NATURE CLICKS #596 - SNOW TRILLIUM (TRILLIUM NIVALE) AND MORE


Snow Trillium, White Pine Hollow State Preserve, Iowa

It took us a while but we finally found this never common and often rare wildflower again during a late afternoon hike in one of Iowa’s wildest areas. In 2020 we found a larger patch in White Pine Hollow, but this time only these three blossoms greeted us from the forest floor at the bottom of a large tree. This rugged area is not easy to access for everybody and there is not really any trail that can lead you through the steep canyons and across the ridges. With other words, some skills to read the lay of the land are highly recommended if you want to come back safely.

Hepatica (also known as liverleaf or liverwort, German: Leberblümchen)

At our turn-around point at the end of a ridge is a cave-like sink hole. Too small for me to get in but I’m not a big fan of cave exploration anyway. While in our neck of the woods, above the Little Maquoketa Valley and only 20 miles away, not a single wildflower was spotted so far, we found several patches of Hepatica in full bloom around the sink hole. Maybe warmer air that comes out of the gap in the rocks creates a micro climate and the wildflowers have a slightly earlier start. I admit, it’s just a theory.

Where plants start growing insects find them as a food source. There is a little larvae in one of the flowers.

I have not used my macro lens, the Sigma 150/f2.8, in a very long time. I just don’t do a lot of macro anymore. It’s the oldest lens in my arsenal. On the mirrorless Nikon Z 6II this lens works only in manual focus mode but the sharpness of this lens is superb and I still like the outcome.

EVERY SPRING…


Bloodroot, Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Dubuque County, Iowa

Easter weekend and the last couple days have been warm, or at least mild, and nature responds to that. Wildflowers started blooming in large numbers. We went on a hike through ‘Lost Canyon’ and ‘Valley of 13 Caves’ in the Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area here in Dubuque County on Easter Sunday. Well, we could make similar pictures in the woods behind our house here in the Little Maquoketa River Valley, but it was nice to get out and explore something away from home. Yeaah, I say that every year, I’m not a flower photographer, but at the end it’s hard to resist to look for the light and make a click whenever nature’s beauty unfolds in front of the eye…

Hepatica, Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Dubuque County, Iowa

A HIDDEN GEM


White Pine Hollow Preserve, Iowa

One of the hidden gems in the landscape of the driftless area here is White Pine Hollow State Preserve near the little town of Luxemburg, Iowa. You can’t drive in and I recommend some solid hiking boots if you like to explore this area. Except for the hollow that leads down to the bottom of the canyon there are no trails and some sense of direction is recommended. If you don’t mind a hike through washed out and rocky terrain and can master a couple of small river crossings, you will be rewarded with tranquility and the beauty of nature. And now, during these unusual times, it is a place where social distancing is easy to maintain. We hiked yesterday for 3 1/2 hours and didn’t see a single soul. Well, have a look what we found…

Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale)

Big patches of Wild Leek (Allium tricoccum)

Round-lobed Hepatica (Anemone americana)

SERIOUS SIGN OF SPRING


Hepatica americana

No, the photo wasn’t taken in our woods this time but during a little hike that Joan, dog Cooper, and I took in the Mines of Spain State Recreation Area this evening. Hepatica Americana is the first wild flower that usually shows up and we found it below some rock bluffs in a more remote part in this park south of Dubuque, Iowa.

I wanted this kind of shot with a low depth of field. At 200 mm and f/5 only a couple blossoms are in focus, but it keeps the eye away from the dried clutter around the plant and that’s the way I like it.

WILDFLOWERS AT EASTER


Dutchman's Breeches, Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM -----------

It is this short time of the year when we have a few days to enjoy the wildflowers on top of our lime stone bluffs here above the Little Maquoketa River Valley. A week ago the Hepatica were blooming but today, after the rain we had last night, I didn’t find a single one anymore. There are still a few Bloodroot in the woods and the Mayapples come out of the ground, although not blooming yet.

Right now we see lots of Dutchman’s Breeches blooming everywhere. I will travel the next seven days and I already wonder if any of them will still show their unique blossoms next weekend.

I hope you all have a nice Easter weekend! Go out and make some good clicks!