An eruption of seed pods, swarms of ravenous insects, and the cloying perfume of decaying ferns: the closing verses of summer's swan song are delirious and full of primal energy. In fields and along woodland edges, milkweed plants give away the last of their life force to new generations of living things: the late instars of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and the milkweed tussock moth (Euchaetes egle). Meanwhile, in shady, mesic woods, beech drops (Epifagus virginiana) draw precious life from the roots of their benefactor, the only thing that can sustain them. Some giveth and some taketh away. In the shrinking sunlight of summer, they all take as much as they can before it's gone.
Photos from the Blackwater View Trail, which follows the Blackwater River, at the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
