On the Trails of IES

Trail Report for May 30, 2007

Notes and changes since last report:

• 70°F, clear with a light breeze at 2:00 PM.
• Mosquitos were only occasionally annoying.
• The Old Gravel Pit has finally dried up.
• The Little Bluestem Meadow by Gifford House has been mowed.

The Trails

Along the Way

• The first peony of the season had opened at the edge of a lake of Bluestar in the Gifford Gardens.
• A dwarf dianthus was brilliant in the Xeriscape Bed.
• The peculiar seed head of Prairie Smoke near by made me think of a an upside-down jellyfish.
• Off in a hidden corner, a long lost colony of pink lady's-slipper was making a quiet comeback.
• One surprise in the Old Gravel Pit was the Eastern Pine Elfin; but then, they were still here even later last year.
• Another surprise was that the bottom of the Pit was finally dry!
• Coming back along the Wappinger Creek Trail, I came across Star-of-Bethlehem.

In the Fern Glen

• The first Peck's Skipper of the season was nectaring on Dame's Rocket - long mistaken by your's truly for phlox, which has 5 petals.
• Herb-Robert, in the geranium family, was blooming.
• A crunch that wasn't from my footstep drew my attention to a painted turtle off the side of the path. Perhaps a female looking for a site to lay her eggs.
• In the fen, Labrador Tea and Bog Rosmary were in bloom.
• On the other side of the board walk, Cinnamon fern was growing tall.
• In the limestone cobble and here at the deck, yellow lady's-slipper was blooming.
• Right next to it was the last blooming White Trillium.

Butterflies

• 2 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
• 13 Cabbage White
• 13 American Copper
• 2 Eastern Pine Elfin
• 2 Spring Azure
• 17 Pearl Crescent
• 1 Red Admiral
• 47 Little Wood-Satyr
• 16 Common Ringlet
• 1 Juvenal's Duskywing
• 5 Peck's Skipper
• 1 Tawny-edged Skipper
• 1 Hobomok Skipper

Birds

• 5 Turkey Vulture
• 1 Red-tailed Hawk
• 3 Mourning Dove
• 1 Barred Owl
• 1 Pileated Woodpecker
• 2 Eastern Wood-Pewee
• 1 Eastern Phoebe
• 2 Great Crested Flycatcher
• 4 Red-eyed Vireo
• 1 Blue Jay
• 4 Black-capped Chickadee
• 2 House Wren
• 5 Veery
• 3 Wood Thrush
• 15 American Robin
• 2 Gray Catbird
• 1 Cedar Waxwing
• 3 Blue-winged Warbler
• 2 Prairie Warbler
• 1 Black-and-white Warbler
• 2 Ovenbird
• 1 Louisiana Waterthrush
• 1 Common Yellowthroat
• 6 Eastern Towhee
• 1 Chipping Sparrow
• 1 Field Sparrow
• 2 Song Sparrow
• 1 Red-winged Blackbird
• 1 Brown-headed Cowbird
• 4 Baltimore Oriole
• 1 American Goldfinch

Moths

• 1 Hummingbird Clearwing
• 1 Snowberry Clearwing