July 23, 2014

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 85°F, mostly cloudy and breezy at 12:00 PM on July 23, 2014.
• The clouds broke up and the temp went up over 90. At least the breeze remained.
• Hummingbird clearwings were out in numbers.
• Mushrooms were coming up across the trail system.
• Gypsie moths were on the wing.

The Trails

• A hummingbird clearwing was feeding on purple bergamot by the Carriage House.
• Usually its olive and burgandy distinguish it from the snowberry clearwing's yellow and black .
• Nearby, a really big Queen Anne's lace was blooming. If you find green and black caterpillars on your carrots, parsely, etc., they are likely black swallowtails and would be happy on Queen Anne's lace if you're not happy where they are.
• In the Fern Glen, tall bellflower was up and blooming.
• Queen-of-the-prairy is a more western species that can escape from gardens when brought "back east".
• At the edge of the pond, native wild mint was behaving itself.
• There too was lizard's tail; it was filling the air with a surprisingly sweet scent.
• A surprise was Turk's-cap lily; it was on the kiosk side rather than the pond side of the path.
• Back in the fen, the swamp milkweed had few butterflies, except I thought, for a hapless, weak flying moth that had been caught by its proboscis - milkweed pollen structure can do that. But it was just a spider dangling in the sun.
• Horse balm was getting ready to bloom. Rub and smell the leaves; they change from funky to lemony as the blossoms progress.
• Right behind the main welcome sign, something yellow was on the old white pine stump.
• It was cute little mushrooms.
• I cautiously approached the "birder-fly feeder" by the deck along the creek... Something was in it!
• Although it's called red spotted purple, the spots are more orange than red.
• And above, it is more blue than purple.
• Another flower shunning butterfly was lurking off to the side.
• It finally showed itself for some visitors who had joined me at the deck. It was eastern comma.
• Heading towards the stone bridge, I noted a few mushrooms.
• Mysterious holes dotted the ground out at the Appendix. I did see a little wasp enter one, but it won the waiting game and I moved on.
• Another surprise was northern pearly-eyes at several locations at the farthest reaches of the Wappinger Creek Trail. I hadn't been seeing any lately and thought they were already gone. But they've been strange this year - not in their usual spots and popping up in others.
• In the back Old Hayfield, indigo buntings were chipping at me.
• On the Sedge Meadow Trail, an unusually loud "chip" turned out to be the brown thrasher.
• It obliged me with a profile view for a complete set of mug shots.
• There were at least three sources of chipping, so I'd say we had a family outing going on.
• Nice to see that, but I could also see my car... Did I say it was hot today?