Wingleaf Primrose-willow – Native Plant of the Day 08/20/2023
Photo from 8/17/2013. Location: Riverwalk, Amnicola Marsh, Hamilton County, TN.
More info / photos at the Ludwigia decurrens detail page.
Wingleaf Primrose-willow – Ludwigia decurrens
Winged Sumac – Native Plant of the Day 07/31/2023
Photo from 07/27/2013. Location: Amnicola Marsh, Hamilton County, TN.
More photos / info at the Rhus copallinum detail page.
Winged Sumac – Rhus copallinum
Swamp Rose Mallow – Native Plant of the Day 07/20/2023
Photo from 07/20/2013. Location: Amnicola Marsh, Hamilton County, TN.
More photos / info at the Hibiscus moscheutos detail page.
Swamp Rose Mallow – Hibiscus moscheutos
Creeping Water Primrose, a native species, has been added to the USWildflowers database (07/27/2016.) Scientific name is Ludwigia peploides. Photo below was taken in Hamilton County, TN on June 18, 2016. Go to the Creeping Water Primrose detail page for more information.
Creeping Water Primrose – Ludwigia peploides
When I stopped at Amnicola Marsh a few days ago to check on the status of the American Lotus (they were blooming), I noticed a bright yellow blossom on a prostrate red stem in the cracked mud bottom (we are in a drought, and the water level is very low at the Marsh.) Cindy asked what it was, and I told her I thought it was a primrose-willow (Ludwigia species.)
I chose to use the Creeping Water Primrose common name for Ludwigia peploides rather than another one commonly used – Floating Primrose Willow – because the drought we’re in had this plant many yards away from being floating.
From time to time my wife claims that I can be obsessive, but I don’t know what she’s talking about. On a completely unrelated subject, I’ve been to the Chattanooga Riverwalk at least 5 times in the past couple of weeks. On Mondays I have the privilege of spending the afternoon with two of my home-school grandsons, Chase and Jeff, so this week we walked a couple of miles of the Chattanooga Riverwalk, and then on Tuesday Cindy and I visited the pond next to the Curtain Pole Road parking area of the Riverwalk. They were a good two days for our birding – we were able to photograph three lifers we’ve seen during these couple of weeks of walking the Riverwalk. Here are some photos; the Gadwalls and Mergansers are from the pond next to Curtain Pole Road, and the Green-winged Teal was on the pond at Amnicola Marsh.
The Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) is pretty shy. This is typical of how it positioned itself.
A doctor’s appointment took me out to the foot of Missionary Ridge on Thursday morning, and since I was out in the vicinity I decided to make another visit to the Amnicola Marsh along the Chattanooga Riverwalk. I was hoping to get a closer look at the Hooded Mergansers we’d spotted a week earlier. And while those ducks were there, I once again proved that not only am I a rookie as a birder, I’m still a rookie as a bird photographer. I can get frame-filling photos of birds that act like wildflowers – allowing me to approach closely and spend some time taking several photos, as did the Canada Goose and the Mockingbird shown below.
Canada Goose – Branta canadensis
Chattanooga has done a great job of developing its riverfront and greenways over the past 20 years. The Riverwalk that runs for 10 miles along or near the Tennessee River from the Tennessee Aquarium on the riverfront in downtown Chattanooga all the way up to Chickamauga Dam is a jewel of that development. It’s one that I’ve so far neglected to explore except for a couple of small pieces. My wife, Cindy, and I will start trying to correct that neglect. On Friday and Saturday we walked and photographed a section of the Riverwalk near the Amnicola Marsh, visited the bridge over Chickamauga Creek, and also enjoyed a Great Blue Heron rookery on the Chattanooga State Community College campus. Here are a few photographs from this past week.
Red-shouldered Hawk – Buteo lineatus – along the Riverwalk near Amnicola Marsh