August 25, 2021

Robber Fly

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 84°F, mostly clear, calm and humid at 2:00 PM on August 25, 2021.
• The edge of Hurricane Henri left a couple inches of rain over the last several days.
• Birds and butterflies were quiet today, but little black flies out in the fields were attracted to eyes and ears.
• This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.

The Trails

• The front Old Hayfield had been mowed the week before.
• Goldenrods were following Joe-Pye weed's schedule in the Sedge Meadow.
• Smaller than the shad flies of spring, something was most annoying in back Old Hayfield, fortunately not so much in the shade.
• Along the side of the field, Japanese barberry was taking on an impressionistic aura.
• So humid was it that even in late afternoon, spider webs were still covered with dew.
• A few common ringlets were weaving through the grasses.
• Back on the Sedge Meadow Trail, pausing by a spider web did not reduce the flies around my head.
• Something moved in a sunny patch ahead on the trail.
• It was not the typical eastern comma but a silver-spotted skipper.
• A small commotion in the grass in front of the bench in the Old Pasture was from a robber fly.
• The Wappinger Creek was full but not crazy considering all the rain from Henri.
• Farther along, a tiny orange mushroom was errupting from the edge of the path.
• A colony of coral fungus was spreading along a rise in the trail.
• Something dropped into a patch of sun.
• Surprise, not a little wood-satyr, but another common ringlet. They are seldom seen in the woods like this.
• Invasive Japanese stilt grass on the other hand, can be found in sun or shade, wet or dry.
• Every once in a while there is a decidedly green mushroom.
• After two weeks of observation, the puffball spot was recognizable, but there was only bare dirt...
• Flipping over the dirt ball revealed the two slightly flattened puffballs. The rains must have loosened the soil enough for it to shift.
• Next week: the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.

Sightings