On the Trails of
the Cary Institute

Trail Report for May 28, 2008

Notes and changes since last report:

Let's Walk

The Trails

  • The Peonies at Gifford House were just beginning to bloom.
  • Near the bench in the Old Gravel Pit, a Juvinal's duskywing was basking on a twig at camera height.
  • The little meadow by the Fern Glen held penstemon just starting to bloom. It is also called beardtongue for its hairy stamens.
  • By the pond, golden alexanders were blooming. Keep an eye on them; in the parsely family, they often host the handsome green and black caterpillar of the black swallowtail butterfly.
  • Wild geranium was profuse around the pond and in many locations along the trails.
  • Twinleaf seedpods in the limestone cobble were getting ready to pop.
  • Nearby, another geranium, herb-robert was getting underway. Some find colorful ways to describe the scent of its leaves.
  • In the fen, pitcher plants were unfurling their peculiar flowers.
  • Pinxter - an azalea - was visited the next day by a nessus sphinx. This moth has an alarming resemblence to a large hornet.
  • I paused to determine the source of an unfamiliar "chip" along the Cary Pines Trail. It was a young red squirrel. It must have been young, because after only a minute of my quiet observation it abandoned caution and came down to the base of the tree to feed only feet away. With a single chip from a little farther away - perhaps a more cautious parent - it was up the tree faster than the eye could follow.
  • The Canada mayflower which carpets so much of the trail, was beginning to bloom.
  • Resting on the bench at the "Appendix" I caught site of a muskrat heading into the water. Shortly, it returned with a mouthful of grasses. I was amused that a creature so at home in the water would almost tumble sideways over the tiny rapid.
  • A last smile was brought to my face in the Old Hayfields when a little grape leaffolder moth tried to hide behind a blade of grass.

Plants

  • 1 Canada mayflower
  • 1 Golden Alexanders
  • 1 Herb-Robert
  • 1 Penstemon
  • 1 Peony
  • 1 Star-of-Bethlehem
  • 1 Swamp Azalea
  • 1 Wild Geranium

Mammals

  • 1 Muskrat

Birds

  • 2 Mourning Dove
  • 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
  • 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
  • 3 Eastern Wood-Pewee
  • 2 Eastern Kingbird
  • 2 Red-eyed Vireo
  • 3 Blue Jay
  • 1 American Crow
  • 2 Tree Swallow
  • 5 Black-capped Chickadee
  • 1 Brown Creeper
  • 1 House Wren
  • 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
  • 2 Veery
  • 1 Wood Thrush
  • 12 American Robin
  • 1 Gray Catbird
  • 2 European Starling
  • 1 Blue-winged Warbler
  • 2 Black-and-white Warbler
  • 1 Ovenbird
  • 2 Louisiana Waterthrush
  • 1 Scarlet Tanager
  • 1 Eastern Towhee
  • 1 Chipping Sparrow
  • 1 Song Sparrow
  • 1 Northern Cardinal
  • 1 Indigo Bunting
  • 1 Red-winged Blackbird
  • 2 Brown-headed Cowbird
  • 1 Baltimore Oriole
  • 2 Purple Finch
  • 1 American Goldfinch

Butterflies

  • 1 Cabbage White
  • 2 American Copper
  • 1 Spring Azure
  • 8 Pearl Crescent
  • 13 Little Wood-Satyr
  • 11 Common Ringlet
  • 3 Juvenal's Duskywing

Moths

  • 1 Grape leaffolder moth

Current Trail Report | Previous Trail Reports

© 2008 Barry Haydasz