May 17, 2017

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 90°F, clear and breezy at 2:00 PM on May 17, 2017 - quite the change after all the cool.
• This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.
• The yellow lady's-slipper is blooming in the Fern Glen.
• More butterflies are starting to show up.

The Trails

• The oaks were starting to leaf out in the front Old Hayfield.
• By the old Pump House, the viburnum, nannyberry, was in flower.
• The flower is a flat cluster of white, 5-petaled flowers.
• And the leaf has small sharp teeth and a long drawn out tip - remember this...
• Cabbage whites and tiger swallowtails were expected, but a common ringlet.
• The ususal patch of bird's-eye speedwell was up.
• Mixed in were some wild strawberries.
• Along the Sedge Meadow Trail, a prairy warbler eventually showed itself as it called.
• The cool of the boardwalk was welcome after being under the sun.
• Right at the door to the Sedge Meadow, several pearl crescents were cruising around.
• Farther in, cinnamon fern was coming up.
• It is the fertile fronds - spore producing fronds that give it its name.
• At the entrance to the back Old Hayfield, invasive Russian olive could be smelled before being seen.
• The fragrance is a little funky, but the flowers produce a lot of it.
• From the comfort of the shady path, the flowering dogwood could be seen still going strong on the other side.
• Another funky smell came from the side: common barberry.
• It is invasive as well as Japanese barberry, which had finished flowering.
• A dead leaf on a neighboring ironwood turned out to be somebody's cocoon.
• And next to that, enormous leaf buds of a young hickory had opened.
• Burning bush's fall foliage rather than its obscure flower was the reason for this exotic's import.
• Ah, the other viburnum!
• Same cluster of white flowers.
• But the leaf is definitely shorter, rounder and less pointy than the earlier one. This could be black haw.
• The Wappinger Creek Trail was relatively cool and shady. False hellebore was getting tall along the creek itself.
• Along the flood plane section, last year's sycamore seed ball was in the middle of the path.
• One of my favorite plants to hate, narrow-leaved bittercress was starting to bud.
• The hairy wrap-around stipule at the base of the leaf distinguishes it from similar cresses.
• Next week: the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.