June 04, 2014

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 68°F, partly cloudy and calm at 10:00 AM on June 4, 2014.
• From there it went into the 70s and clouded over.
• A lap around the Fern Glen preceeded the usual start at Gifford House.
• Peck's skipper was the only new butterfly noted. Afternoon clouds may have influenced that.

The Trails

• It was pretty cool and shady in the Fern Glen at this hour making the maple-leaved viburnum was tricky to photo.
• On the other hand, that slowed down the white-banded toothed carpet that constantly zooms then hides when out in the open.
• A stark beam of sunshine illuminated a wild sarsparilla and its swelling fruit.
• Off the high edge of the limestone cobble, red baneberry too was forming fruit.
• Right next to it was white baneberry.
• I can never find a difference in the leaves, but now the just forming fruit is clearly different.
• Another mystery plant was starting to produce its peculiar rectangular flower head.
• And behind them all, the curious (and exotic) vancouveria was budding up.
• Just about to emerge by the kiosk, I stopped and stepped back to look closer at the well hidden Bowman's root; its first blossom was open.
• On the other side of the little foot bridge, mayapple apples were forming.
• Behind the railing around the Fern Glen sign lurked the native honeysuckle relative, diervilla. It would blossom soon.
• It was a short ride to Gifford House where common milkweed was getting ready to blossom.
• The sound of grackles and starlings drew my attention to a bare tree top. Only one European starling was left when the lens got there.
• Behind the Carriage House, beautybush was starting to blossom.
• It would be a while before even buds appear on the dog bane in the Little Bluestem Meadow.
• I could hear an eastern kingbird in the distance, perhaps at the top of that dead tree.
• Yup, there it was.
• Out on the Cary Pines Trail, bracken was a study of threes.
• Approaching the Appendix, I noted an empty egg shell along the path. Maybe a robin's?
• On the Wappinger Creek Trail, invasive narrow-leaved bittercress was flowering. Last call to compost this before seeds are too mature.
• Farther along, after the foot bridge, a dead or dying tree was sprouting a fungus. I've watched this kind grow over an inch in radius per day.
• As I climbed the bluff, a blur of a great blue heron streaked along the water below. Even at quite a distance and through the trees, if I could see it, it could see me. It left.
• In the Old Pasture, gray dogwood was budding.
• Several angelica were starting to bloom in the Sedge Meadow.
• Near the enormous fallen white oak, a fresh northern eudeilinea rested on a leaf.
• I don't know how many different galls I came across today. Secretions of a larval insect cause a plant to grow a shelter for it to live in. There's actually a field guide for them.
• Out along the edge of the back Old Hayfield, a pair of song sparrows was very attentive to me. Their nest must have been near by.
• Cow vetch was blooming here and there.
• Even though I scan each one, it's for butterflies, and I can miss other details until they appear in the digital dark room.
• You can't miss spittle bugs, however. The young froth up excreted plant juices with air to make their nurseries.
• The posture of this caterpillar suggests something else doomed it and the unhatched parasite eggs. They too are doomed.
• A perky Peck's skipper was obliging enough to show its wings both above and below.
• And a common ringlet was actually perching for a moment. It had clouded over; that really slows butterflies down for the photographer.
• Mated butterflies, like these little wood-satyrs, can be seen flying together, usually the male just hanging in tow.
• No further comment.