September 29, 2021

Silver-spotted Skipper Caterpillar

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 62°F, partly cloudy, and windy at 1:00 PM on September 29, 2021.
• As last week, birds and butterflies were down, but mushrooms were around.
• Mosquitos were not too bad today.
• This week's trail report covers the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.

The Trails

• The afternoon sun on the Wappinger Creek at trail marker 10 seemed much lower than the time of day justified.
• On the rise above, witch's butter had expanded since last week.
• Nearby, some mushrooms resembled English muffins.
• Last week's weary Old Man of the Woods was hardly recognizable now.
• By the ridge above the gorge, coral fungus was just getting started.
• Off the side, a tall, tan mushroom looked familiar.
• Another set of mushrooms might have resembled pancakes a little earlier.
• Velvety texture and color made a lone mushroom stand out.
• The gills were a nice touch too.
• A patch of sunlight lit up a small fern at the base of a big tree.
• One frond of hay-scented fern seemed to rise to embrace the last sun of the day.
• The Fern Glen Pond was clear to the bottom.
• A frog in the grass knew exactly which way to the pond.
• Ostrich fern was leaking between the rocks and heading for the water, too.
• Along the side of the pond, fake eye-spots of a silver-spotted skipper caterpillar peered out of its winter "hibernaculum".
• Off the edge of the fen's boardwalk stood a poison sumac.
• Its leaves were beginning to take on some color.
• Around the corner, winterberry was getting bright.
• Birds seem to favor other fruits, leaving these berries through the winter as a last choice.
• Striped alder sawfly larvae were on witch hazel. They resemble caterpillars, but the typical curl of the abdomen is one clue that they are sawflies.
• Just at the exit of the path through the Old Gravel Pit stood a pair of almost pure white mushrooms.
• And across the Little Bluestem Meadow, Gifford House was dwarfed by its surrounding oaks and maples.
• Next week: the Wappinger Creek Trail the side of the trail system.

Sightings