September 17, 2014

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 63°F, partly cloudy and calm at 1:00 PM on September 17, 2014.
• A beautiful day just the way I like it: cool air, warm sun.
• Even with the season winding down, there were some interesting butterfly encounters.
• Another recently arrived invasive plant was getting ready to flower: Japanese stilt grass.

The Trails

• Northern flickers could be seen as well as heard along the Scotch Pine Alleé.
• As I walked along looking left, right, up, down, a praying mantis landed in front of me.
• While checking out the field sparrows, one looked different: it was a pine warbler. In fact there were a number scooting about in the low vegetation.
• In the Old Gravel Pit, an eastern comma rose from a sunny patch and disappeared only to pop up again around the bend. Hanging upside down in a white pine was unusual for a comma...
• But it reminded to check the leaky tree from two weeks ago. Indeed, today it had commas, red admirals, and a question mark.
• The neighboring tree had a better view of a red admiral catching some sun.
• So intent was I in looking up, I almost missed the several fungi, not to mention mosses and lichens almost under foot.
• At the top of the Fern Glen, I was dismayed to find Japanese stilt grass. The shiny main vein is The Field Mark, but I had tuned in on the tall flower stalks, just now forming.
• That orange version of winterberry was beginning to turn across the road from the Glen.
• There too, next year's azalea buds were getting surrounded by color.
• Farther along the edge, hazel nut catkins were dangling between chewed up leaves.
• It looked like Japanese beetles were doing the chewing.
• That strange swollen thing was the nut. The only thing stranger was a cluster of them.
• A banded tussock moth caterpillar was starting to feed along the edge of a leaf.
• At the edge of the pond, one of the spreadwings - a group of damselflies - was spreading its wings in the sun.
• And near the deck was a great example of wreath goldenrod, that was playing hard-to-get last week.
• On the way out, the leaves and berries of Indian cucumber root were beginning to contrast with each other.
• The mowed back Old Hayfield was not promising, but a patch of bare dirt seemed to be a yellow jacket's nest.
• The traffic in and out of the large hole in the ground clinched it.
• A little scrap of "honeycomb" on the ground finally registered in my mind and explained the bare dirt and large hole: the nest had been attacked... good thing I wasn't.
• While all that was going on, a meadow fritillary dropped in front of me to sun itself and a clouded sulphur whizzed by - awful busy for an empty mowed field!
• Back at the entrance to the Sedge Meadow Trail, clusters of Indian pipe were appearing.
• And in the front Old Hayfield, the few remaining great spangled fritillaries were finding the few remaining stalks of wild bergamot.
• I turned for one last view across the field before heading for the parking lot on this perfect day.