July 16, 2019

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 85°F and partly cloudy and breezy at 1:30 PM on July 16, 2019.
• With thunderstorms in Wednesday's forecast, Tuesday was the choice for this week's walk.
• Some berries and seeds were starting to appear.
• This week's trail report covers the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.

The Trails

• The recent hot, dry stretch was showing its effects on the grass at the Gifford House trailhead.
• Behind the Carriage House, beautybush was developing seeds.
• Just past it, thistle was doing likewise.
• The heat seemed to be affecting the pokeweed along the edge.
• The flowers are not real showy, but the dark purple berries are familiar to many.
• There are often interesting interesting discoveries after a photo is taken, such as the little wasp among the blossoms.
• At the head of the Scots Pine Allée, newly blooming wild bergamot was being visited by a silver-spotted skipper.
• Beebalm, another Monarda species, is not nearly as attractive to butterflies and moths, but rather is a hummingbird favorite.
• Sometimes mistaken as a thistle, invasive spotted knapweed had started blooming.
• Hiding in plain sight along the side of the Little Bluestem Meadow was a confused euscara, a common inchworm moth.
• Hiding under a milkweed leaf was a dogbane tiger moth.
• A bird darted out and missed what looked like a falling leaf. It was a Saw-wing, another inchworm moth.
• The spreading dogbane patch is easy to miss as the trail enters the woods.
• A few minutes of study will reveal this is skipper heaven with silver-spotted skippers being the most obvious.
• Some common wood-nymphs sneak in there too.
• Then the little ones are noticed. Northern broken-dashes are everywhere. It's a good spot to get familiar with them.
• Along the road to the Fern Glen, narrow-leaved mountain mint was blooming.
• Another plant worth a closer look, it has interesting details and attracts a variety of butterflies and other insects.
• Indian strawberry looks good, but is flavorless.
• A spirea native to our area is meadowsweet.
• Out in the open, tall bellflower had started blooming, but not so in its usual shady haunts.
• At the boardwalk through the fen, a ruby-throated hummingbird had found our only square-stemmed monkeyflower.
• It soon moved on to the more abundant swamp milkweed.
• Helleborine, a non-native orchid, was finally blooming.
• It was almost exciting to find a great spangled fritillary on swamp milkweed. They are usually numerous enough to be take for granted, but not this year.
• Off the deck, horse balm was getting ready to bloom.
• Out at the Appendix, as I like to call the area around Trail Marker 10, those burrowing bees were back.
• Next week: the Wappinger Creek side of the trail system.