June 21, 2017

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 74°F, partly cloudy and breezy at 11:00 AM on June 21, 2017.
• This week's trail report covers the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.
• Eastern tailed-blue, Appalachian brown and least skipper made their first appearances today.
• This was the first report of Summer

The Trails

• The road to the Carriage House was providing minerals for a brand new eastern tailed-blue.
• Patience eventually provided a nice view from below.
• Something large flew in the distance behind the chipping sparrows in the Scots Pine Alleé - a red-tailed hawk.
• In the Old Gravel Pit, a sweet smell was in the air as the elderberry came into view.
• Pressing a nose in the inflorescence indicated this was not the source...
• Farther along the path was blooming white avens to compare with the snakeroot species under study the last two weeks.
• Right at the top of the Fern Glen, common wood sorrel almost went unnoticed in the shade.
• Along the edge of the limestone cobble, was Valeriana alliariaefolia, only identified last year as a introduction from Russia during the Cary Arboretum days.
• Honewort was easy to miss.
• So too the little spider in the impossibly tiny flowers.
• A felt tip pen could have been fun with the pods of twinleaf.
• Fruit of goldenseal was still green.
• That of red baneberry was indeed red.
• Red trillium was getting there too.
• In the poor fen, sheep laurel seemed late to bloom.
• Bittersweet nightshade was dangling from the taller shrubs.
• In a number of places, partridgeberry's fuzzy white flowers were nice to find.
• Peculiar sweetflag was "blooming" at the front of the pond.
• The aptly named least skipper had returned.
• The amount of black on the upper surfaces is quite variable.
• Deeper back was larger blue flag in standard blue as opposed to the white sport as reported earlier.
• Along the sunny side of the pond, carrion flower was producing its fruit.
• Several red-spotted newts were lazing just under the surface of the pond.
• Green-headed coneflower was nowhere near flowering, but still had some color in the form of red, acrobatic aphids performing head stands along the stem.
• Fruiting false Solomon's seal could be found around the Glen.
• On the way out of the Glen, winterberry by the parking lot was in flower.
• The walk along Cary Pines Trail ended at the bench at the "Appendix" (trail marker 10) where a tiger beetle posed with its Jurassic Park worthy mandibles.
• Next week: the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.