Nature Article - Walking Fern

An Unique Fern Earl Plato

We read about the unique fern found at Warsaw Caves. As a boy I visited the large potholes in our Niagara Glen. I was lowered through one by Bert Miller and was amazed how rock can be worn down. We saw some cave-like openings here. We saw Hart's tongue ferns and Walking ferns, both rare specimens. Some years ago Ernie Giles and I went looking in the Niagara Glen for the Walking ferns. We found them near the old potholes. Walking ferns are found at Warsaw Caves. Sorry for digressing but seeing them brought back pleasant memories. I recognized the long, narrow, fine-pointed arching leaves which radiate from the rootstock. Where the end of a leaf would touch the earth it would take root and sprout a new plant. They seem to appear as if walking away from the parent plant, hence the name. Like those Walking ferns of the Glen these rare plants prefer a habitat of shade and moist limestone. You can go caving and see some rare ferns at the same time at Warsaw.
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Take your children and grandchildren to Shagbark Trail in Ridgeway. Take curious children who have a butterfly net and an insect bottle. We were looking for insects and amphibians. We would turn over rocks and logs, Remember to place them back in the same position each time. Ashlyn and Conlan did. We found three salamanders. No centipedes this time. Yes, Allison caught with their butterfly net a Common sulphur butterfly. We released it after seeing that it had one black dot on each wing. Shagbark Trail - be curious in nature.
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While riding his bicycle on the Friendship Trail recently Ken had a robin-sized black bird with white wing bands fly in front of him. A first time sighting for him. He called me and described the unusual bird. I thought first of a Eastern kingbird. “Larger than that,” Ken said. I looked in my bird books and in the one there was a Kingbird and above it a Northern shrike. Large as a robin with bright, white bars on its black wings. “A Northern shrike, I believe.” Not so Earl. Ken came to my house and looked at our bird guides. “Here it is - a Northern mocking bird.” Has anyone seen any Northern shrikes locally?