May, 2017: Describe your walk by adding a comment below
Each time you go out and make observations for this project, describe your walk by adding a comment to this post. Include the date, distance walked, and categories that you used for this walk.
Suggested format:
Date. Place. Distance walked today. Total distance for this project.
Categories.
Brief description of the area, what you saw, what you learned, who was with you, or any other details you care to share.
Comentários
5/1/17. George Rd and Lightening Ridge Rd, Calais, Vermont. 3.7 miles today, 165.3 miles total.
Categories: faces, yellow, edible & mosses, liverworts, fungi, blooms, birds, invertebrates
No car today, so I stayed close to home. I found 2 specimens of a new-to-me liverwort, and stopped to watch a hawk (red-shouldered?) watch the little dog that was barking at me. Once again, I was reminded that the upper part of George Rd has some of the nicest displays of spring ephemerals in the area. Guess I don't have to go far to see all my little green friends!
5-2-17. Delaware and Raritan Canal, Franklin Twp., NJ. 0.75 miles today, 49 miles total.
Categories: blooming, as many species as possible, trees, shrubs, insects, lichen, animals
I took my youngest daughter for an after-dinner walk along the canal in a spot I'd never visited before. We saw three sets of geese with goslings, and heard a loud splash, twice, which someone later pointed out was a beaver slapping its tail (I hadn't realized there were beavers in the canal, but several people said they saw a pair right where we'd been walking). Plants-wise the surprises were a tiny little flower that might be Mazus and some jetbead on the way out the driveway.
5-3-17. Pond Brook and Ehlens Brook Parks, Warren, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 49.5 miles total
Categories: blooming, trees, as many species as possible.
I explored two undeveloped tracts in town, "bushwhacking" except that we have so many deer there was no underbrush at all and the biggest obstacle was downed trees leftover from Hurricane Sandy 4 1/2 years ago. Well, that and getting lost, but I didn't go terribly far and made it back out. Not a whole lot of surprises, though there were amazing numbers of ramps and the biggest patch of watercress I've seen around here. More impressive was the collection and variety of weeds in the gravel median of the parking lot where I ate lunch.
Instead of 1000 miles, I'm walking to my sister near Boston, and just this week I made it to New York state. Today brought me to the NY Thruway, following my usual route by car.
5/2/17. Kelton Rd, E. Montpelier, Vermont. 2.9 miles today, 168.2 miles total.
Categories: yellow, grasses, sedges & lichens, mosses, birds, ferns, blooms, invasives, invertebrates
Tried a new road I've never been to before. It turned out to be a farm road with corn fields on both sides of the road and few spring ephemerals. Now that I know what it looks like, I wouldn't bother to walk there in the spring again. In addition to the cornfields, it also had the largest patch of multiflora rose that I've seen in Vermont--the multiflora rose went on for at least 1/2 mile. Still, I found my first trout lily in bloom there today. And maybe saw a nighthawk?
Congrats on walking to New York! Mazus and jetbead? I've never heard of them. Guess I need to get out more! Do watch out for beavers. The tail slap is when it's aggravated because you're too close. I've heard they can get aggressive if you don't give them some space.
5/3/17. Cross Vermont Trail, E. Montpelier, Vermont. 2.9 miles today, 171.1 miles total.
Categories: compound leaves, buds/breaking leaves, graminoids & fungi, blooms, mosses, liverworts, birds, invasives
Today I hiked the other end of the Cross Vermont Trail in East Montpelier, starting from Country Club Road. At the trail head, all the signs said no parking, park at the Rt 14 end. Beyond the giant chasm. I parked alongside the road and walked in anyway, having made a special trip to see this end of the trail. Indeed, it was a very nice, scenic, and very quiet trail. Plenty of ephemerals, although most were not open yet. Lots of leatherwood on the lower (northern) side of the trail. Since this section of the trail was short, I also did a jaunt up Country Club Road. Loaded with Japanese barberry, almost as much barberry here as there was multiflora rose on Kelton Rd yesterday.
