Exploring a new space.
I went out to dinner with some of the folks that were at the Nocturnal Bug BioBlitz, at a bar I'd never been to, in my new home town. Afterward we were standing outside saying goodbye and one of the gang pointed across the street and said, that's public land over there. She had studied the maps of the town and knew that this unused parcel was not private, and that it might end up being a town woods or park. I said I would go there any time and check it out. Which I did, the next day.
Long story short, it has potential. Mostly it is impassibly choked with poison ivy, but one margin was easy to get at, and had clear evidence of human use. A small wetland was there, with a swampy pond and a dry stream bed. The far side of it abutted some houses, and was being used as a combination dirt bike track and dump.
I found a little group of Indian pipes, white flowers that are parasitic on mycorrhizzae and have no chlorophyll.
This is toward the end where the houses are. I climbed this hill, then turned around. Then I hiked the dry stream bed, then went up another wooded ridge. While up there I watched a coyote lope down the stream bed where I had been a few minutes earlier. It was the first time I had seen a wild coyote and not been in a car at the time.
One section was full of tall weeds and wildflowers, and edged with smooth sumac. Above is spotted knapweed, a beautiful wildflower which turns out is a terrible invasive species.
This is smooth sumac fruit:
