Chickering Bog, june 2021
Chickering Bog Natural Area is a 222 acre property of the Nature Conservancy in Vermont. The preserve, found on the back-roads through the border of Plainfield and Calais, is comprised of the fen (“bog” is technically inaccurate) and most of its forest watershed.
A male Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis tracheas, surveys the fen for food and threats. The vibrant green needles behind him belong to a Tamarack, aka American Larch, Larix lacrina.
Family brings me back to Vermont, where I was born and spent twenty-two of my first twenty-three years. My Mom and stepfather are always the priority people on these all-too-infrequent trips, although there are many other people there who I am very fond of. But just as the presence of my folks and old friends makes central Vermont home, the land itself permeates my history and sense of identity.
Growing up I was always a nature boy, exploring the woods around Plainfield and the Winooski River which runs through it. I felt great affinity for the plants and animals there, but only had a basic knowledge of the flora and fauna. It wasn’t until my mid thirties, over a decade into my time in Seattle that I began exploring the pursuits of a naturalist, first in botany and later with birding. So I am now in the funny position of knowing more about the flora and fauna of western Washington than of the land I grew up on. Every time I’m in Vermont I relish the opportunity catch up on the many things I didn’t learn when I lived there. While some species, such as the Common Yellowthroat seen in the photo above, can be seen in Washington as well as Vermont the flora and fauna of these distant places are very different overall. This means that returning to Vermont simultaneously provides the comfort of the familiar and the excitement of discovery.
My wildlife wish list for this trip was long, as it is for any proper naturalist excursion, but this particular story revolves around my quest for pitcher plants and orchids. After telling my Mom about my intention to visit at least one bog for that reason she did some research that yielded Chickering Bog, among other places. It was only a half an hour from my folks’ place, and lies on the edge of my hometown of Plainfield. Again, discovery amisdt the familiar.
A couple notes about this post:
Part of the purpose of having this blog is write more about the content of my photos and the adventures that yielded them, so I must apologize to those who actually want to read my writing for the brevity of the text above. The summer got away from me and with my visits to Chickering Bog now months into the past I’m not even trying to narrate those experiences. But I did manage to upload and caption the photos below, so that much of those wonderful walks can be experienced here.
Regarding the photos, I have included images taken on my phone, a Google Pixel 4a. I had my telephoto lens on my camera to be ready for wildlife encounters. Rather than changing lenses, out of pure laziness I just used my phone for landscape shots. While I am quite impressed with the quality of the images from this camera phone, they certainly don’t touch the quality of those taken on my Nikon D7500. Seeing them on my computer screen, rather than my phone screen, gave me misgivings about using these, but in order to show you more I ultimately opted to keep them here. This is more about storytelling than trying to present myself as a great photographer, which I am not. Photos without watermarks were taken on the Pixel, those with on the Nikon. Watermark or not they are still mine and may not be used without my permission. Please pardon that bit of unpleasantness and enjoy the pictures!
A sampling of floristic diversity on the forest floor. Middle, lower right and lower left are Ash, Fraxinus, Balsam Fir, Abies balsamea, and Sugar Maple, Acer rubrum. The saplings are mingling with two species of Rubus blackberry/raspberry) and one of the many New England ferns that I can’t identify.
I love the way this tree’s roots grasp the exposed bedrock.
Old stone walls are common in New England woods, and certainly lend to their charms, but finding this stone staircase was a special treat.
I can’t resist the beauty of birch bark. In life the outer layers of Paper Birch bark peel and roll into delightful scrolls as the tree grows. Here many layers are coiling together on a large section of bark shed from a dead tree.
Among the many seed plants on the forest floor can be found the vascular spore plants known as Clubmosses. Looking somewhat like tiny pine branches (“Ground Pine” is another name for them) these ancient plants are no more little trees than they are mosses. Like mosses they reproduce with spores, but they have water-transporting vasculature which mosses lack. This enables them to reach their height of eight inches, something unattainable to mosses. Seen here is Tree Clubmoss, Lycopodium obscurum.
Northern White Cedar, Thuja Occidentals. Seeing this species in the forest hinted at the proximity to the fen where I was headed. They are associated with bogs and swamps.
“Welcome to a Class I wetland designation that highlights Chickering Bog as “best in show” for wetlands in Vermont. Contrary to its name, Chickering Bog is actually a fen! Fens are fed by groundwater, carrying important nutrients from underlying bedrock, like calcium and magnesium. Bogs, on the other hand, are only fed by precipitation, creating acidic, nutrient-poor conditions. Surrounded a relatively undeveloped landscape, Chickering Bog has been a conservation priority since the mid-1970’s, with 220 acres and most of the surrounding watershed conserved by 2014.”
Northern Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia purpurea. The specialized leaves of pitcher plants give them their name, but their flowers are pretty fascinating too.
The rainwater-filled leaf of a pitcher plant is an insect trap. Insects that drown in that water are digested by enzymes secreted by the plant and by bacteria living in the water. The nutrients obtained, nitrogen in particular, compensate for the low fertility of the acidic, water-logged soils these plants grow in.
The reddish purple patterns on the surface of the pitcher attract insects. Much less obvious to us, but tantalizingly detectable to insects is the presence of nectaries at the top of the pitcher. The same sweet liquid that attracts pollinators to flowers is used here to lure prey. Insects that fall into the pitcher are prevented from crawling out by the downward-facing hairs above the opening.
Rose Pogonia, Pogonia ophioglossoides. Loss and degradation of wetlands make this and other orchids of these fragile habitats all the more precious. Collection of the plants further imperils populations of these wonderful wildflowers. If you have the good fortune of finding wild orchids please take only pictures.
Grass Pink, Calopogon pulchellus framed with Northern White Cedar foliage. At first glance I thought I was seeing more Rose Pogonia, but then I was doubly delighted to discover that there were two species of orchids flowering in the fen.
The flowers of Grass Pink are upside-down orchids. The highly modified petal known as the lip is usually at the bottom, not the top as seen here.
Larch trees, such as this Tamarack, are deciduous conifers, which shed their leaves every autumn. I remember my mind being blown as a kid when I discovered the seeming oxymoron of the deciduous conifers. I knew conifers as evergreens, and broad-leaved trees as deciduous. Of course most conifers do have leaves that live through the winters, but larches are one of several exceptions to this pattern. Similarly there are more than a few species of broad-leaved trees that don’t shed their leaves in autumn, but they are found in milder climates than New England’s.
Damselfly on Red Osier Dogwood, Cornus stolonifera. Damselflies are close relatives of the dragonflies, which can easily be guessed by looking at them. Aside from their smaller size and more delicate features (“damsel”) they can be distinguished from dragonflies by their habit of holding their wings against their sides when at rest. The wings of dragonflies remain extended outward at all times. That being said I don’t know what species of damselfly this is, or even which genus that species is placed in.
Little Wood Satyr, Megisto cymela
Green Frog, Rana clamitans
Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocapillus, with a caterpillar for their nearby fledgling.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus varius, female (males have red throats as well as crowns).
Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus, female (males have red malars or “mustaches” and the red on their crowns extends all the way to the base of their bills).
Red Squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus.
Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata
Thanks for joining me for this brief exploration of Chickering Bog! Links at the top of this page will take you to other posts, my social media pages, and my portfolio, where you can buy prints of my work.