Exploring Sudden High and Low

I decided to head down to Sudden Bog today to continue exploring some of the dry forest habitats that can be found atop the moraine ridges.  One route that I like to take passes a wonderful view of the Waynco Prairie.  The photo below is the view from a high point on West River Road looking across the Grand River to the Waynco Prairie.  I think it's one of the most picturesque vistas in the county (minus the Autumn Olive in the foreground).

Over to the Sudden Tract, things are getting pretty quiet on the wildlife front, tonnes of oak, maple and beech leafs to wade through.

The bright pink and orange fruits of Running Strawberry-bush add a bit of colour to the yellows, oranges and browns.  I remember Jane Bowles once telling me that this species is a great indicator of Carolinian forest (based on it's range here in Ontario).  A quick browse through my county floras list and sure enough, those counties where it is rare more or less mimic the boundary of what is considered to be Carolinian.

I was kind of surprised to find a couple dozen of the regionally rare Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) growing in what seemed to be a fairly disturbed stand of poplars.  Reading further into it this member of the carrot family can be found in both higher quality and more degraded sites.

Trying to bushwack my way to a knoll of oaks I came across another rarity, Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) growing in a peaty wet depression.

A few herbaceous plants could still be found on a steep Sugar Maple-Red Oak slope including lots of Blue-stemmed Goldenrod and the plant in the photo, Wild Licorice (Galium circaezans).

Walking along Beke Road, a narrow and muddy gravel road, I spotted about a dozen Cedar Waxwing going to town on Winterberry.

Two similar Viburnums growing near to one another, the first photo is Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago) which tends to have more serrate leaf margins and grows in mesic soils.

The second, Wild Raisin (Viburnum cassinoides) has more of less smooth leaf margins, sometimes bluntly toothed, and tends to grow in wet soils.

High up on one of the moraine ridges I found a couple of Sicklepod (Arabis canadensis).  The photo below shows the papery seeds of this biennial species of the Mustard family.

Sudden Tract has tonnes of Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra), ranked provincially as S3 (rare to uncommon).  The bark sticks out, I'm not sure how to describe it, kind of like Black Walnut meets Butternut.  It's more ragged looking than Bitternut Hickory but not nearly as much as Shagbark.

 

A whole-lotta Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides).