Big Birds at Dawes Arboretum

 On June 3rd Joan and I visited Dawes Arboretum, to get in a walk and to see their latest exhibit, "Avian Avatars." Our first stop before spending time on foot, whether civilized or rough, is always at the visitor's center rest rooms. On that short hop there was plenty to see. (Click on any image to enlarge.) Here, gladiator allium.

Note the bee visiting the right bloom.

 A fabulous spiderwort.

Digitalis, often called "foxglove."

A green cloud -- soft, fuzzy fennel, likely foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum.'

From that side of the visitor's center we could see one of the sculptures of bamboo and recycled materials.

But we first set out to the west, and the demonstration garden.

Looking west, back towards Columbus, is to view the scrubbed landscape left behind by the last glacial period. Here we found the owl.

That's Joan in there.

On the other side of the demonstration garden there was a fabulous yellow maple.

Down the hill and towards the pond, Joan and I encountered the sandhill crane.

You can walk through it, if you're careful.

The passage narrows at the top!

Continuing on, we arrived at the peacock.

Even from there, we saw a "big bird" off in the distance -- a male cardinal.

He was accompanied by his lady friend.

A short video clip combining the peacock and female cardinal, who both sported whirling headgear. I deleted the audio due to excess background chatter.

Of course, Dawes is an arboretum, and blooms continued to grab our notice. Here's some rhododendron.

Next, we encountered this gorgeous bluebird.

We continued to the southern trails, beyond the sculptures, and to our delight on Oak Hill saw a hawk atop our favorite black maple.

The maple backlit by the sun.

Our return towards the parking area exposed us to the vigilant owl.

We'd been looking for a warm-up hike with a lot of interest, and this visit to Dawes certainly fit the bill.

Visits to Dawes Arboretum

Joan and I have visited Dawes Arboretum several times in the last year, but I've documented only one such. Today's omnibus post catches up with three other occasions.

Wind Sculptures -  9/04/20

In 2020 over sixty wind-driven Lyman Whitaker wind sculptures were installed at the arboretum. Joan and I visited it on a sunny September day. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

Static photos of a kinetic sculpture make no sense, so here's a video clip of several of them (not all sixty!).

We also saw this dragonfly, a slaty skimmer.

The south end of the arboretum grounds holds a large pond.

I have few other photos, so it's time to move on.

Frog Sculptures - 07/30/21

The focus of this trip was "Ribbit the Exhibit," a collection of twenty-four frog sculptures placed around the grounds, none too far from the parking area. They delightfully speak for themselves, but first, two non-amphibian photos. First, a tiger swallowtail.

Then a dragonfly, a female eastern amberwing.

And on to a few frogs ... the focus of this visit ...

Walking the dog.

Riding a bike.

A croaking good concert.

Taking a break.

Watering the garden ... lower right.

Shhh.

Yippee ki-yay!

 

East Side - 9/03/21

This Friday we decided to return to the east side of the arboretum, much wilder than the main grounds, and reached by a tunnel under State Highway 13. En route to the tunnel, Joan and I stopped to admire an eruption of garden spiders on one of the witch hazel specimens.

The females are many times larger than the males, and there were many of the same size, spinning webs within feet of each other -- siblings?

Those white zigzags are not an accident, but part of the design of the web. The supposition is that the benefit of preventing bird collisions with the web outweighs the detriment of alerting insect prey.

Beyond the tunnel but before entering the woods, we saw butterflies and thistles.

The environment in the forest was much different, of course. At one point we heard a chainsaw, and soon encountered a crew clearing the trail where a tree had fallen across it. Joan and I stopped for a chat.

 

Fresh "Ghost plant/Indian pipes," or monotropa uniflora.

The woods had their own, more circumspect, orb weavers. I took this photo just as the builder plunged out of sight on a silken thread. I'd gotten too close!

This nut of the American beech caught our eye, too.

 

Dawes Arboretum is a gem, and it's only 40 minutes or less from our house!

Dawes Arboretum, East Side

 On March 3rd Joan and I took advantage of a rare sunny day to visit the Dawes Arboretum, primarily the wilder east side.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Before reaching the tunnel under Route 13, whereby one accesses the east side, we passed through the witch hazel plantings; witch hazel blooms erupt before almost anything else.

After reaching the east side it was a short walk to the still-frozen Scout Pond.

Soon after finishing our inspection of the pond, we heard and then spotted a pileated woodpecker some distance away. The camera wasn't as good as the binoculars, but it was good enough:

The trail has been rerouted over the years due to various heavy rainfall and wind events, such as the derecho of 2012, which

deepened ravines and knocked out bridges.

The furthest east point on the trail overlooks the gorge of Quarry Run.

Much of the landscape here is the result of being on the edge of the Wisconsin glaciation, about 20,000 years ago, when the glaciers began to melt and retreat.

On the way back Joan and I encountered this exuberant moss pushing up through the leaf litter.

The southern edge of the east side holds a Native American mound structure, once eight feet high and forty feet wide. The Arboretum removed encroaching plants in 2015. I don't have a photo of the mound, but there's one in the lower right corner of this sign.

When we passed through the final meadow before reaching the tunnel, we spotted a cluster of insect galls that were reflecting bronze sparkles of sunlight.

Joan and I did some tromping around the more manicured west portion of the Arboretum, but I didn't take any pictures until we passed this tree in the main parking area.

A lovely spread of branches, but the head is now missing!

It was another good walk in the woods.