Trails
- It was just about shirt sleeve weather today if you kept a pace.
- Starting at the Fern Glen I headed onto the trails and immediately spooked a butterfly. Size, general color, and flight suggested the eastern comma, but alas, it was gone too quickly and did not return.
- Every sunny patch of ground or illumiated tree trunk was under scrutiny as I passed, now.
- Pausing to chat by the Old Hayfields, I was rewarded with the call of the Carolina wren and the sight of the red-tailed hawk.
- A flash of blue rose from the grass as passed end of the field: an eastern bluebird.
- The Sedge Meadow Trail sported a number of birds including my first field sparrow of the season and a flock of 13 common grackles.
- The entrance to the Old pasture was rich with bird life including enough golden-crowned kinglets to get one good view.
- The exit was even better: a mourning cloak butterfly darted off And returned! Still no photo, but at least an ID this time.
- Just on the Wappinger Creek Trail a tail feather of a ring-necked pheasant lay in the sun.
- And a little farther in the next patch of sun, an eastern comma that actually cooperated.
In the Fern Glen
- Painted turtles were sunning by the pond's edge today.
- The "Who'll cook for you" call of the barred owl could be heard in the distance.
- The "see see see" of the golden-crowned kinglet was all around.
- And most of the snow was actually gone. (Saw, saw, saw?)
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Birds
- 1 Ring-necked Pheasant
- 1 Red-tailed Hawk
- 2 Mourning Dove
- 1 Barred Owl
- 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
- 1 Downy Woodpecker
- 1 Northern Flicker
- 3 Eastern Phoebe
- 1 Eastern Bluebird
- 3 Blue Jay
- 2 American Crow
- 11 Black-capped Chickadee
- 4 White-breasted Nuthatch
- 1 Brown Creeper
- 1 Carolina Wren
- 7 Golden-crowned Kinglet
- 8 American Robin
- 2 Field Sparrow
- 2 Song Sparrow
- 1 Northern Cardinal
- 1 Red-winged Blackbird
- 13 Common Grackle
- 1 American Goldfinch
Butterflies
- 1 Eastern Comma
- 1 Mourning Cloak
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