March 26, 2020

Skunk Cabbage

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 40°F, clear and calm at 10:00 AM on March 26, 2020.
• This is the first trail report of the season and it covers the whole trail system.
• One butterfly was out on the trails today: an eastern comma. A mourning cloak was reported nearby.
• Spring peepers could be heard in the wet areas.
• The deck overlooking the Wappinger Creek is temporarily closed for safety during the Corona virus outbreak.

The Trails

• First stop today was the Fern Glen. Along the road leading in, trees illuminated by the sun were glowing red.
• It was the red maples in bloom.
• A warm yellow glow was in the shrubs at the corner of the parking lot.
• That was catkins, the male flower, of American hazelnut.
• The tiny female flower was there too, but you had to look for it.
• New khaki pants were a good investment: a female black-legged tick (aka deer tick) was easy to spot.
• The smaller male in pursuit would be much less obvious on jeans.
• On the way to the kiosk, it looked like the witch-hazel was blooming.
• This was actually last fall's flowers.
• A lap around the pond was next.
• Water striders were dimpling the surface in the shallows.
• In deeper water, an amphibian egg mass was attached to vegetation.
• At the outflow of the pond, a beam of sun fell on the one flower in bloom:
• Marsh marigold with buds of more to come.
• In the shade, frost was still on the strange flower of skunk cabbage.
• Elsewhere, its leaves were coming up as well.
• Many invasive plants, like Japanese barberry, leaf out early giving them not only a head start but also allowing them to shade out native competitors.
• Invasive burning bush was budding up now.
• Back in the fen, speckled alder was looking a lot like the hazelnut out front.
• High bush blueberry leaf buds were swelling.
• Our native limber honeysuckle had leaves well under way.
• The deck overlooking the Wappinger Creek is temporarily closed for safety during the Corona virus outbreak.
• Only spotted at the last moment on the way out was hepatica. What a treat.
• At Gifford House, the traditional starting point of this walk, a tree swallow surveyed the surrounding fields.
• The view from the Old Hayfield trailhead had only a hint of green.
• At the first corner, the Sedge Meadow Trail split off; that was starting to get grassy.
• Invasive Asian bush honeysuckles were leafing out.
• What would we find at the Sedge Meadow boardwalk?
• More skunk cabbage.
• In the Sedge Meadow proper, tussock sedge was sending up fresh green shoots.
• The back Old Hayfield was still pretty bare.
• A shadow went by on the ground, a turkey vulture went by overhead.
• Not far in front was a skeleton.
• A little closer and it was obviously that of a deer.
• It was still recent enough that marginated carrion beetles were about.
• On through the Old Pasture and into the woods was the bluff overlooking the Wappinger Creek.
• The path wound down along the creek in the floodplain.
• The garden escapee, snowdrops, were in their usual place.
• The creek was full at the Appendix, as I like to call the area at trail marker 10.
• Back at the Carriage House behind Gifford was an unfamiliar trill. The binoculars proved it to be from dark-eyed junco. We rarely hear their spring song as they breed farther north.
• Next week: The Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.

Sightings