June 14, 2017

Notes and Changes since last report

  • It was 80°F, partly cloudy and breezy with low humidity at 12:15 PM on June 14, 2017.
  • This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.
  • The first great spangled fritillary flew by today.
  • The first deer flies were out too...

The Trails

  • From the Gifford House trail head to the back of the front Old Hayfield, it was a sea of blooming bedstraws.
  • An eastern bluebird was watchful from the roof of a nest box.
  • There was a funky smell in the air and clusters of white along the edge of the field, .
  • It was newly blooming gray dogwood.
  • There was more white ahead, but in smaller clusters against darker leaves.
  • That was the garden escapee, privet.
  • Looking like a giant dandelion, yellow goatsbeard was right there for easy study.
  • Something was perched on an oxeye daisy.
  • It was an ambush bug. With the "raptorial" front legs it can prey as large as a bumble bee.
  • More flower clusters were ahead and these smelled nice.
  • These were the invasive multiflora rose.
  • In the back corner of the field, the stand of common milkweed was getting tall.
  • It will be a while before these fragrant flower clusters bloom, but the leaves are food for a number of insects, most famously the monarch caterpillar. Look for holes in the leaves.
  • Not too distantly related dogbanes were at a similar stage of development.
  • An American carrion beetle was clumsily manoeuvring through the tall grass.
  • Over on the high side of the Sedge Meadow Trail, several prairy warblers were in the small trees.
  • The old pump house between the two hayfields is a nice spot.
  • Here the Sedge Meadow flows out and angelica can be studied up close.
  • In the back Old Hayfield, a fresh eastern tiger swallowtial was hanging out in the grasses and bedstraws.
  • In the Old Pasture, several silver-spotted skippers were taking nectar from gray dogwood.
  • Typical butterfly behavior, when the air is cool, is to take a break from feeding to bask in the sun. That's great for seeing the whole insect for hard to ID species.
  • A favorite view along the Wappinger Creek Trail was especially nice today with sunlit Christmas fern in the foreground.
  • With all the wet weather this spring, it's surprising there haven't been more mushrooms around.
  • The patch of stinging nettle at the end of the flood plain was coming into bloom.
  • Less frequently encountered, but quickly learned, was wood nettle.
  • A good size dead tree was working its way down across the path.
  • Next week: the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.
Sightings