Day-4, Congaree birds, plants and a reminder

We spent a second day at Congaree National Park, walking the boardwalk and the trail to Lake Wise. I always think it’s a good day when I find Yellow Jessamine. It is so bright and vibrant when little else is flowering.

Winter Wrens were singing and allowing great views today.

Pileated Woodpeckers was also common, noisy and easy to watch.

For me finding many of the diverse southern lichens is always fun. This is Usnea strigosa, bristly beard lichen.

While we found a lot of butterweed yesterday, none were in bloom. It was different today. This one also had a very flighty flower fly, the common calligrapher.

Another southern lichen – perforated ruffle lichen.

A new find today were Hermit Thrushes. We found them at several spots on the boardwalk trail. They possible just arrived over night.

One of the common blue violets that we found on the trail to Wise Lake.

An anniversary that I missed last week, the arrival and spread of SARS-CoV-2 (Covid) as of 24 February 2020. It’s hard to believe that it was four years ago.

Currently, the CDC is recommending another Covid-booster for people over 65. This should be at least four months after your last booster.

More tomorrow,..