October 06, 2021

Galium Sphinx Caterpillar with Tachinid Eggs

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 66°F, cloudy, and calm at 1:30 PM on October 6, 2021.
• There were hints of color in the leaves and smells of Fall in the air.
• Spring peepers and katydids were still calling. Mosquitos were still biting.
• This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.

The Trails

• Blue sky appeared for but a moment over the fields by Gifford House. A call came from the top of a snag along the drive to the Carriage House.
• It was of a red-bellied woodpecker. It too was soon gone.
• A Galium sphinx caterpillar was crossing the drive. The little white ovals were eggs from probably a tachinid fly - the hatchlings would consume the caterpillar from the inside.
• From the trailhead, the first serious splash of autumn color could be seen just ahead.
• On the thistles in the foreground, a ladybug prepared to take off. Actually a beetle, only its hindwings are used for flight; the forewings have been thickened into protecive elytra - the familiar, often colorful "shell" of a beetle.
• Off to the side was a weathered stalk of common milkweed pods.
• A group of small milkweed bugs (actually "true bugs") was feeding on the seeds within.
• Closer examination of the colorful tree presented a puzzle: the compound leaves were hardly familiar looking.
• The presence of samaras or "keys" insisted it was a maple. But even they were unusual: they were hairy.
• If that weren't enough, the thin, exfoliating bark was unlike that of any familiar maple. Indeed, a little web research pointed to three-flowered maple native to China and Korea.
• At the corner of the field, familiar hickory spread over the trail.
• It looked like a good year for hickory nuts.
• The husks split readily and the nuts aren't too hard to crack.
• In the back of the field, black walnuts were a different story.
• These husks are messy and the nuts are very hard.
• Up ahead on the Sedge Meadow Trail, invasive burningbush was turning pink and something was turning orange behind it.
• It was our native poison ivy.
• A little color was popping up in the Sedge Meadow proper.
• Cinnamon fern was in the foreground.
• In the background, maples were joining in.
• Farther along the path, puffballs were waiting to be stepped on to puff their spores out.
• Right next to them was a second crop on the side of tree.
• Out in the back Old Hayfield, heal-all or selfheal was one of the few flowers that still looked fresh.
• Wild basil was keeping up appearances too.
• It's always curious to find winterberry in the Old Pasture.
• The Wappinger Creek was full - of course it had rained earlier this week.
• Down the hill and along the trail, mushrooms were growing off the side of a maple.
• A little farther along were the usually velvety - but today soggy - brown mushrooms.
• As the trail went lower into the floodplain, the Creek calmed down. Leaves were only beginning to think about yellow.
• Here, invasive Japanese stilt grass was all along the path and starting to go to seed. Socks, shoes, pants, pets... all can carry seeds to start new colonies.
• Across from the bench at Trail Marker 10, witch's butter had grown just a little more than the week before.
• After a week, the neighboring mushrooms weren't looking as fresh as last week.
• Next week: the Cary Pines Trail the side of the trail system.

Sightings