5/4/17. Barnes Rd, E. Montpelier, Vermont. 3 miles today, 174.1 miles total.
Categories: edible, toxic, grasses & mosses, birds, blooms, lichens, fungi, invasives
I walked the length of Barnes Road today in East Montpelier. For a dirt road, it was very suburban. Not a lot of diversity, but more than I saw along the cornfields. A few ephemerals, lots of chipping sparrows. The trout lilies were in full bloom. I also walked a short stretch of Brazier Rd, encountering the U32 cross country team out for practice. And yet another Fairmont Farms field. I had no idea that Fairmont farmed the entire town. They are everywhere--more common than honeysuckle!
5/4/17. Farmstead Park, Bernards Twp., NJ. 0.75 miles today, 50.25 miles total.
Categories: blooming, newly emerged, insects
I arrived to walk at a park behind a soccer field to find two police cars engaged in a "10-69", which is a fake police code the squad uses for when two cops park facing in opposite directions so they can talk through the windows to one another. It made me self conscious, though, of course, photography is perfectly legal here. I walked through the woods and along the Passaic River, then made my way down to the actual river bank. At which point a gust of wind blew my hat off my head, I lunged to catch it, and slipped on the mud bank, landing flat out on my front, now covered in mud from toes to belly button (and hands). And on the way back, the branch I was walking on to cross a mud slough slipped and I was up to my ankles in muck. Luckily the police were gone by the time I made it back to the car. I did find water-parsnip, my first eastern tailed blue of the year, and a cute bee fly that wouldn't stay in one place long enough for me to really get the focus right on it.
5-5-17. Washington Valley Park, Bridgewater, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 50.75 miles total.
Categories: blooming, newly emerged, shrubs.
A quick walk on boardwalks in the rain before going on duty. I chose boardwalks so I could keep my feet dry for once. Lots of plants but no real surprises. There was a mockingbird singing beautifully in a bush, but I couldn't see it.
After the walk I went to wash the ambulances. The President is at Trump National Golf Course, which is 10 miles from my house and even closer to my rescue squad building. So after walking I went back and washed the ambulances (yes, even though it's raining). Wouldn't do to look shabby with VIPs around. We would be about the second or third rescue squad called should something bad happen over there today. Not that we are expecting such a thing. The visit involves a 10-mile no-fly zone, which means that all the planes that are normally flying over my head (we're on the Newark Airport holding pattern) are not there today, something that hasn't happened since 9-11. It's a little creepy, actually.
5/5/17. Marvin and Goodnow Rds, East Montpelier, VT. 1.3 miles today, 175.4 miles total.
Categories: red, simple leaves, trash in the photo & mosses, blooms, ferns
Explored a pair of deadend roads off the highway. Despite the location near Rt 2, they were actually more interesting than yesterday's roads, more forest. But not as long as I had expected, so I only got 1.3 miles in. I considered stopping at the next road off the highway, but it was pouring, so I went home early. Highlights of the day were loads of fly honeysuckle in full bloom. And the Montpelier Gun Club, which was totally deserted except for a flock of turkeys grazing on the green. The fields near the gun club were clearly very, very wet. Even with drainage ditches at the ends, they had marsh marigold growing in the middle and lots of swamp milkweed.
Glad you made it back from your visit to the soccer field--too much adventure! And I hope our illustrious leader kept his balls under control today so that you didn't have to get your ambulances dirty.
5/6/17. Chickering Bog, Calais, Vermont. 2 miles today, 177.4 miles total.
Categories: compound leaves, alternative leaves, buds/opening leaves & mosses, fungi, liverworts, blooms, ferns
Saturday morning hike with my buddies this morning. I forgot my phone and my clip-on macro lens, so I couldn't get any close-ups of mosses. One of my friends was greatly relieved since we wouldn't be stopping to admire mosses. The other friend was disappointed. The Bog is a Nature Conservancy property, and a fine gem of a bog. It happens to be the closest public woods walk to my house, so I have visited the Bog many, many times. Since I've spent so much time there, it's hard to find new things to admire at the Bog. But it's great just to visit with all the old familiar plants. The warblers were out in force as well this morning. We heard black-throated greens, oven bird, yellow-rumps, blue-headed vireos, and many others.
