July 03, 2013

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 80°F, mostly cloudy and breezy at 1:00 PM on July 03, 2013. Cloud cover varied through the afternoon.
• Northern pearly-eye, common wood-nymph and dun skipper were back.
• More fruits were ripening.
• Some special guest appearances livened up day.

The Trails

• First stop was the milkweed in Gifford House parking lot, where the classic tale of the spider and the fly was being played out on a leaf.
• The handsome little grapeleaf skeletonizer moth was sipping from a blossom.
• What I was after was a hairstreak that looked a little different - it was the elusive hickory hairstreak .
• In the Little Bluestem Meadow, I encountered the striped hairstreak and, with the banded showing up later, it was a fine hairstreak day indeed.
• Along the approach to the Fern Glen, creeping bellflower, a garden escapee, was blooming.
• Back in the fen, swamp candles had opened too.
• Nearby, swamp milkweed would be soon to follow.
• Right next to it, elderberry was forming berries while in other places it was still blooming.
• Farther down the boardwalk, blueberries were ripening.
• Overhead, some berries of limber honeysuckle were fully red while others were still solid green.
• By the stone bridge, shinleaf had opened its waxy blossoms.
• Along the road back to the parking, enchanter's nightshade - another tiny flower with a big name - was blooming.
• I wanted a shot of the false Solomon's seal berries, but the leaves were chewed up. My 2nd thought was, "who's chewing?" It was a sawfly larva of some sort.
• Along the pond, a number of beetles were poised to drop at the slightest disturbance. They were not Japanese beetles.
• Fringed loosestrife with its nodding yellow blossoms was starting up.
• Along the Wappinger Creek Trail, tall meadow-rue was opening its fuzzy looking flower clusters.
• Finally! I wasn't until the 3rd "usual place" that the northern pearly-eye showed up - but only two.
• Climbing the rise to the bluff, I saw ahead of me Indian pipe. And farther ahead, a cluster of more.
• Right next to them was a mushroom I couldn't refuse. Hmmm - with all this rain, I would expect more than we've been having.
• More berries in the Old Pasture - this time gray dogwood, attended by that psychadellic plant hopper. What a different world it would be if they were the same size as their relatives, the cicadas.
• The sound of claws on bark is not unusual coming from the big shagbark hickory on the way to the Sedge Meadow, but this sounded bigger than the usual squirrels. It was racoons.
• There were three. I got a couple portraits and left them in peace.
• In the back Old Hayfield, another fine patch of fringed loosestrife was offering superior photo ops.
• This was the place for skippers today. Peck's, Delaware and dun were lurking amongst the little glassywings. Come earlier in the morning, and check the cow vetch and dogbane.
• But at this time on this day, what I'd really like to be checking out is the beverage assortment available at a swimming pool.