August 03, 2016

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 75°F, partly cloudy and calm with low humidity at 12:45 PM on August 3, 2016.
• This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.
• There had been some needed rain a few days ago - plants and butterflies were happier today.
• Spicebush swallowtails were out in numbers I've never seen before.

The Trails

• Last week, the front Old Hayfield at Gifford House's goldenrod had started blooming.
• Hope was found in the back back corner: a monarch caterpillar - their numbers are reported to have dropped some 80% over 2 decades. Plant milkweed!
• Tiger swallowtails were well represented today.
• One Peck's skipper scooted along the path in front of me.
• On the Sedge Meadow Trail, boneset was beginning to bloom.
• A little bee was feeding in the crown.
• In the back Old Hayfield, a tattered common wood-nymph paused to soak up some sun.
• Spicebush swallowtails were all over the wild bergamot... and each other.
• We most often see the male, with powdery blue on the hind wing.
• The female is less often encountered and has a real, honest blue - a metalic blue, though it's a little hard to tell here in the shaddow.
• The steep descent of the Wappinger Creek Trail had a couple sunny spots; I always slow down and scan them before entering.
• This one was being staked out by a couple well worn eastern commas, and patrolled by a spicebush swallowtail.
• Another good spot to look for butterflies is just past the bottom of the slope where there is a view over the embankment.
• It's not a bad spot for birds either - a mix of red-eyed vireos and tufted titmice had adults and noisy young of each.
• I'd forgotten about the fungus by the Watersheds kiosk.
• It was a good size, but it seemed that it should have been bigger... and in a different spot?
• I meant to keep tabs on the growth, but the last time I looked was May 25.
• Down in the flood plain, wood nettle had been flowering for a while.
• But now, the female flowers were beginning to look like they were forming seeds.
• The male flowers below still looked new.
• Nearby was the common Indian tobacco.
• As a lobelia the blossom is pretty, if small.
• It's a great view from the bench at the Appendix, as I like to call the loop around Trail Markers 10 and 11.
• Those sandy mounds, too big for ant hills, were back.
• And for once, there was activity... a little head poked out.
• In a moment, a bee or wasp climbed out...
• ... shook off...
• ... and was gone.
• And then, so was I. Next week: the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.