The Trumpet Creeper wildflowers are growing all over Cape Cod and are gorgeous!
Trumpet Creeper is a woody vine with bright reddish orange tubular-shaped flowers which are about 2″. The plants climb up to 12 feet high and are native to this area. They bloom from July to September on banks, woods and roadsides. You can see some gorgeous ones at the Fort Hill parking lot in Eastham.
I saw my first Eastern Kingbird at Fort Hill on Cape Cod the other day! I heard some rustling in the trees and thought it was a Cedar Waxwing. But, out flew this bird which I learned later was an Eastern Kingbird.
Eastern Kingbirds are about 8″ with slate colored wings and back, a white throat and underparts and a black head. Its tail is black with a white terminal band. My bird book says it perches on the tips of trees near fields which is exactly where I saw it.
Have you ever seen an Eastern Kingbird?
The meadows at Fort Hill on Cape Cod are abundant with beautiful white Queen Anne’s Lace wildflowers. Last month was pink with Beach Pea wildflowers and all you can see now is Queen Anne’s Lace.
Queen Anne’s Lace reminds me of my Mom who showed me the wildflower when I was a little girl and told me that it got its name because it looked just like a delicate piece of lace.
Queen Anne’s Lace grows to about 4′ tall. It is a flat, lacy flower with 4″ clusters of tiny white flowers.
One thing I did not know is that it is poisonous and may irritate the skin. It blooms from June to September in fields and roadsides.
When the tides get low, you can see Fiddler Crabs swarming the little ponds at the salt marshes on Cape Cod. I was walking home the other day when I saw hundreds of Fiddler Crabs coming out of their little holes in the salt marsh.
“Fiddler crabs are found along sea beaches and brackish inter-tidal mud flats, lagoons and swamps. Fiddler crabs are most well known for their sexually dimorphic claws; the males’ major claw is much larger than the minor claw while the females’ claws are both the same size.
Like all crabs, fiddler crabs shed their shells as they grow. If they have lost legs or claws during their present growth cycle, a new one will be present when they molt.”
I was taking a hike at Fort Hill the other evening when I saw this little bit of purple out of the corner of my eye. It was on the side of the trail at Fort Hill and pretty hidden in the climbing vines.
But, I was able to take a photograph of it and then look it up in my wildflower book when I got home. It is a Climbing Nightshade wildflower and very delicate and pretty. Its flowers almost look like the Shooting Star wildflowers that I used to see out in Colorado.
The Climbing Nightshade is a climbing vine with purple shooting star shaped flowers with 5 petals which grow in clusters at the end of long stems. The flowers are just 1/2″ to 1″ and bloom from June to August.
This is my first Climbing Nightshade. Have you ever seen one?
