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August 19, 2020


Mushroom

Notes and Changes since last report

  • It was 76°F, calm and partly cloudy 2:00 PM on August 19, 2020.
  • The skys would range from clear to clouded over this afternoon.
  • Mushrooms were the feature today.
  • This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.

The Trails

  • Goldenrods were starting to fill the Old Hayfield by Gifford House with color.
  • A tiny blur in the path in front of me was a Peck's skipper.
  • The air was a little cool and when it opened its wings to warm up, the spot pattern showed it to be a female.
  • Several kinds of grasshopper were around, too.
  • In spite of their bright yellow, American gold finch were able to disappear in the spotted knappweed.
  • I lost the butterfly I was tracking and found a dragonfly instead.
  • A female Zabulon skipper and several least skippers were back in the same corner.
  • The shade in the corner with the Sedge Meadow Trail is largely due to a hickory.
  • Its nuts would soon be under foot - if squirrles don't get them first.
  • The hackberry emperors were still guarding the area from some 15 feet above.
  • And the Zabulon skipper, lower down, actually drove away a passing clouded sulphur.
  • Gray dogwood berries were ripening These used to be ammunition at the school bus stop.
  • A giant swallowtail passed across the trail behind the Sedge Meadow.
  • It got away without a photo, but the reliable Appalachian brown was still perching in the sun.
  • If that one looked a little worn, an eastern tiger swallowtail in the back Old Hayfield was tattered.
  • Virgin's bower, a clematis, was blooming along the edge of the field.
  • Out in the middle, a great spangled fritillary stretched out for as much sun as a passing cloud would allow.
  • A pair of mating pearl crescents was near the edge. Females have paler orange on the mid to marginal area of the forewing.
  • With the entire forewing margin missing, an eastern tailed-blue was almost hard to recognize.
  • The other side was mostly intact and settled any doubts.
  • A large ant hill was a tempting higher vantage point... except for the ants.
  • It was hard to pass up a gleaming dogbane beetle.
  • A large, brown mushroom was just inside the woods on the Wappinger Creek Trail.
  • Brilliant orange and yellow was the next one.
  • A red one had been knocked over and chewed on.
  • An even redder one had a distinctive stem.
  • Salmon or peach, it was hard to call the next one.
  • The sheer size of a plain white one was enough to make it outstanding.
  • A shelf fungus was growing on the end of an oak log.
  • Right below was something strange even among the mushrooms.
  • A rather plain brown mushroom was perched on a creek bank.
  • That provided the opportunity to get a good look at an alternative to gills.
  • The floodplain of the Wappinger Creek was getting thick with invasive Japanese stilt grass.
  • Along so many roadsides now, it can be separated from similar grasses by the shiny mid vein and the namesake roots. And it's kind of satisfying to pull.
  • On the other side of the creek, a gray squirrel stretched out in the sun and watched.
  • I watched the Creek flowing by the "Appendix" a while then was on my way.
  • Next week: The Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.

Sightings

Birds
  • 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
  • 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
  • 2 Hairy Woodpecker
  • 2 Great Crested Flycatcher
  • 1 Red-eyed Vireo
  • 2 Blue Jay
  • 3 Black-capped Chickadee
  • 2 White-breasted Nuthatch
  • 10 Gray Catbird
  • 2 Eastern Towhee
  • 14 American Goldfinch
Plants
  • 1 Downy rattlesnake plantain
  • 1 Virgin's bower
Butterflies
  • 1 Giant Swallowtail
  • 1 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
  • 1 Spicebush Swallowtail
  • 5 Cabbage White
  • 7 Clouded Sulphur
  • 1 Eastern Tailed-Blue
  • 3 Great Spangled Fritillary
  • 9 Pearl Crescent
  • 2 Hackberry Emperor
  • 2 Common Ringlet
  • 3 Common Wood-Nymph
  • 1 Monarch
  • 15 Silver-spotted Skipper
  • 3 Least Skipper
  • 2 Peck's Skipper
  • 1 Tawny-edged Skipper
  • 6 Zabulon Skipper