April 07, 2021

Magnolia

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 68°F, clear and breezy at 1:00 PM on April 7, 2021.
• This is the first trail report of the season.
• The benches are back on the trails and the Fern Glen deck is open again.
• However, the trails are still one-way and Lovelace Dr. is still closed to vehicles.
• Visitor Parking is open at Administration, the Low Lands, and Gifford House.
• One butterfly was seen today.

The Trails

• The grass at trailhead at Gifford House was getting green.
• Along the edge of the front Old Hayfield, invasive honeysuckle was leafing out.
• Ground ivy or creeping Charlie is an early blooming plant from Europe.
• I'd expected an eastern comma at the top of the Sedge Meadow boardwalk, but no.
• Skunk cabbage did not fail and was indeed blooming on both sides of the walk way, with leaves on the way.
• A spring azure paused in the sun... for just a moment.
• In the Sedge Meadow itself, tussock sedge was just sending up its first green shoots.
• Rumbling across the path in the back Old was a wooly bear from last year - many butterflies and moths spend the winter as a caterpillar.
• By now it was warm enough that the bench in the shade was welcome in the Old Pasture.
• From the top of the bluff, Wappinger Creek looked full.
• Trout lily leaves were pushing up through the leaf litter at the bottom of the hill.
• In the flood plain, lesser celendine was spreading. Dense roots studded with tiny bulblets make this invasive difficult to control.
• All the greening shrubs behind it were Japanese barberry.
• Red maple along the road to the Fern Glen was blooming.
• It was nice to have a bench in front of the pond again.
• The painted turtles were still getting used to visitors.
• Spicebush was getting ready to bloom.
• A bee fly actually perched long enough for a photo.
• Spring beauty was blooming along side.
• Closer to the pond, Dutchman's breeches were starting to bloom.
• Watch for the bee flies and other pollinators in the hepatica.
• Something had eaten all the marsh marigold blossoms at the back of the pond.
• Fortunately, one new one was blooming today.
• Looking a bit like dandelions, coltsfoot was coming up nearby.
• Below the surface of the pond, amphibian egg masses appeared as white blobs.
• Above, water striders were skimming about.
• Along the boardwalk in the fen, speckled alder catkins were offering their pollen to the wind.
• The tiny female flowers were easy to miss.
• Off on the side, the broader leaved Carolina spring beauty was blooming.
• A sun beam illuminated a little leatherwood shrub.
• The fuzzy little flower buds make me think of little horse hooves.
• It's quite a surprise when the flower comes out. Pity they don't last long.
• A little farther along, ramps were coming up. These leaves will be gone when this onion relative blooms later.
• The deck is open again.
• At the corner of the parking, American hazelnut was blooming.
• Its male catkins immediately call to mind the alder encountered earlier.
• It takes an effort to find the even tinier female flower.
• The first shad flies of the season were in my face as the Cary Pines Trail let out into the Little Bluestem Meadow across from Gifford House.
• Chinese cornelian cherry was blooming behind the Carriage House.
• Until today, I'd never noticed a scent from the dense flower clusters.
• With the warm/freeze cycles this spring, it was a surprise to see anything at all on the magnolias.
• What was there was magnificent, and there was promise of more.
• Next week: the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.

Sightings