It was 80°F, partly cloudy with light breezes at 1:15 PM on August 20, 2014.
The second monarch on the Trails this season was a welcome sight.
Oh horror, black swallowwort pods were beginning to open!
The Trails
A loop around the Gifford parking lot to check the milkweed turned up an interesting wasp apparently licking up aphid honeydew.
The thistles between Gifford House and the Carriage House were being worked over by several American goldfinch.
A blur in the air behind the Carriage House was clearly a skipper. A little patience and binoculars proved it to be a zabulon skipper.
Good grief, how many times have I walked by this spot and never noticed the black swallowwort?
Over 20 stalks were coming up out of one spot. Hmmm, that's about how many seeds are in a pod... I've counted 150-200 pods0 on just one good size plant.
Speaking of pods, some of these were past yellow and actually starting to split open.
I'm glad I found this in time. I hope it was the only one in the field. Yeah, right...
On a more hopeful note, the shadow passing over head in the Old Gravel Pit was that of a monarch - the second one I've seen here this season.
At the edge of the Fern Glen pond, ants were tending leaf hoppers on Joe-pye weed. I presume they secrete something sweet that ants covet.
A cherry on a side trail had some very interesting caterpillars With no abdominal "legs" they were clearly loopers of some sort. But I didn't recall loopers living communally. And the patterns and bumps seemed peculiar as well. A quick flip through Wagner didn't turn up anything definite, but emeralds seemed possible. Some delicate green moths that show up at porch lights are of that group.
Along the Sedge Meadow Trail, there was no doubt that I was looking at white turtlehead. I'm not sure I'd seen it there before.
The back Old Hayfield was truely buzzing with activity. I stood a while surrounded by goldenrods and just watched and listened to the countless bees and other insects around me.
I would have liked to stay longer, but I had an appointment.