5-6-17. Hughes School, Berkeley Heights, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 51.5 miles total.
Categories: blooming, shrubs, lawn weeds, galls
A quick walk during lunch break from my EMT refresher class. Berkeley Heights is small enough that they don't bus their children, they all walk to school, but fancy enough that all the neighborhoods have cul de sacs. So there is this neat network of paved paths through the woods behind the elementary school for all those dead-end-road kids to walk to school on. Nature-wise there was a nice variety of weeds. The Amur honeysuckle just bloomed; it's a week behind the Morrow's. And I found a new leaf gall on hornbeam that I want to see if I can get IDed.
The President did not have a disaster on Friday (though I don't imagine that he actually went out and got his balls wet in the torrential rain) but I still got my ambulance dirty (and myself soaked) on two "regular' squad calls.
Edit: I just looked the "new" gall up on Bugguide (it's Dasineura pudibunda) only to find one of the three images there is mine, from 2014. When your memory starts to go, everything gets to be new again.
erika, that place you visited on 5-5 looked interesting when i reviewed some of the observations for ID. Clearly lots of old wetland, perhaps seepage swamp or forest, opportunities for restoration one day if some of the landowners are interested, perhaps.
I love chickering fen/bog too, and between us it's gotta be one of the most inaturalisted places in the state. I should see if I can get Gus of TNC to send me a shapefile of the preserve so I can generate a species list. I put in a mapping of the fen itself as an experiment but of course that doesn't capture most of that wonderful preserve and we don't want to encourage everyone to trample the bog mat anyway
5-6-2017 - 1 mile, 17.1 total
Between the rain and little Holly having a cold, I haven't been on many non work related walks lately. (Did a nice rainy naturalist walk on Friday the 5th but it was related to work which i am not counting here, AND it was raining so hard I barely did any iNat anyway).
Anyway on the 6th we were on Shelburne Farms for a picnic and got in a walk of about a mile including walking across a lawn from parking place.
This area is full of large non-native trees including Scots pine and the biggest Norway maples I have seen in Vermont. However there were a couple of little highlights: a small example of the rare Limestone Bluff Cedar-Pine Forest natural community and a patch of very dense flowering trout lilies with some white trillium.
Driving back saw what looked like two massive american elms along I-89. How did I never notice these before? http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6119749 didn't get a photo but see link to google street view.
Erika, I am loving getting a journal with each of your walks. (and Srall too but you aren't next to my house)
5-7-17. Honesdale, PA. 1.0 miles today, 52.5 miles total.
categories: blooming, herbs, lichen, shrubs, as many species as possible
We toured my middle daughter's new (to us) summer camp today, and were thrilled. But I was most thrilled with the variety of plants on site. My older and younger daughters go to a camp that's used year round, this one is only open for 8 weeks a year, and I think it makes a lot of difference in how degraded the site is. (Middle daughter has more special needs so gets a separate camp). There was a violet that I think is V. blanda, interrupted fern, Virginia waterleaf, some kind of currant, what might have been blue cohosh, and a ton of other things not quite so unusual for me. I have a terrible time taking pictures when I'm supposed to be touring with a group, but this time I just couldn't' resist, so spent a lot of time catching back up.
I love how you have GPS for your walks, so I can see the path you took. My camera doesn't (and I'm a bit lazy) and so I just geotag the whole area I walked in, which isn't nearly as interesting.
