Notes and Changes since last report
- It was 81°F, partly cloudy and breezy at 2:00 PM on August 6, 2014.
- Meadow fritillaries were again out in numbers.
- Spicebush swallowtail's 2nd brood was coming out.
- An afternoon thunder storm only released a few drops, but then it was dark and cool enough to shut down butterfly activity in the Old Hayfields.
The Trails
- A meadow fritillary again! I wondered why it was so interested in an old milkweed leaf. Oh, it was the mating pair below that had its attention.
- The first of two spicebush swallowtails today careened across the Little Bluestem Meadow. Their 2nd brood was coming out.
- Off the deck in the fen, lurked a single blossom of square-stemmed monkey flower. I couldn't find it last week.
- Way in the back of the Glen, spikenard was blooming.
- In the fen's outlet by the deck at the creek, green-headed coneflower was performing its slow motion bloom.
- By the pond, boneset was still thinking about it.
- Towards the back of the pond, sneezeweed was actively working on it.
- As I left the 'Glen, the sky had grown dark and rumblings were coming from the south. In my mind I scanned the route ahead for shelter...
- When the sky brightened after a mere sprinkle, I abandoned the watershed kiosk, continued the Wappinger Creek Trail into the Old Pasture, where sun was actually coming through the open canopy.
- At the other end, a watchful eastern comma shared its perch in the sun with a wasp.
- In the Sedge Meadow, the controversial purple loosestrife was blooming.
- I admired goldenrods in crescendo behind the wild bergamot in the back Old Hayfield, .
- Here in the open, skies to the north were fair, but to the south still threatening... and moving north.
- I really wanted to squirt east towards the parking lot, but suddenly remembered last week's rattlesnake plantain... in the opposite direction back on the Wappinger Creek Trail.
- A handy shortcut got me there and back in short order with a photo of open blossoms.
- Noisy clouds were overhead again, the butterflies had disappeared, the only thing between me and my car was a very unconcerned field sparrow.
- It may have been a dumb young one or a wise old one. I wasn't going to press my luck and try to guess.