Wisconsin Orchids 2017

2017! Where did it go? Between moving homes, work and travel, life's pace has felt anything but the speed of a plant. Yet among the chaos, I managed to devote  significant time to nature's slow graces. And she yielded gloriously this year with a bounty of wild orchids. In total I observed 18 orchid species in Wisconsin this year with another half dozen or so that I saw in Michigan (another post for another year).

White Lady-slipper Orchid, Dane Co, 15May2017

White Lady-slipper orchid (#1 Cypripedium candidum) was my first and a highly unexpected discovery in Dane County on May 15th. This was the height of spring warbler migration. Since I was birding, my eyes were mostly focusing four feet above ground and higher. To my great fortune my attention was drawn beneath me and subsequently to an impressive expanse of white blooms decorating an otherwise low quality fen.

June, which is largely peak orchid season in Wisconsin yielded fourteen species of orchids including three life orchids. Early in the month I traveled to Marinette County to complete my breeding bird surveys. As is customary whenever I travel for volunteer work beit bird surveys or hummingbird banding, I try to work in a visit or two to a state natural area during my "downtime."

A black spruce bog, Vilas Co, WI 5Aug2017

Bog and fens are usually my choice. These calm, lush, green spaces are layered with visual explosions of bugs, plants, birds and animals highlighted by an ethereal soundscape that includes the melodious flute-like tremolo of hermit thrush, plaintive songs of white-throated sparrows, and squeaky cyclical warbles and staccato trills of black-and-white and Nashville warblers. They are the epitome of nature's magic.

Carnivorous pitcher plant, Marinette Co, 11June2017

In and among the mossened earth are nature's most miniature treasures: blunt-leaved orchids, whorled pyrola, fungi, sprays of cranberry vine, carnivorous plants and millions of whimsical lichens.

Miniature shrooms, Marinette Co, WI 11June2017

Eyes combing, searching the forest floor and matts of floating sphagnum for the familiar and the new. Repetition and discovery. It's comforting and exhilarating. That was Town Corners Cedars state natural area, my first dedicated orchid quest of the season and a place familiar to me from past visits.

Blunt-leaved orchid (Platanthera obtusata), Marinette Co, 11June2017

Dragon's mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa), Marinette Co, WI 11June2017

I added Blunt-leaved (#2 Platanthera obtusata), Dragon's Mouth (#3 Arethusa bulbosa), Pink Lady's-slipper (#4 Cypripedium acaule), Tall White Bog (#5 Platanthera dilatata) and Striped Coralroot (#6 Corallorhiza striata) orchids to my species list for the year along with a menagerie of insects and birds.

Pink Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium acaule), Marinette Co, 11June2017

Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza striata)  Marinette Co, WI 11June2017

Tall white bog orchid (Platanthera dilatata), Marinette Co, WI 11June2017

Marinette county also delivered my first Yellow Lady's Slipper orchids (#7 Cypripedium parviflorum). I briefly stopped to admire a patch between point count stops in the ditches along a stretch of road on my Wausaukee breeding bird survey route.

Yellow lady's slipper orchids (Cypripedium parviflorum), Marinette Co, WI 13June2017

Shortly after my trip north, I returned to my new home county, Dane, where I was tipped off to a spot to observe Pale Green Orchids (#8) Platanthera flava var. herbiola). This was the first of three life orchids for 2017.

Pale Green Orchid, Dane, WI 14June2017 

The weekend of June 23th took me to northwest Wisconsin for hummingbird banding where I made time for a short detour to Sawyer county for one of my most memorable visits to a state natural area EVER.

Round-leaved orchis (Amerorchis rotundifolia), Sawyer Co, WI 25Jun2017

The orchids were astounding, unbelievably lush, abundant and more beauty than my soul could absorb at one time. It was THAT AMAZING. I saw ten orchid species that visit! Round-leaved Orchis (#9 Amerorchis rotundifolia) and Loesel's Twayblade (#10 Liparis loeselii) were life orchids.

Loesel's twayblade (Liparis loeselii)Sawyer Co, WI 25June2017

In addition. I added Showy Lady's-slipper (#11 Cypripedium reginae), Grass Pink (#12 Calopogon tuberosus), Rose Pogonia (#13 Pogonia ophioglossoides) and Tall Green Bog Orchid (#14) to my list of 2017 orchid species.

Showy Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium reginae), Sawyer Co, WI 25June2017

Tall green bog orchid (Platanthera huronensis), Sawyer Co, 25June2017

In July I should have sought Prairie-fringed orchids which are easily found in southern Wisconsin. However time escaped me between settling into my new home and traveling for the height of hummingbird banding season. The month was not entirely lost though. On a detour through Jackson county for tiger beetles, I was treated to finding my Wisconsin life Club-spur orchids (#15 Platanthera clavellata ) in a nearby ditch. I have seen this species many times in the U.P. of Michigan, but this was a first for me in Wisconsin.

Club-spur orchid (Platanthera clavellata), Jackson Co, WI 23July2017

August saw the addition of Lesser Rattlesnake Plantain (#16 Goodyera repens) during a fruitful side trip I took to Johnson Lake Barrens and Springs SNA in Vilas county following a weekend of hummingbird banding in nearby Gogebic county (Michigan). Oddly, I was hoping to find some tiger beetles, but ended up finding a spruce grouse family and this orchid instead. I also found a myriad of interesting insects including several leaf hoppers making for another golden visit to a new state natural area for me.

Lesser Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera repens), Vilas Co, WI 5Aug2017

Lesser Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera repens), Vilas Co, WI 5Aug2017

Spurce Grouse, Vilas co, 5Aug2017

September is the month for Spiranthes. Areas near Black Earth in western Dane county such at Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie and Pleasant Valley Conservancy are excellent spots to look for this genus of orchids. Both of these state natural areas hold rich rewards throughout the warmer months. But September is certainly one of my favorite months to visit. My final orchid acquisitions of the year were Great Plains Ladies' Tresses (#17 Spiranthes magnicamporum) and October Lady Tresses (#18 Spiranthes ovalis). There was a particular plant at Pleasant Valley Conservancy that some reported was a Slender Ladies Tresses. However it smelled of almond and as far as I could surmise was the more common Great Plains Ladies Tresses. Perhaps during the pending frigid days ahead I will finally have time to investigate the ID of this orchid in further detail. For now I have this labeled at Spiranthes magnicamporum. Either way I saw ample of this species of Rettenmund Prairie this year.

Putative Great Plains Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes magnicamporum), Dane Co, 12Sept2017

October Lady Tresses (Spiranthes ovalis), Dane Co, WI 12Sept2017

Well, that's it for 2017! I eeked out this last post (just barely) and am late to my New Year's engagement...

There are many photos that will die a death buried in my hard drives for lack of time. That's fine by me. EXPERIENCES are where it's at. There will be no more looking back or tying some proverbial bow on my year of all things nature. The final ship of 2017 has sailed. The chains of the past few years are broken. So forward I go, fearless yet fragile. And despite the forces of the "joy bandit" I will persevere. May greater happiness belong to all in 2018.