Wildflowers and Wildlife at Cedar Bog

On Saturday, my sister and I went to see the orchids at Cedar Bog. We were not disappointed. Cedar Bog is one of the field trip options for the Midwest Native Plant Conference and is chock full of fascinating wildflowers and wildlife.

We were greeted by a Yellow-breasted Chat, chattering away in a nearby tree. I tried to coax him out with no luck, so here is a Wikipedia shot.

The Showy Lady's Slippers were almost past bloom, but there were still a few hanging on. What beautiful blossoms, like delicate Cinderella slippers.

Grass-pink Orchids peppered the area. My camera does not do these flowers justice. They are a gorgeous fuschia pink.

Another shot just because I really like them that much : )

I never knew that sundews lived in Ohio until last year. I had always thought they lived farther south, since the first ones I encountered were in Alabama. This one is Round-leaved Sundew. They can be found near the boardwalk, but can be easily missed if you are not carefully looking for them.

Sundews are carnivorous plants that attract tiny insects to their small sticky droplets of liquid you can see in the photo above. The insect is trapped and soon dies of exhaustion from struggling or asphyxiation from the mucilage covering their spiracles from which they breathe. Not a great way to go! The plant then secretes digestive juices and the leaves absorbs the nutrients that are released. Mmmmmm, bug guts!

We soon encountered a moth that reminds me of a paper airplane. This one is LeConte's Haploa Moth, Haploa lecontei.

We looked in vain for the Spotted Turtle, an rare inhabitant of Cedar Bog. So here is a pic from Wikipedia.

Large patches of this beauty, Fringed Loosestrife, was prevalent. Such a cheerful, sunny flower!

Great Angelica towered over the boardwalk six to seven feet high. Not really a "pretty" wildflower, Angelica can be appreciated for its interesting round inflorescences.

My sister did not know it, but I was looking for this critter, a Massassauga Rattlesnake, hoping we would see one. No luck. Thanks, Wikipedia, for the image.

This is not a bumble bee, but a robber fly imitating a bumble bee. This one is in the genus Laphria. By mimicking the bee, the robber fly can evade predators who have had an unfortunate experience with a bee in the past. The predator will take one look at the robber fly and avoid contact.

And, lastly, the Horned Bladderwort. I know, terrible pic, but it is still diagnostic. You can see the "horn" hanging below. This bladderwort has its leaves and bladders under the soil. It catches tiny organisms within the bladders and digests them. I did a previous post on the Common Bladderwort, that lives in our pond.

Such a wonderful place to visit. I hope you check out Cedar Bog sometime soon!

Check out other posts at ABC Wednesdays.