5-7-17. Chickering Bog. Calais, Vermont. 2.2 miles today, 179.6 miles total.
categories: birds, things I didn't shoot yesterday & mosses, lichens, liverworts, fungi
Had such a good time at the Bog yesterday, I went back this morning with my birding lens. But where did the birds go? Cloudy and cool, and I'm out of practice for birding, I guess. In addition to the photos, I also heard black-throated green warbler, common yellowthroat, blue-headed vireo, crow, raven, red-breasted nuthatch, ruby-crowned kinglet, oven bird. So I guess I heard a few, but I was really surprised at how quiet the woods were, overall. Not a single squirrel, seen or heard. Odd, very odd.
For my walk tracks, I use an exercise watch (a free gift) that tracks GPS. When I get home, I download the GPS track to Lightroom and pair it with the group of photos for the walk. It's much faster than trying to remember where I took each shot. And generally pretty accurate. Much more accurate than I used to get from either a camera with built-in GPS or GPS gadget that plugs into a camera. Or my phone, which often puts me a full town away.
Anne Reed mentioned to me that the Marshfield Conservation Commission is doing some sort of phenology study this year, and using iNaturalist data somehow. I'm not sure what the project is about, but apparently they were thankful for the 40+ observations I collected on the Marshfield rail-trail last Sunday. So I think I'll concentrate efforts on Marshfield for a while. Most of the scenic areas in East Montpelier have been walked anyway (Charlie, was that you who walked Saunders Circle?).
Also Srall.. it comes down to personal preference, but I use the iPhone app almost exclusively (sometimes the android app on my work phone). I am mostly interested in plants and the occasional insect, and it's fine for almost anything like that. Not so good for birds. The iPhone app geotags really well. the android app is sometimes a bit off or has large uncertainty circle, takes longer to hone in, but still works.
Yeah I did walk Saunders Circle... there were a bunch of neat things up there and on North Street and I probably missed some there. A few spots in Montpelier i still want to go to even.. want to walk the perimeter of that cemetery near 89, thought about going today but it was rainy and we didn't want to take Holly out in the rain because she's on the tail end of a bad cold. Soon though! Also there are some national life trails I haven't explored. Today we instead went on a small walk on Towne Hill Road where I've already been a million times but i found more of that stupid lesser celandine.. ugh.
I actually gave the Marshfield people some limited feedback on how they might set up their project... hopefully was helpful to them.
5-8-17. Maple Hill Rd, Marshfield, VT. 3 miles today, 182.6 miles total.
Categories: landscape, signs, vines & ferns, birds, lichens, galls, blooms
Dodged the snowflakes for a walk in Marshfield today. Maple Hill Rd from Plainfield center is not a great walking road--too much traffic! But the views on the way back down were excellent. On a better weather day, they would be spectacular. This road mostly went through agricultural lands and suburban-rural yards. I still found a few blooms, though, some trout lilies and lots of red trillium. And more birds than I saw at the Bog yesterday.
Who is organizing the Marshfield project? Is it on iNaturalist? What are they looking for?
5-8-17. Mountainview Park, Middlesex, NJ. 1 mile today, 53.5 miles total.
Categories: galls, flowering, trees, shrubs, insects, weeds
I walked at an aging park next to an aging high school. There's a neat abandoned model helicopter pad with observation tower, and several seemingly abandoned buildings that it turns out were hosting a public works department meeting. I walked to the confluence of two brooks that I didn't know the name of, which each turned out to be named for a local town (Green Brook and Bound Brook). The whole area was covered with box elder, easily more than half the trees. I've never seen it so dominant. I found a lot of neat galls, a tiny, dark pink geranium I'm going to have to look up, and actual red-seeded dandelion. It seems like I spend a lot of time here on iNat telling disappointed people that, no, in fact, that's just regular dandelion. So I sure hope I'm right this time!
We have no red trillium here, except in a few gardens. I remember it and painted trillium from back when I went to Middlebury. So pretty.
@erikamitchell I talked to Taber Allison about it a while back.
