August 24, 2016

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 85°F, clear and breezy at 1:00 PM on August 24, 2016.
• This week's trail report covers the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.
• Spicebush swallowtails were dropping off in numbers after a great run this season.
• The dogbane patch in the Little Bluestem Meadow was winding down too.

The Trails

• A monarch was milling about the Gifford parking lot in the mowed grass under the light poles. I wonder what the attraction was - this wasn't the first time I've seen this.
• After so many spicebush swallowtails this year, a male black swallowtail really stood out by the Carriage House.
• Along the Little Bluestem Meadow, a milkweed tussock moth caterpillar was working on some new leaves.
• The dogbane patch in the Little Bluestem Meadow was almost gone after a good run this year.
• It always seems odd to find a dragonfly far from water, this one in the Old Gravel Pit.
• White snakeroot was starting to bloom along the path there too.
• A popular bird perch is on the left side as the path rises and swings left.
• The whitewash is here every year, but I've never seen a bird.
• It could be that the view from the branches above covers the trail well in both directions.
• On the approach to the Fern Glen, something flew up out of the grass and landed on an oak leaf - it was a very fashionable looking bug of some kind.
• In the 'Glen right by the kiosk, zig-zag goldenrod was beginning to bloom.
• On the pond side of the kiosk, that sprawling vine, groundnut was now blooming.
• Closer to the pond, bottle gentian (or closed gentian) was blooming. The name explains it all.
• Towards the back of the pond, New York ironweed was still going strong, pulling in fritillaries and bees.
• Around the limestone cobble, great lobelia was still holding up too.
• Back under the hemlocks near the deck, mushrooms tall and flat were nearly side by side.
• Off by itself was a coral fungus.
• The Cary Pines Trail had a good variety as well, including an almost punky mushroom.
• Next week: the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.