April 28, 2021

Black-and-white Warbler

Notes and Changes since last report

• It was 70°F, partly cloudy and breezy at 1:00 PM on April 28, 2021.
• This week's trail report covers the Cary Pines Trail side of the trail system.
• It was T-shirt weather and warblers were coming through.
• As for butterflies, the first clouded sulphur showed up at the end of the walk.

The Trails

• Redbud was pretty in front of Gifford House.
• In the back, the trails had their first mowing of the season.
• There was a flurry of bird activity at the "Appendix" (Trail Marker 10) with several black-and-white warblers darting about.
• A number of yellow-rumped warblers were in the mix as well.
• On the Cary Pines Trail, Canada mayflower had filled out, but there was little to show for buds yet.
• However, starflower had come up through them and was sporting flower buds.
• At the top of the Fern Glen, miterwort was blooming with its tiny, snow flake flowers.
• One hobblebush was blooming, unmolested by deer.
• A few feet away, false rue anemone was blooming.
• Something not seen every year was wild bleeding heart.
• Faithful Siberian bugloss comes up every year.
• The small flowers suggest forget-me-not, and I hope we don't: it took a few years to figure them out.
• Wild oats is our least common species of Uvularia - the bellworts.
• Around the pond, ostrich fern was coming up.
• A yellowish form of red trillium was a puzzle for some time.
• Besides the red ovary, the red veins hint at its ID.
• Maidenhair fern has the strangest fiddleheads.
• At the back of the pond is a stand of blue cohosh.
• The flower is not conspicuous, but worth a closer look.
• Hard to miss is cinnamon fern. The dense pubescence endures as tufts at the bases of leaflets.
• A strange holdover from former times is Paris, a relative of trillium.
• Off the boardwalk, in the poor fen, leatherleaf was blooming.
• Bog rosemary was not far behind.
• Blueberry looked like it would take just a little longer.
• In the back of the 'Glen Yellow lady's slipper was sending up shoots. We'll keep you posted on their progress...
• By the stone bridge, plantain-leaved sedge was still in bloom from the week before.
• This is worth getting on hands and knees - I love the bands.
• Behind the kiosk, mayapple was up now.
• A little farther back was Jack-in-the-pulpit.
• Back on Cary Pines Trail, the first flowers of invasive garlic mustard were out.
• Wild strawberry was growing in the path through the Scots Pine Allée.
• Of course, dwarf cinquefoil was keeping it company.
• Next week: the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.

Sightings