No walk today. Holly gave me her cold. And we had a few snowflakes here too. I ran an errand and took a few roadside observations such as the trilliums on Center Road which were happily blooming, and a billion Canada geese. But as i was in the car, it doesn't count for this project.
@Srall i didn't know you went to middlebury! My wife went there for undergrad and we lived in East Middlebury for a while, when i started doing iNat actually.
Yup, I got a BA in Russian and Soviet Area Studies in 1991. -Sara
5-9-17. Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, NJ. 0.25 mile today, 53.75 miles total
Categories: weeds, plant families
I was invited by John Clark who teaches at Lawrenceville and runs their iNat bioblitz (he's called phinaea here) to come down and meet his class, as I am their top identifier. He also had Richard Abbott from the NY Botanical Garden (who's revising Britton and Brown's Flora of the Northeastern US, I believe). Dr. Abbott took us all on a stroll and taught the kids about plant families (it was fascinating). But the funniest part was that all these kids knew exactly who I was (I ID all their posts on iNat) and had no idea who he was, so were far more excited about meeting me than him. (I, however, was very excited to meet Dr. Abbott). We only took a short walk, but found wild Tetradium daniellii which I'd never even heard of. Very cool.
i got a grand total of zero observations today, i think i finally have the cold on the way out, but felt awful most of the day.
Tomorrow I'll be doing some wetland surveys and hope to use iNat as part of my data collection, i've been experimenting with doing that in some cases (as when on public land). But since it is work related i won't be adding to this project. maybe a walk later too?
5-9-17. Hollister Hill Rd, Marshfield, VT. 3.3 miles today, 185.9 miles total.
Categories: trees, simple leaves, bark & mosses, liverworts, birds, ferns, lichens, fungi, blooms, invasives
Enjoyed a cool walk on the upper end of Hollister Hill Rd this afternoon. It's a much nicer walking road than Maple Hill Rd, less traffic, better speeds. Stopped to chat with a woman out raking her yard. She was very pleased to be introduced to the trout lilies growing in her ditch, and to the ostrich plume moss on her stone wall. The big find of the day for me was a very large plot of may apple. A friend had told me she knew of some growing on Hollister Hill, but she couldn't describe where it was, and I had given up looking for it. Now I can confirm that it is definitely there and thriving.
Sara: you were a Russian major at Middlebury? Wow--I was a Russian major at UMASS! Pazhalsta! I forgot most of my Russian during my senior year, when I went off to learn Finnish in Finland. That's a great story about you and Richard Abbott!
5-10-17. East County Park, Warren, NJ. 1 mile today, 54.75 miles total.
Categories: weeds, shrubs, trees, insects, galls, blooming
Took my son to a park he'd never been to before, but split up once we got there as he has no patience for all my slow photography. There were a ton of sulfur butterflies, but none held still long enough for me to photograph it. Which reminded me why I've never gotten into butterfly or bird photography; too frustrating.
Finnish! And I thought Russian was hard to pronounce and had tough grammar. Wow.
I am so far behind on posting, it's discouraging. But I keep reminding myself it's because I've been so busy and things will slow down soon. I tried Erika's method of adding the location to each pic instead of the whole batch and it wasn't much harder (and was fun), so maybe I'll keep it up. I like seeing the path I walked (kind of).
@erikamitchell i saw a bunch of neat wetland mosses today and tried to take some good photos of them so you might enjoy looking at them if you feel like it. The samsung phone i have for work takes some nice close up photos.
@srall location is kinda my thing, i'm in part a spatial ecologist and exactly where a plant is tells you so much! I map stuff in detail as much as I can. Just make sure to use the uncertainty circle if you aren't sure.
