August 12, 2015

Notes and Changes since last report

• This week's trail report covers the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.
• It was 75°F, partly cloudy and calm at 1:45 PM on August 12, 2015.
• Yesterday's inch of rain had followed several weeks of dry.
• The result today was butterflies sipping salts and minerals on the dirt roads.
• American goldfinch were heard in virtually every location along the trails.

The Trails

• Right at the edge of the Gifford House parking lot was the first butterfly hot spot with a cluster of clouded sulphurs.
• Clouds of eastern tailed-blues scattered at my step with pearl crescents and common ringlets mixed in.
• I came across extensive "white wash" on vegetation just past the bottom of the Old Gravel Pit and cautiously looked up for a bird's perch.
• I looked down again to find a little day flying moth, the white-striped black, flitting about.
• Past the Fern Glen kiosk, all that was left to be seen of the mayapple colony was the "apples".
• Just past them was the first great lobelia to bloom.
• white wood aster could be found all about.
• Near the deck was the less common whorled aster.
• Not far away, the fruit of false Solomon's seal was ripening.
• In other places trillium and Jack-in-the-pulpit were following suit.
• In the fen, turtle head was only thinking about blooming.
• The small size of some interesting flowers keeps them obscure. Arrow-leaved tearthumb is better known for the prickles on the stem and leaf midrib.
• I'm not sure I've noticed common smartweed before. Maybe I haven't: the book says pink, not white flowers.
• Purple-leaved willow herb flowers are silly with tiny petals and a long base.
• The invasive purple loosestrife needs no introduction.
• Bittersweet nightshade fruit resembles tiny tomatoes; indeed, they are both in the same family, but these are poisonous.
• Between the fen and the cobble, maple-leaved viburnum's disguise was beginning to fail as its un-maple-like fruit took form.
• I don't know how purple-flowering raspberry survives the deer: it lacks thorns and the fruit is edible.
• Next week: the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.