On the Trails of
The Cary Institute

Trail Report for October 26, 2011

Notes and changes since last report:

The Trails

This week...

  • The sky was moody over Gifford House today.
  • Out back the Old Hayfields were bleak.
  • A touch of color could be spotted off in the distance.
  • But birds were active on the edges and in the distant. Easily a hundred robins passed overhead.
  • The farther Old Hayfield was edged with burning bush - a familiar Asian ornamental that has escaped cultivation.
  • Scampering through the leaves then up a tree was a black squirrel. Too quick for a photo.
  • A lump in the tree line warrented closer examination.
  • Not too close... Hornet nests are usually dead by now, but it's been so mild...
  • Speaking of mild, around the corner on the Sedge Meadow trail was heal-all still in bloom.
  • So similar in color that I almost missed it was a violet or two.
  • Robins, yellow-rumped warblers and a few rusty blackbirds were constantly passing through the trees and shrubs.
  • In the Fern Glen wild basil was still blooming along the road side.
  • On the other side of the road was hobble bush - always an interesting shrub.
  • Next season's buds are already well formed... and so strange.
  • And the leaves are interesting too.
  • As I paused to check off a bird in the Scotch Pine Alleé I realized I'd only swatted one mosquito all day. Immediately there were two on me. But that was it!
  • With the grounds closing the end of the month, this will be the last trail report of the season. Farewell til Spring.

Last week...

  • It was 70°, partly cloudy and windy at 1:15 PM on October 20.
  • Yesterday was rainy. I don't usually swap days but with the end of the season approaching - and a good forecast - I made an exception.
  • And I met three groups of people on the trails today; it's usually quiet on weekdays.
  • Flocks of robins and cedar waxwings were all around, too.
  • As I started out today through the Scotch Pine Alleé I met my first trail mate of the day and we paused in the occasional sun to compare sightings.
  • Orange sulphurs were bucking the wind around us, dropping down into sunny patches to bask or to feed on the remaining wild basil and spotted knapweed.
  • Common Buckeyes were still cruising the meadows as well.
  • Mosquitos were still around too, but in ever decreasing numbers. Samples were being collected for research at the bottom of the Old Gravel Pit.
  • The next group I met was in the Fern Glen.
  • We admired the orange cultivar of winterberry, among many other things.
  • I headed down the Cary Pines Trail along the creek and had a nice view at the Appendix.
  • A little farther along the view from the floodplain was almost devoid of color.
  • But from the bluff at the farthest corner of the trails there was still a little.
  • The view of the back Old Hayfield was typical of the surrounding area today.
  • The little spring by the boardwalk along the Sedge Meadow Trail was still bubbling away.
  • It reminds me of the old gas pumps that had a glass bowl with white balls that swirled around as the gas flowed. Here's a 4MB video.
  • I finally remembered I can do that.

Birds

  • 5 Turkey Vulture
  • 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
  • 1 Downy Woodpecker
  • 1 Northern Flicker
  • 1 Pileated Woodpecker
  • 6 Blue Jay
  • 5 American Crow
  • 1 Common Raven
  • 7 Black-capped Chickadee
  • 4 Tufted Titmouse
  • 2 White-breasted Nuthatch
  • 143 American Robin
  • 15 Cedar Waxwing
  • 3 Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • 3 Rusty Blackbird

Mammals

  • Black squirrel

Trail Report for October 12, 2011

Notes and changes since last report:

The Trails

This week...

  • With a cool gray day I did not expect to see any butterflies and I didn't.
  • But there's always something else - the Old Pump House for example.
  • The Sedge Meadow Trail started filling with birds around the boardwalk.
  • The turn to the left put one right in the shrubs with them. Cedar waxwings, yellow-rumped warblers, white-throated sparrows, Robins, a couple ruby-crowned kinglets and a magnolia warbler.
  • Some color was in the Japanese barberry and maples around the back Old Hayfield and I thought about lunch at the bench, but decided on the next one.
  • Lunch in the Old Pasture was quiet; I continued toward the Wappinger Creek.
  • The view from the bluff was getting nice.
  • Farther along in the flood plain was nice too. A ray of sun would really liven things up.
  • I recalled my dismay this time last year when I discovered the Fern Glen's poison sumac had been stripped of its bark and killed by a buck using it for a rub... Aparently, the roots survived.
  • More color was along the boardwalk in the shrub swamp with spicebush and winterberry .
  • Bizarre witch hazel was adding its equally delicate color and fragrance to the scene.
  • What walk is complete without a mushroom this season?
  • This one by the stone bridge reminded me of one from a week or two ago.
  • It and its younger siblings at the base were putting a fragance of their own in the air. The attendant flies were a good indicator of what kind.
  • On the other side of the road from the pond was a fairyring. Some of the individuals were a good size. At about 40 feet in diameter now, it has been spreading some 2 feet in radius each of the 5 years that I've been observing it; that would make the colony 15-20 years old.
  • A light mist started falling. It'll be good for the mushrooms, I thought, but I should go.

Last week...

  • It was 65°, partly cloudy with a light breeze at 1:00 PM on October 5.
  • Evenings in the 40s, sometimes 30s seem to have slowed down the mosquitos. They were still around, but not in the numbers we've been enduring.
  • Butterflies were very few now, but katydids and spring peepers could still be heard.
  • Still there was only a hint of color in the leaves. But the cool air, warm sun and a certain scent in the air did make Autumn more convincing.
  • With the Little Bluestem Meadow mowed I turned my attention to the north side of the Scotch Pine Alleé.
  • Sulphurs were numerous and there was ample wild basil to serve them.
  • The common buckeye, never common in our area, has been regularly encountered this year, indeed twice this day.
  • A small, dark skipper eluded me twice but in searching for it I came upon a rove beetle preening its antennae.
  • Off the side of the trail through the Old Gravel Pit a fairy ring was emerging from under the leaves.
  • That was only one of several today. They seemed to all be of the same sort.
  • There went that skipper again! Oh wait, this is that obscure little moth I first saw a couple weeks ago.
  • I remember struggling for 20 minutes or so last year trying to get a good photo of maple-leaved viburnum showing both leave and fruit. Here it was perfectly arranged.
  • Today partridgeberry and mushrooms were both all around, but try to find a nice composition including both...

Birds

  • 1 Ring-necked Pheasant
  • 2 Turkey Vulture
  • 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
  • 3 Downy Woodpecker
  • 2 Northern Flicker
  • 2 Eastern Phoebe
  • 3 Blue Jay
  • 3 American Crow
  • 10 Black-capped Chickadee
  • 2 White-breasted Nuthatch
  • 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  • 7 American Robin
  • 1 Gray Catbird
  • 100 European Starling
  • 20 Cedar Waxwing
  • 1 Magnolia Warbler
  • 13 Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • 1 Eastern Towhee
  • 4 White-throated Sparrow
  • 1 Northern Cardinal
  • 3 Red-winged Blackbird
  • 2 American Goldfinch

Plants

  • Witch Hazel

Previous Trail Reports are available from a separate page.

© 2011 Barry Haydasz