
{"id":11328,"date":"2010-07-06T06:39:58","date_gmt":"2010-07-06T14:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=11328"},"modified":"2010-08-11T12:38:43","modified_gmt":"2010-08-11T20:38:43","slug":"nature-on-the-bolin-creek-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/07\/06\/nature-on-the-bolin-creek-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature on the Bolin Creek Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_11329\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11329\" style=\"width: 302px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2010\/07\/06\/nature-on-the-bolin-creek-trail\/polymnia-on-bolin-creek\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11329\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Polymnia-on-Bolin-Creek.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Polymnia-on-Bolin-Creek\" width=\"302\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Polymnia-on-Bolin-Creek.jpg 302w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Polymnia-on-Bolin-Creek-90x150.jpg 90w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Polymnia-on-Bolin-Creek-68x113.jpg 68w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Polymnia-on-Bolin-Creek-181x300.jpg 181w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Polymnia-on-Bolin-Creek-48x80.jpg 48w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 302px) 100vw, 302px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11329\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bearsfoot grows along the edges of Bolin Creek Trail. Photo by Ken Moore.<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<strong>By Ken Moore<br \/>\n<em>Flora Columnist<\/em><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I last walked on the Bolin Creek Trail in Chapel Hill in August, when I was excited to discover <em>Polymnia uvedalia<\/em>, bearsfoot, all along the woodland edges. Bearsfoot was well past peak flower when I described it in Flora on Aug. 6.<\/p>\n<p>I was surprised to see it beginning to flower this past weekend when I revisited the trail after such a long absence. This year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flowering is weeks earlier than last year.<br \/>\nWith this advance notice, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have ample time to enjoy it before it completes this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flowering cycle.<\/p>\n<p>That was the first of many surprises I encountered during this past Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s walk on the greenway along the creek.<\/p>\n<p>Early on, I was overtaken by a friend who regularly jogs along the pathway. He stopped to alert me to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153take a closer look\u00e2\u20ac\u009d up ahead where the creek forms a couple of fish-filled pools frequently visited by one or more great blue herons. He further advised me to keep an eye open for the muskrat he had recently seen.<\/p>\n<p>I found the pool, sure enough filled with minnows and a couple of perch-like fish big enough to eat. The heron took off as I advanced. But while I was kneeling down photographing elderberry fruit overhanging the pool, a muskrat, mouth full of vegetation, swam by paying no attention to me. Though it was too fast for me to change camera position, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never had such a good look at a swimming muskrat.<\/p>\n<p>More exciting than seeing that swimming rodent was discovering an unusual climbing milkweed vine beside the paved walkway. The only time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever seen it in the wild has been in the company of botanist friend Pete Schubert, who is keen about these uncommon vines and has a talent for spotting them. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shown me several populations north of Durham on the Penny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bend natural area.<\/p>\n<p>This one is anglepod, <em>Gonolobus suberosus<\/em>, because its milkweed-like fruit is smooth and distinctly ridged, giving it an angle-like configuration. Though it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t jump out at you like the bearsfoot, the maroon and greenish-yellow nickel-size flowers are worth discovering. The long, distinctly heart-shaped opposite leaves help you locate the vine. Those unusual little flowers made my day!<\/p>\n<p>As I headed back, the high-pitched call of a red-tailed hawk startled me from high above. I wondered what it was trying to communicate from its urban-wilderness tree-top perch.<\/p>\n<p>Following the commotion from the hawk, I heard shouts of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153water moccasin\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from members of a young family exploring in the creek. I hurriedly stepped inside the forest to join the group, hoping to interrupt possible harm to an innocent creekside inhabitant. Sure enough, a young banded water snake was surrounded by two adults and four eager children. Once assured that they were observing a harmless water snake, they were content to watch it continue on its way.<\/p>\n<p>What a full-of-surprises, adventure-filled walk that was along the greenway. I must remember to return frequently.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11330\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11330\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2010\/07\/06\/nature-on-the-bolin-creek-trail\/anglepod\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11330\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Anglepod.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Anglepod\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Anglepod.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Anglepod-113x84.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Anglepod-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Anglepod-360x270.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Anglepod-106x80.jpg 106w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11330\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Uncommon anglepod is found along Bolin Creek Trail. Photo by Ken Moore.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I last walked on the Bolin Creek Trail in Chapel Hill in August, when I was excited to discover Polymnia uvedalia, bearsfoot, all along the woodland edges. Bearsfoot was well past peak flower when I described it in Flora on Aug. 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-flora"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11328"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11899,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11328\/revisions\/11899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}