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July 10, 2019

Notes and Changes since last report

  • It was 85°F and partly cloudy with light breezes at 2:00 PM on July 10, 2019.
  • Canada lily, Spotted jewelweed, and Queen Anne's Lace were blooming.
  • This week's trail report covers the Wappinger Creek Trail side of the trail system.

The Trails

  • The common milkweed at the Gifford House trailhead looked the way I felt in today's heat: drooping.
  • A northern broken-dash in the first Old Hayfield did not seem to mind the heat.
  • Chicory and Queen Anne's lace were starting to bloom - that seemed early.
  • Indigo buntings were in their usual places along the edges of the fields.
  • The common wood-nymph usually has a large yellow patch around its eye-spots. The yellow, however, is variable and is sometimes almost non-existant.
  • A large, white, rectangular spot distinguishes the female little glassywing.
  • Something with a long tail followed some cedar waxwings across the Sedge Meadow Trail. It was a black-billed cuckoo.
  • The distinctive under-tail spots were not visible, but the red "orbital ring" was. It called once; there was a distant answer; it was gone.
  • Along the trail below, a caterpillar nest was active.
  • It was of the fall webworm.
  • Deeper in the shade, a large lace-border was trying to blend in.
  • It looked like the first spotted jewelweed blossom of the season... except for the swelling seed pod next to it.
  • Something orange rose from the edge of the back Old Hayfield and disappeared in the leaves above. It seemed a bit large and slow for an eastern comma. It was a question mark.
  • In the middle of the field, an eastern kingbird seemed to be panting in the heat.
  • It would repeatedly dash out to hawk insects and return to its post.
  • A little patch of Canada lilies had quietly grown tall and blossomed.
  • They range from yellow to red and bear spots on their nodding blooms.
  • Back out in the sun, a little wad of bristles clung to a milkweed.
  • It was one of the curious little plume moths.
  • The tops of the dogbanes were occupied by numerous northern broken-dashes.
  • A couple coral hairstreaks were out on the milkweeds.
  • And dogbane beetles were on the dogbanes.
  • As the path descended from the Old Pasture into the woods, something darted out, circled, then disappeared against a tree.
  • It was a northern pearly-eye. Another came by and both tore down the path together.
  • Farther ahead, Indian pipe was coming up through the leaf litter.
  • Down along the Wappinger Creek, invasive Japanese spirea was beginning to bloom.
  • Farther along, invasive Japanese stilt grass was getting big enough for the characteristic shiny mid-vein to be obvious.
  • Next week: the Cary Pines side of the trail system.
Sightings
MammalsBirdsButterfliesMothInsectsCaterpillarsArthropodsFungusHerpPlantsOther
1 Red-tailed Hawk1 Cabbage White1 Gypsy Moth1 Fall webworm1 Canada lily
2 Mourning Dove2 Coral Hairstreak1 Large lace-border1 Indian pipe
2 Black-billed Cuckoo3 Banded Hairstreak1 Plume moth1 Japanese spiraea
2 Chimney Swift7 Great Spangled Fritillary1 Queen Anne's lace
1 Belted Kingfisher1 Pearl Crescent1 Spotted jewelweed
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker1 Question Mark
3 Downy Woodpecker3 Eastern Comma
1 Northern Flicker3 Northern Pearly-eye
1 Eastern Wood-Pewee14 Little Wood-Satyr
1 Eastern Kingbird1 Common Ringlet
2 Red-eyed Vireo15 Common Wood-Nymph
2 Blue Jay5 Monarch
1 Black-capped Chickadee23 Silver-spotted Skipper
1 White-breasted Nuthatch1 European Skipper
1 Carolina Wren8 Northern Broken-Dash
3 House Wren1 Little Glassywing
1 Eastern Bluebird
4 Veery
11 American Robin
4 Gray Catbird
7 Cedar Waxwing
1 Ovenbird
2 Common Yellowthroat
1 Scarlet Tanager
3 Eastern Towhee
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Field Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
1 Northern Cardinal
6 Indigo Bunting
3 American Goldfinch