July 24, 2019

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 75°F, clear and breezy at 1:00 PM on July 24, 2019.
• Rain ending the day before had followed a stretch of hot, dry weather.
• This was the most diverse butterfly day yet this season with 17 species.
• This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.

The Trails

• Today started with a brief butterfly walk with ecology camp.
• Then it was over to the Old Hayfields, where common milkweed pods were getting big.
• A surprise was white wild bergamot.
• A garden spider's web near normally colored bergamot had caught a silver-spotted skipper.
• Numerous hummingbird clearwings were feeding on bergamot today.
• Compare the colors and eye stripe of the snowberry clearwing, also called bumblebee moth.
• One of several goldenrod galls, the goldenrod bunch gall is shelter for the larva of a midge. Its secretions stop stem growth, but the leaves keep coming.
• Another, the goldenrod ball gall is caused by the larva of different fly.
• A serious looking wasp was feeding on spotted knapweed.
• Not many black swallowtails have been around this season. Several were out today.
• On the Sedge Meadow Trail, a rather worn question mark was perching in the sun. Even though the silvery mark on the underside was not obvious, the spots on the forewing above ID'd it.
• In another patch of sun was a scorpionfly. It neither bites nor stings.
• Out in the Sedge Meadow, a widow skimmer posed for a photo.
• On the far side, steeplebush was blooming.
• Pearl crescents have been almost scarce this year.
• In the back Old Hayfield, a mating pair snowberry clearwings lumbered by and dropped into a shady space among the vegetation.
• A milkweed leaf had been pulled together with silk. It was an empty spider nest.
• Up above, a small monarch caterpillar was lounging on a leaf.
• Little mud pots on a neighboring leaf suggested some kind of wasp.
• Only later the computer darkroom revealed that the observer was being observed... by a tiny jumping spider.
• In the heat of the day, coral hairstreaks were active and easier to spot than to photo.
• Likewise, northern broken-dashes were perching on goldenrods and dogbanes. One would move and a dozen would spiral up in a cloud. Then one cloud would inspire another...
• The return run through the Sedge Meadow picked up a nice view of the Appalachian brown that only teased before.
• It's always nice to find a white-striped black just sitting.
• Every sunny tree trunk in the woods is a potential perch for an eastern comma. Compare the spots to the question mark of earlier.
• The sunny saplings on the descending Wappinger Creek trail are favorite perches for hairsteaks. Unfortunately, the saplings are tall...
• Once in a while, somebody comes down to a lower branch - it was a banded hairstreak, a little tattered and missing tails - possibly from a bird.
• Down by the creek, a sunny spot with a nettle patch was bound to have another comma. This view is easier to compare with that question mark.
• The Wappinger Creek was full enough after the recent inch or so of rain.
• Pale jewelweed! Was that here before?
• And another darkroom discovery: a grasshopper inside!
• Wood nettle was preparing to flower in the floodplain.
• Up in front of the bench at Trail Marker 10, only a few nests were still active. It looked like a wasp rather than a bee.
• Next week: the Cary Pines side of the trail system.