Another Day, Another Stretch of River

Where the Hudson River forms the northern boundary of Saratoga County, its plummeting waters are caught and controlled by a number of dams, creating a series of catchments perfectly suited for flatwater canoeing.  On Friday I put my little Hornbeck in the section that lies above the dam at Glens Falls, entering the river at a quiet backwater that can be accessed via the Betar Byway in South Glens Falls.

Only a few miles downstream from my regular haunts above the Sherman Island Dam, this section of river is home to a number of quite unusual plants that I never find in my home waters, including some that are listed as threatened species in New York State.  Water Marigold is one of these, and I was a bit disappointed to find only one rather scraggly specimen in bloom.

Perhaps I had come looking for them too early, since I saw plenty of their emergent leaves in one section of the backwater.   This plant is remarkable in that the lance-shaped leaves that protrude above the water are quite different from the very fine hair-like leaves that form whorls along the underwater stem.

A second rare plant that thrives in this catchment is Small Floating Bladderwort, which was blooming in great numbers a month ago.  Even now, a few stragglers still lifted their chubby yellow blooms above their inflated pontoons.

I next paddled upstream toward the Feeder Dam, approaching the shale cliffs that rise steeply from the water's edge.  Black as coal, the shale is constantly watered by springs that provide a rich environment for a number of interesting plants that make their home in this bare rock.

Grass of Parnassus is one of the plants that thrive on these cliffs, sharing its niche with Bulblet Fern and Coltsfoot in this particular spot.

I believe that the ring of yellow dots circling the pistil are nectaries, which would explain why I often see lots of little flies visiting Grass of Parnassus flowers.

A number of different mosses and liverworts also cling to the dampened shale.

Dainty blue Kalm's Lobelia also prefers this lime-rich environment, clinging to the cliff face at just the right height for enjoying a close-up eye-level view of their pretty blooms.

Other parts of the riverbank were also decorated with some of the season's prettiest blooms, including this trio of radiantly blue Closed Gentians.

A Winterberry shrub graced a fallen log with a bough full of abundant red fruit.

A Great Blue Heron would let me get only so close before lifting off with those enormous wings, long legs trailing behind.

I couldn't believe how close this Painted Turtle let me approach.  I could see that it had me fixed with its gaze, but it never did slip from its sunlit perch.

There were other creatures enjoying this beautiful day on the river, and if I'd been wearing my bathing suit, I would have been tempted to join them.

Wheeee!

Calm River, Grand Companions

Between last Tuesday's earthquake and this coming Sunday's projected hurricane, today was a day of extraordinary calm.  Clear blue sky with only a few puffy white clouds, no wind, pleasantly warm:  a perfect day for a paddle, especially with such friendly and knowledgeable companions as Sherrie and Nancy and Sue.

Our destination was the Hudson River at South Glens Falls, a stretch that Sue and I have paddled many times, sharing our photos of rare and unusual plants we have found there on our respective blogs.   When biologist and author Nancy Slack learned about our finds, she asked if we would take her there, and of course we were delighted to do so.  And we were even more delighted that Nancy brought her friend Sherrie along, another accomplished biologist and author.



We were especially excited to show our two biologist friends the Small Floating Bladderwort (Utricularia radiata), which grows so abundantly along this stretch of the river, it's hard to believe it could be listed by New York State as a threatened species.  There were many of the bright yellow flowers floating in the quiet backwaters near where we put in, the flowering stalks held above the surface by little radiating pontoons.

Nancy is known to be an expert at identifying liverworts and mosses, so we couldn't wait to show her the steep limestone shale cliffs upstream, which are covered with many of these plants.  Here,  she examines the cliff face, where she found an unusual liverwort, Preissia quadrata, which is known to prefer exactly this kind of habitat.  That patch of orange stuff is Trentepohlia aurea, a green alga that appears orange because it contains a chemical that masks its chlorophyll.  It, too, is a limestone lover.

These cliffs are constantly watered by seepy springs, which provide nourishment and moisture to the patches of mosses and liverworts that cling to the cliffs.

Another unusual plant that has found a happy home on these cliffs is Grass of Parnassus, with bright white flowers that stand out against the black shale and the big green Coltsfoot leaves.

And here's a little spider that has found a happy home in one of the Grass of Parnassus blooms.  I wonder if it feeds on those little yellow nectaries that surround the flower's center.  It's perhaps more likely that it feeds on the insects that come to feed on the nectaries.

Another lime-loving plant, Spikenard grows abundantly on these cliffs, its berries still green today and not yet the deep purple they will soon become.

Mountain Maple is another plant that thrives in this habitat.  Sue called my attention to the deep dimples in the seeds.  Is this a sign of something gone wrong, or is this typical of all Mountain Maple seeds?  I have no idea.

After exploring the cliffs, we paddled into a quiet backwater where many emergent flowers were beautifully in bloom.  Here, Nancy looks through her Newcomb's Wildflower Guide to determine which species of Arrowhead she has found along shore.  It was Common Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia), with leaves that can vary enormously from broadly to very narrowly arrow-shaped.  The ones we found had broad leaves.

Pickerelweed also has broad arrow-shaped leaves.  Here, purple Pickerelweed and white Arrowhead commingle, making it a little difficult to tell whose leaves are whose, at first glance.

Water Marigold (Bidens beckii) has two different kinds of leaves on the same plant.  The ones you can see above water are lance-shaped and toothed, while the underwater ones are finely divided and hair thin, growing in whorls around the stalk.

We were treated to the occasional sight of an elusive Green Heron, who would not remain within camera range, but this Great Blue Heron stood his ground until we were nearly abreast.