Last Week
- Cloudy but hot and humid was last week, too.
- All three swallowtail species were in the back Old Hayfield and a tiger swallowtail allowed a photo.
- Remember the frothy fungus at the Appendix in the July 1 Trail Report? It's been growing...
- And the chanterelles have been happy this year.
This Week
- The first item of note was a fair sized branch on the Fern Glen side of the Old Gravel Pit. I know a volunteer who would love to tackle that.
- The Glen was a happening place: swamp milkweed was forming pods in the Fen.
- That was elderberry mixed in with those pods.
- Beggar ticks I still find somewhat obscure; I've come to readily recognize them by their blooms, but everyone knows them for the two pronged seeds stuck to one's socks.
- Two things I like about Turtlehead: it is a favorite host (i.e., caterpillar food) for the magnificent Baltimore checkerspot and squeezing the cheeks will make the mouth open.
- At the Pond, towering NY ironweed was blooming.
- I had to get up on the railing for a close up.
- On the back side of the Pond, green-headed coneflower was leaning into the water.
- I wonder why it isn't called green-eyed Susan seeing it shares the name, Rudbeckia, with black-eyed Susan. It looks close enough, too.
- Boneset I wonder about as well; it is related to Joe-Pye weed, but does not at all share the attraction to butterflies.
- After all that pondering, I settled down for lunch at the deck and watched the "Birderfly feeder". Nothing but the photo on the railing.
- But, what's that little white triangle on the ferns down below - the one on the left?
- Leaning over the railing, I determined that, yes, it was a moth, indeed the unmistakable even from that distance, Clymene moth. Ok, I saw some at a porch light last week...
- I went in for the kill: with one foot on a mossy log, and the other floating on the surface of the rivulet for balance, I extended my arms and pressed the shutter release. Hey, it worked.
- As I continued across the water and back up onto the path, color caught my eye: a little commune of mushrooms growing out of the moss.
- Oh, and on the other side of the tree, a coral fungus.
- And to make my contortions worthwhile, there was an even more interesting one only inches away.
- On the way back to my abandoned sandwich, I had to stop for the irony of a mushroom getting moldy.
- Delighted, after all, with lunch by the birderfly feeder, I continued on to the Cary Pines Trail where I found another fungal colony on a log by the stone wall crossing.
- And on the other side of the trail, almost overlooked, was perhaps the strangest fungus today.
- Now at the "Appendix", I attempted in vain to photo a damselfly that alighted in front of me. It kept moving just beyond range.
- However, standing there long and quietly, I was rewarded with a glimpse (but no photo) of a hummingbird visiting spotted jewelweed (a photo? I had to.)
- It was quiet along the Wappinger Creek Trail, but I spotted researchers counting ticks. I prefer butterflies.
- I was arrested by the sight of a purple coral fungus.
- As I got up off my hands and knees (again), something dropped to the ground next to me. It took some patience to find the discolored renia in the leaf litter - and then some to find it in the book later...
- On the Sedge Meadow Trail, I had the rare opportunity just to try to photo the white-striped black. It rarely sit still, never in the sun, and always bolts when you approach.
- The view as the SMT opens into the back Old Hayfield was one of late summer: goldenrods with the sound of cicadas in the air - thick, warm, humid air.
- Goldenrods never held many butterflies, nor therefore, my attention. But as my interests expanded, so did my appreciation for goldenrods and the wildlife they attract.
- Other creatures appreciate that attraction, too. I'm sure books could be written - if they haven't already - on the networks of wildlife relationships built upon goldenrods.
- I was jogged from my musings when a dark butterfly erupted from the field in front of me. Too large and fast for a wood-nymph... too determined for a red-spotted purple... the flight pattern would fit the comma, but it was dark - no orange. Oh well, maybe it'll be back - or on the dirt road - when I finish the loop.
- Hot and tired, I was ready to leave, but what the heck - take a quick look at the dirt road. Oops, too quick, there it went! But it landed 1/2 way up the oak... Yup, a red admiral.
- A nice conclusion to today's walk, only topped, perhaps, by getting home as the first rain drops fell.
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Birds
- 1 Great Blue Heron
- 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
- 1 Red-eyed Vireo
- 2 Blue Jay
- 4 American Crow
- 8 Black-capped Chickadee
- 1 Carolina Wren
- 1 House Wren
- 1 Veery
- 2 Wood Thrush
- 5 American Robin
- 4 Gray Catbird
- 6 Cedar Waxwing
- 1 Louisiana Waterthrush
- 2 Eastern Towhee
- 1 Song Sparrow
- 1 Indigo Bunting
- 2 American Goldfinch
Butterflies
- 6 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
- 10 Cabbage White
- 2 Clouded Sulphur
- 16 Great Spangled Fritillary
- 24 Pearl Crescent
- 1 Eastern Comma
- 1 Red Admiral
- 2 Appalachian Brown
- 1 Little Wood-Satyr
- 3 Common Ringlet
- 21 Common Wood-Nymph
- 9 Silver-spotted Skipper
- 2 Northern Broken-Dash
- 2 Mulberry Wing
- 5 Dun Skipper
Moths
- 1 Clymene tiger moth
- 1 Hummingbird Clearwing
Plants
- 1 Beggar-ticks
- 1 Boneset
- 1 Cardinal flower
- 1 Green-headed coneflower
- 1 New York ironweed
- 1 Turtlehead
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