I Went Viral? What Just Happened?

This was originally a post about Lick Creek Wildlife Area, and then I sat down at my desk on Friday, April 29, to check Blogger.  Here's the view counter:




280 (Edit, it was 304 by day's end) pageviews in one day?  Did I suddenly get famous or something?  Most of these views were on Firefox and Facebook, in the United States:



I have no idea what happened. Could someone explain this to me?  While I figure this out, enjoy my latest adventure to Lick Creek Wildlife Area, as well as a bit of addendum material.






I was in Lick Creek Wildlife Area on a rather impulsive hike (hence my use of my phone for pictures and thus the lower quality) when I came across a Green Dragon.

To quote Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King (the movie, not the book):

"Oh you can search far and wide,
You can drink the whole town dry,
But you'll never find a beer so brown,
Oh you'll never find a beer so brown,
As the one we drink in our hometown,
As the one we drink in our hometown.
You can keep your fancy ales,
You can drink them by the flagon,
But the only brew for the brave and true...
...Comes from the Green Dragon!"

The Green Dragon, in addition to being a fictional pub, is a real name for a real plant.

The plant which has a set of leaves near the top is the Green Dragon (Arisaema dracontium) a plant of original woods in Illinois.  By original woods, I mean woods that have not been logged, or at least logged completely.  This species isn't rare, per say,  but it is a notable find, considering I have never seen it before in the wild.  Below is a close-up of the leaf.

Green Dragons were not the only unique plant I saw that day, however.  There was a species of fern present nearby that, while common in Illinois, is still of considerable interest to me, and that is the Rattlesnake Fern (Botrypus virginianus).  This is probably the second most widespread fern in Illinois, though vastly less common than the Fragile Fern.

Another species of plant I saw, albeit more colorful, was the Dwarf Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne).  This plant grows as a spring ephemeral on the forest floor, dying back in a month or so until next year.  In the meantime, it flowers in the woods, providing an excellent contrast to the other plants.

Below is a group of Dwarf Larkspur en masse.  When I first read about these in one of my guidebooks, I thought that it described the range as being  the bottom 1/6th of Illinois.  That would be the Shawnee Hills and below.  After discovering this population two years ago, I reread the guide.  It actually said all but the upper 1/6th of Illinois. Chicago doesn't get this species, but the rest of Illinois does. Despite not being rare, Dwarf Larkspur are still a favorite flower of mine.

Also flowering was a new plant for me, the Cream Violet (Viola striata), pictured below.  I also discovered  and took a picutre of a specimen of the Missouri Violet (Viola missouriensis) nearby, but I have neglected to upload it.  After all, it wasn't flowering, and it looks almost like the Common Blue Violets (Viola sororia) that you likely keep trying to kill in your yard.  Cream Violets, on the other hand, are rarer, less weedy, and bloom for a very long time.  As a result, I am glad to see it.

However, by far  the most noticable plant was the Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata) a species that turned whole patches of floodplain light blue with its flowers, as  seen below:

Below that: CAUTION- GARTER SNAKE!

This Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) below was one of two I saw that day.  For those who don't like snakes, you probably shouldn't visit Lick Creek, considering I almost always see a snake whenever I visit.  I tend to catch only Garter Snakes and Dekay's Brown Snakes, as neither of those species is prone to bite.  Watersnakes and other snakes are more prone to bite, so don't handle those.  Of course, I probably shouldn't try and catch them in the first place, but there's a certain amount of immaturity that takes over.  Brown and Garter Snakes, of course, have their own defense. This fellow released a pungent musk when handled, which thankfully was gone with the application of hand sanitizer.  I was holding this snake and taking its picture at the same time, by the way.

The next two animals are addendum.  We almost got through this post bird-free, after all, so I have to rectify that.  The  Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos),  while ubiquitous in the South, is an uncommon bird in Central Illinois.  Thus, spying one in a tree the other day, I tried to get a picture.  Phone cameras being what they are, here it is, severely cropped:

On another day,  I spotted this little, brightly colored moth on the pavement at my work.

I found out what it was by a long and exhaustive study of some thirty seconds online.  Type in "black and white and red moth" and you will learn of the existence of the Grapevine Epimenis Moth (Psychomorpha epimenis), a species of moth I have never seen before.  It is my personal estimation that during the frost-free months, I see at least one new (to me) species of insect a week.  At some point,  I will just post a number of these and ask people to tell me what they are.  Anyway, ignoring the addendum, that was my recent, very productive trip to Lick Creek Wildlife Area.  I hope you all have a great next few days.  Summer is almost here, and I'm off to the Smokies in less than a month.  I wonder if that will go viral too...