Nature Blog

The one-mile trail north of Dugway Rd is now ready! We will celebrate the completion of this part of the trail at 3:00 pm, Tuesday, Oct. 1. Take a walk and see what you can find. Some habitats here differ from those found along the trail south of Dugway, which means some different nature sightings.

Late season always brings out a wonderful diversity of asters and goldenrods, as shown below, and there are more species in each group than are shown below (8 asters, 4 goldenrods). We still find occasional flowers that we’ve been seeing since earlier in the summer such as soapwort, evening primrose, and pale and spotted jewelweed, though they are now fewer in number. The subtle and camouflaged appearance of beech drops belies their presence, but you’ll find them near beech trees because, rather than being photosynthetic, they are parasitic on beech roots. Mushrooms and other fungi are emerging, too; see the shaggy mane shown here. This is also a season of seeds and fruits, of course, some of which are colorful to attract
birds to disperse the plant’s seeds. Finding wild hops along the trail is a reminder of this region’s importance long ago in hops production.

The edges of the pond often conceal surprises, so look beyond any ducks and geese that may be on the water, and you may find a (very attractive) solitary sandpiper as I did 2 days ago. This nature update is the last of 2024, but keep looking along the trail. What new sightings will we find next year?

More than 50 plant species are in flower and fruit along the trail now, and below is just a selection of what you can find. This is the time of greatest diversity of flowering species and of floral shape (different kinds of pollinators are attracted to different floral characteristics). One of the flowering plants is spotted knapweed, which may look pretty but is a nasty invasive that crowds out native plants; feel free to kill it. Birds on the trail currently include mostly common species (chickadee, robin, catbird, crow, Carolina wren, goldfinch, woodpeckers), but we’re seeing many of the young produced this year. A wood duck family has stayed regularly at the pond. Sulphur butterflies are now numerous in the fields by Dugway Rd, and in the photo below, a male sulphur underneath is trying to mate with the female above (some females are white rather than yellow). Beautiful, freshly emerged question mark butterflies are out, showing why in the 1800s they were called violet-tips. Of course this is a season of fruit production, with red, black, and white berries, as well as other fruiting structures, providing food to birds and other animals in exchange for seed dispersal.

This final nature update for 2023 and all photos are from my walking the trail the morning of Sep 29. A standard set of birds was present – goldfinch, song sparrow, catbird, robin, crow, jay, chickadee, dove, red-bellied wp, flicker – but also a Carolina wren and female/young indigo bunting. The pond always has activity, this morning including a heron, mallards, and wood ducks. Nice to see the two duck species together; wood ducks are clearly smaller.
Asters along with a late goldenrod – shown below – dominate the flowers along the trail, and they are wonderful at this time of year. Evening primrose, brown-eyed susan, and both jewelweeds continue to flower, and gaura is a late addition. The only colorful fruit I saw was that of multiflora rose, an invasive non-native.

The beginning of the trail has a nice assemblage of plants that, a result of a lot of work, is replacing the Japanese knotweed. The trail is a wonderful place for a fall walk.

The trail is now providing a mix of late summer and fall sightings. It’s a season with asters, goldenrods, and numerous other flowers, some of which have just opened and some of which have been flowering for many weeks (e.g., soapwort, daisy, knapweed). You’ll see three closely-related aster family plants: boneset, joe-pye-weed, and snakeweed (trivia note: Joe Pye was a Mohican chief who used this plant as a curative). It’s also a season of fruits and seeds; look for the conspicuous fruits of red baneberry, chokecherry, pokeweed, doll’s eyes, and wild grape. Animals consume the fruits, and the seeds are then dispersed by passing through the animals. With hooks on its seeds, burdock provides a mechanical form of seed dispersal by attaching to passing mammals. Jewelweed is also called touch-me-not because its ripe pods fly apart when touched (“explosive dehiscence”), yet another form of seed dispersal.

Birds are less obvious now than they have been for most of the summer, but the pond often provides surprises; this morning (Aug 30) I found a kingfisher, GB heron, and 3 wood ducks, and several days ago I saw a solitary sandpiper. Monarch caterpillars have been scarce along the trail this summer – all monarchs should be migrating southward now – but you can still find fuzzy caterpillars of the milkweed tussock moth on partially eaten milkweed leaves. You’ll also find hops along the trail, thus providing a connection to the region’s history of hops production. Don’t wait to take a nature walk; the growing season is clearly passing.

All the photos below were from the trail this morning, July 31 (except the wood ducks, flicker, and oriole). Birds seem less numerous now, but yellow warblers, yellowthroats, catbirds, and song sparrows are always apparent. Newly obvious are juvenile birds; the song sparrow, indigo bunting, and Baltimore oriole below are examples of young birds, and so, of course, are the wood duck ducklings from earlier this month.

New flowers appear every week. Queen Anne’s lace and soapwort are now abundant, but a number of new and different yellow flowers add color to the trail edges, as does beebalm (Monarda) in lavender, red, and purple shades. Don’t be too attracted to the purple of spotted knapweed; it’s a noxious and damaging invasive. But Indian pipe is an unobtrusive late season native flower – white and waxy because it’s a non-photosynthesizing saprophyte that takes in nutrients from decaying organic matter. See if you can find any!

Late summer means that fruits are developing, too. Honeysuckle fruit are obvious, but you can find grapes and others. Note that brightly colored fruit are conspicuous, all the better to be found and consumed so that their seeds are spread far and wide. The burs of burdock (nature’s Velcro) provide another form of seed dispersal.

What can you see along the trail now? Song sparrows, yellow warblers, catbirds, and red-winged blackbirds remain numerous, with many other birds seen and heard; I can find at least 25 species on each morning walk on the KT. June has brought out butterflies and other insects, too, so keep an eye out for them in open areas. A few are pictured below. Monarchs have yet to appear as of June 28 although milkweed is common and has started to flower.

With plant life, the season changes rapidly, and every week presents new species in flower, including many more than I can show here (my list has more than 180 plant species found along the trail). Send me a (clear) photo if you want to know some plant you’ve seen. The summer is passing, and some fruits are already developing – honeysuckle, grape, and baneberry fruits are visible now.

Along with chipmunks scurrying across the trail and painted turtles basking at pond edges, other wildlife lurks nearby. The milk snake shown below was a pleasant surprise recently – and fairies have left evidence of their return to the trail! What can you see on your walks there?

What can you see in early summer along the trail? All the photos below were taken May 30.

The most abundant flowers right now are Dame’s rocket and chervil, with buttercups close behind and more species opening up. Flowering shrubs /vines include honeysuckle, alternate-leaved dogwood, buckthorn, a viburnum, and grape.

Every morning you can hear yellow warbler, common yellowthroat, Amer. redstart, catbird, song sparrow, indigo bunting, robin, and red-winged blackbird. I found 36 bird species on my May 30 trail walk, a number that shows the diversity of birdlife along the trail. With the canopy fully open now, it’s easier to hear than to see many of the birds that are present. Nesting is well underway. Check out the two ponds for green and great blue heron, kingfisher, mallard, painted turtle, muskrat, and a sandpiper.

Look for what appear to be white foamy globs of spit on low trailside plants, especially bedstraw. Inside each is a nymph of a spittlebug, an insect that sucks up sap from its plant and blows sappy air bubbles out its rear end to produce a surrounding layer of moist bubbly protection. I wiped away the bubbles to show the nymph in the photo below. The adults are true bugs (hemipterans) known as froghoppers.

There is much more to observe as well. Look for horsetail, a spore-producing relative of ferns, which adds a different green pattern to trail edges.