July 20, 2016

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 80°F and partly cloudy and breezy with low humidity at 1:45 PM on July 20, 2016.
• This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.
• It was a good butterfly day with the back Old Hayfield being the hot spot today.
• Cicadas had started singing.
• The major paths were not only mowed, but trimmed on the sides as well... very nice.

The Trails

• The end of Gifford parking lot had a big patch of crown vetch - a good place to look for wild indigo duskywing, which has actually benefitted from the spread of this invasive as its caterpillars eat it. No luck, but in the adjacent dry, sunny field was an American copper.
• In the front Old Hayfield at Gifford House, black-eyed Susan had started blooming - maybe last week actually.
• Along the side, invasive black swallowwort was forming seed pods.
• It's just past the sign for the Sedge Meadow Trail and is marked for your inspection. It will be removed before the pods mature...
• The flagging isn't quite as easy to see from the other direction.
• A single common ringlet showed up today - we are between broods.
• On the other hand, hummingbird clearwings were numerous. Actually, that looks like a stripe running down from the eye... this could be a problem...
• Skippers are often a problem, but the mulberry wing has a distinctive pattern and background color, an unusual manor of flight, and an association with wetlands that all together make it a fairly easy ID.
• The dun skipper is a more typical LBJ (little brown job) in flight and habitat. The male dun, being unmarked solid brown above, is actually easy: most of our other skippers have white dots and/or yellow patches.
• Ah the monarch - just the glide sets it apart from just about anything else - if you can find one. The N. American population has dropped 70% since the '90s according to the Xerces Society...
• The Sedge Meadow Trail had been mowed and the overhangs cut back to make for very pleasant walking.
• Pokeweed was already reaching out into the light.
• Eastern kingbirds seemed to be everywhere today... and in a hurry to get somewhere else.
• The back Old Hayfield had even more American coppers.
• Wild bergamot follows milkweed - in timing and popularity - as a nectar source and was coming into its own... and with it ambush bugs and spiders.
• The spider was onto me and we played hide and seek for a while.
• It's always tempting to take down dead stalks in the garden, but they serve the purpose of being perches for things like dragonflies and, here, the wild indigo duskywing.
• Cool, but sunny days are great for observing skippers because they tend to alternate feeding with the wings closed, and basking with the wings open, so displaying all surfaces for ID purposes. Like this female crossline skipper, I think...
• Back tracking on the Sedge Meadow Trail, I came face to proboscis with an Appalachian brown.
• There were a number in the Sedge Meadow itself. I once spent an afternoon trying to see if the similar eyed brown or northern pearly-eye was out there. Nope, so that keeps it simple!
• Next week: the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.