garage and take a ride on the wild side, cover more
territory than you can on foot, and scan the surroundings for interesting
natural history occurrences. It is fun, healthy and a very productive way to
observe nature.
Bill Dunson
Galax, VA and Englewood, FL
http://lemonbayconservancy.org/news-blog/nature-notes-by-bill-dunson/
http://pieenvironmental.blogspot.com/
http://www.galaxgazette.com/blogs
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Comma eastern butterfly NRT 7.26.15 Bill Dunson IMG_8365 bb.jpg
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Red admiral 7.4.15 Bill Dunson IMG_7799 aaa.jpg
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Clubtail dragonfly eats red admiral butterfly NRT 7.26.15 Bill Dunson IMG_8367 aa.jpg
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Spicebush swallowtail male on dung at NRT 7.21.15 Bill Dunson IMG_8185 aa.jpg
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Box turtle male b NRT 5.22.15 Bill Dunson IMG_6765 aa.jpg
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Box turtle male a plastron NRT 5.20.15 Bill Dunson IMG_6741 aa.jpg
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Box turtle female Matt S Forest 5.27.15 Bill Dunson IMG_6892 bb.jpg
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Box turtle male swimming in pond eight farm 7.23.15 Bill Dunson IMG_8272 aa.jpg
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Great egret in New River at Gambetta bridge 7.26.15 Bill Dunson IMG_8329 aa.jpg
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