July 11, 2018

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 80°F, partly cloudy and breezy at 1:00 PM on July 11, 2018.
• With low humidity, this was a lovely day.
• This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.
• It was a good day for butterflies with both juniper and coral hairstreaks out.

The Trails

• Waving hands from across the back yard of Gifford House were from this summer's Art and Science Day Camp.
• Sketch pads were recording natural history observations such as a Virginia creeper sphinx.
• At the main kiosk was a banded tussock moth.
• By the trail head, Canada thistle was going to seed.
• Out in the first Old Hayfield, wild bergamot was just starting to bloom.
• Low, sprawling wild basil was popular with grass skippers such as the dun skipper.
• Dragonflies were well represented today.
• Common milkweed is such a great butterfly attractor. A juniper hairstreak was a nice find.
• Just a few plants away was an equally exciting coral hairstreak.
• In between them, a good size monarch caterpillar was feeding. They only eat milkweeds.
• Almost invisible was a plume moth at rest.
• On such a warm and sunny day it was a trick finding a stationary little wood-satyr.
• At the high side of the Sedge Meadow Trail, cedar waxwings filled a tree one at a time to a count of seven.
• A hawk launched itself overhead as I entered the back Old Hayfield.
• There'd been a red-tailed hawk here lately, and in the right light the red tail was obvious.
• Yarrow doesn't attract many butterflies, but those it does are interesting - even when they are moths: again plume moths.
• There was a lot of chipping from the trees above and from the tall weeds below. One source was a young indigo bunting.
• Dragonflies don't call, but the rattle of their wings is loud enough when a bigger one, like a widow skimmer, passes by one's head.
• A young sparrow was looking mighty punky with raised crest feathers.
• A third kind of chip was coming from a common yellowthroat.
• A blur working between the milkweed and yarrow turned out to be an American copper.
• As the Sedge Meadow Trail rises to the Old Pasture, Northern pearly-eyes were finally appearing.
• On the Wappinger Creek Trail, an eastern comma was disappearing.
• When it got used to my presence, it opened up to bask in the sun.
• At the "Appendix" - as I like to call the area around trail marker 10 - the sand wasp colony was active.
• It took patience to get a shot of one landing.
• And then some more to get a decent view.
• Next week: the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.