At long last, I entered the park. I could smell smoke and in fact saw a plume up ahead. I proceeded up a wooded dune that formed the northern shore of the lake and found that most of the area had been burned. This was actually a good thing as controlled burns of savannah and prairie
ecosystems keep them healthy. I’d wager based on the condition of the ash and the still smoldering dead logs that I showed up literally the day after the burn. There goes any hope of wildflowers, more than likely next week they’ll be coming out. Anyhow, I went ahead and enjoyed the trek and unique condition of the environment. Soon, I stumbled upon a new sight…Prickly Pear (Opuntia humifusa)!!!
This is the only locally native cactus. It’s one that I’m well familiar with but had never successfully found in the wild. Well here it was somewhat yellow and wilted due to the recent fire. There weren’t many and they were pretty stressed as it was so I decided to high tail it out so I didn’t add any undue stress.Soon the dunes, while still skirted by a savannah covered dune to the west, opened up to reveal a dry prairie. It was here that my perception that the prickly pear was scarce, was dashed. The entire prairie was livid with the little dark green pads. They were basically the only plant currently living. A note of caution about these
little dudes: do not touch these cacti thinking they are spineless without gloves on. True they may have few to no spines at all but the hairs that occupy the slots where spines would be are a nightmare! But should you be stupid like myself and decide to learn this the hard way, soak your hands with water and then proceed to rub until the water weakened hairs are rubbed out/off.From the still dormant plant material I could tell that this prairie, not surprisingly, was dominated also by the copper red, hip height Little Blue Stem (Schizayrium scoparium) a staple of dry and/or sandy prairies. Soon enough, I reached the lake shore and came face to face with a massive dune. I’m not sure whether it was a good thing though that there was a stair case that ascended this behemoth of the beach. It was good in that I wasn’t going to be treading on any precious flora or adding to erosion but bad in that it sucks a bit of the fun out of working you’re butt off to get to the top. Well up the stairs (which proved somewhat tiring anyway) I went and what a breathtaking view it was down into the prairie below and the savannahs beyond.
Honestly I don’t know how to fix it but the pictures somehow do the depth and distances injustice. It was up here that I thought I saw a Merlin (Falco columbarius) which is a small falcon and definitely saw a kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon).To Be Continued
Never knew that a prickly pear grew so north. Do you think it was planted there by someone or just an invasive species. Were there a lot of those out there?
ReplyDeleteThere was a ton of Prickly Pear present in this area, every few steps yielded a new plant. I haven't found yet another location in the park where they are so omnipresent or present at all for that matter. Prickly Pear is native this far north but this location is approaching the northern end of it's range. It can also be found in smaller numbers in restricted areas of Illinois Beach State Park and a few pockets of southern Wisconsin.
ReplyDeleteHope that answers your question. Thanks for commenting!