This week's trail report covers the whole trail system.
It was 70°F, clear and calm at 2:15 PM on October 7, 2015.
The birding hot spot today was the Old Gravel Pit.
Foliage colors were brightening, but katydids and peepers were still calling.
The Trails
Last week there was promise of Fall color to come; this week it had arrived in the front Old Hayfield's Acer triflorum, one of the legacy trees of the Arboretum days.
In the back of that field, sight seeing was limited by black walnuts, which could really twist an ankle.
It was safer to look up on the Sedge Meadow Trail, where a kettle of turkey vultures was stirring.
Off to the side, the Gifford Tenent House Barn might have made the subject of a jigsaw puzzle - well, maybe in another week...
Soon enough the boardwalk across the swamp will be completely covered by leaves.
In the back Old Hayfield, invasive burning bush was showing off.
Its little berries are enjoyed by (and the seeds within are spread by) birds.
Finally a butterfly! A clouded sulphur came by and dropped into a hollow in the grass to soak up the sun. It is amazing how they can disappear right in front of you.
On the Wappinger Creek Trail, mushrooms could still be found hiding in the leaves.
Down in the floodplain, innocent looking wood nettle had shed almost all of its seeds.
What appeared to be a couple lingering seeds turned out to be a couple bugs seeking those same seeds.
Up ahead, another invasive was showing off: Japanese barberry. Again, both leaves and berries are attractive to people and birds.
Japanese stilt grass is another matter. Brought over as packaging for porcelain, it came with tiny seeds. And they move along road sides and waterways.
Behind me, a couple caterpillars of a Haploa tiger moth species were feeding on clearweed and stinging nettle.
There was a faint scent in the air in the Fern... witch hazel was just beginning to bloom.
Back in the shrub swamp, some of the winterberry was getting pale, ghostly leaves. Some does, some doesn't... I wonder why.
In the fen, swamp milkweed seed pods were just beginning to open.
Looking up at a chickadee in the Old Gravel Pit was rewarding: in its company were blue-headed vireo, northern parula, prairy warbler and ruby-crowned kinglet.
