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Notes and Changes since last report
- This week's trail report covers 1/2 the trail system - the Wappinger Creek Trail side. Next week will be the Cary Pines Trail side.
- It was 80°F and partly cloudy at 2:30 PM on June 23, 2015.
- Common milkweed was blooming.
- New butterfly arrivals included common wood-nymph, northern pearly-eye and "the witches".
- Special guest appearance was striped hairstreak.
The Trails
- As expected, common milkweed was blooming at the edge of the Gifford House parking lot.
- As my favorite nectar souce, it was host to a number of butterflies and other creatures. Common ringlet was one of them.
- At the corner of the front Old Hayfield, the patch of pink yarrow was in bloom.
- The striped hairstreak was in several locations today; it is not nearly as common as the banded hairstreak.
- Great spangled fritillary was out in big numbers in all the big fields.
- In the woods, along the Wappinger Creek Trail, any sunny spot with broad leaves was a good place to look for banded hairstreaks.
- Instead of spreading their wings open to the sun, they lean over to be perpendicular to the sun's rays - "lateral basking" they call it.
- Compared to the striped, the banded hairstreak's bands are narrower and it lacks the red cap on the blue spot.
- They'll perch on their own spots and when another comes by, they all errupt in a zig-zag spiral.
- Just a few mushrooms were around. One was nicely illuminated along the side of the trail.
- At the Watersheds kiosk, shinleaf was blooming.
- Next week: surprises in the Fern Glen.
