On the Trails of
The Cary Institute

Trail Report for Oct. 29, 2008

Looking back over my shoulder as I started I thought it looked more like November than October, then I realized that of course it was almost November.
Something bigger than a squirrel ran under the brush as I entered the Sedge Meadow trail. I had to squat low to keep sight of it - yes, it was a pheasant that crossed the path behind me!
Oak foliage has been bright this year; one oak stood out nicely over a patch of little bluestem grass in the Old Pasture.
Japanese barberry was colorful in the flood plain along the Wappinger Creek Trail...
...all over the flood plain of the Wappinger Creek Trail thanks to its abundant berries and resistance to deer browse.
A clump of chesnut oak had an eerie yellow glow. The camera didn't see that but captured an eerie blue instead.
I paused to examine the bird activity overhead at the beginning of the Cary Pines Trail and was pleased to spot a brown creeper. It was an otherwise very quiet day bird-wise.
The path to Plant Science Bld. meandered through burning bush - another beautiful but invasive asian ornamental.
I never tire of the view of Gifford House across the Little Bluestem Meadow.
The dramatic afternoon lighting is usually more than a challenge for the camera, but today something clicked - so to speak.
It was that wild sky never allowing too much cloud or too much sun to overwhelm the lens.
And so I went home to deal with the almost overwhelming leaves in the yard.

Starting at the Fern Glen, I found Clethra - or summer sweet, among other names - still in bloom.
Golden afternoon sun lit up the way to the fen turning on our single American basswood and several spice-bush.
Witch hazel blossoms were being visited by a moth - perhaps the winter moth, perhaps the Bruce spanworm moth...
And White wood aster was still clinging to it flowers.
In the Old Gravel Pit you could tell that the bench around the corner would be a refuge in the sun.
The view at the entrance to the Little Bluestem Meadow was not a disappointment.
Of course I had to look back as I walked through the Scots Pine Alleé.
There at the end of the Alleé by the Carriage House a katydid clung to the trunk of a sugar maple.
The old pump house between the Old Hayfields was a study in green.
The birding hot spot today was the upland section of the Sedge Meadow Trail. Palm and myrtle warblers came through the shrubs while purple and gold finch passed through the taller trees.
A surprise was the drop to the boardwalk: the trees were just about bare there.
But the hickory at the approach to the Old Pasture was in its glory.
And my favorite view from the bluff on the Wappinger Creek Trail lived up to expectations.