5-10-17. Montpelier, Vermont. 3.3 miles today, 189.2 miles total
Categories: domestic animals in the photo, faces, opposite leaves & mosses, ferns, blooms, birds, invasives
Took a walk through the sidewalks of the northwest corner of Montpelier this afternoon. Scenic suburban neighborhoods, but bordering the wildlands of Hubbard Park. I poked my head through the park gate (at the back of the park), but the park has been very well documented, so I didn't stay long in the park. Found plenty of fly honeysuckle near the park, and lots of forget-me-not everywhere. The surprise of the day was horse chestnut trees, popping up in odd places, like in the midst of a patch of Rosa rugosa. I finally found the apparent mother towards the end of my walk, a giant horse chestnut getting ready to bloom on Terrace St.
I really enjoyed seeing your walk today, Sara--the map really takes us along your route! As for Finnish, it's much easier than Russian. It may have 15 cases, but no gender, so that actually means fewer endings to learn than the 6 cases x 3 genders in Russian!
Hey Erika, keep an eye out for lesser celandine. We're trying to find it so we can try to get rid of it. New invasive in town :(
0.5 mile. 17.6 total - looking for lesser celandine. took a small evening walk after running an errand... looking for the new invasive lesser celandine that was found on towne hill road. No lesser celandine found which was good. Tons of goutweed as usual for Montpelier. Mostly just enjoyed the walk with a happy little toddler babbling in a carrier and saying hi to dogs.
weird that horse chestnut can spread here
I need to visit one of your lesser celandine sites to get it in my head. I've never seen it in person.
I was looking at the west end of Montpelier in satellite view and saw that there is a large network of trails that appears to come off of Crestview Dr and ends up just west of the cemetery on Route 2. I may make my way out there next time I'm walking in Montpelier. Unless you get there first, Charlie!
Oh interesting. I haven't been up there.. thought it was posted. But depends on where the trails go. I think there's some oak up there!
As for the celandine, if you walk east on towne hill road from main st you will see it in the first bit of road on both sides, including in a lawn. i've inatted it pretty heavily but you'd probably find something I haven't anyhow. the little side streets going north and south from there are nice too, mostly suburban but nice views, a few forest patches, and tons of water in the spring - must have been a seepage forest (like our field)
5-11-17. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 56 miles total.
Categories: honeysuckle, insects, galls, blooming, newly emerged, grasses, birds
I walked around to the far side of the local reservoir, where I have walked many times before, because the bush honeysuckles are blooming and I've never had a satisfactory answer as to what species they are. There are pink ones and white ones that look identical (and like Tatarian to me) and also Amur. Dr. Abbott from earlier in the week hooked me up with a botanical librarian, so I'm going to see if I can get a professional answer. In the meantime there were lots of insects out. But the big surprise for me were birds. I have no patience for birds, and especially not for warblers, but I'm fairly certain I saw (and took probably blurry photos of) three different warblers today. One I'm fairly certain was a yellow, but the other two... I'll have to see if I got any clear shots when I process the pictures.
5-11-17. Hardwood Mountain Rd, Marshfield, VT. 2.7 miles today, 191.9 miles total.
Categories: vines, blue, grasses & birds, mosses, liverworts, blooms, ferns, fungi, lichens, invertebrates
I enjoyed Hardwood Mountain Rd today--it is a road mainly in name only, a 4WD class 4 road that theoretically connects Marshfield to Groton. No traffic except for 1 dirt biker and 2 fellow hikers. The road runs through rocky boreal forest but has a few seasonal camps along the way. It ended abruptly in a large beaver pond with some ducks with blue bills. I should know them, but my bird book is in storage. I'm sure the bird experts will be all over them. I think it might be a life bird for me (most birds are!). I don't worry about blurry bird photos--if photos show any part of the birds at all, the experts seem to be able to identify them. They don't have to see whether the underwings are hairy or how many mm the necks are. I'm guessing that the soils along Hardwood Road must not be very rich, since the wildflowers were rather limited. Lots of coltsfoot, though. And the plants, in general, seem to be about a week behind what we have in Calais. Spring comes slowly to upper Marshfield and Groton. On another hike, perhaps I can hike around the beaver pond to get to the other part of the trail, or maybe even bring my kayak out to ford the pond. The leatherleaf around the pond was exquisite.
For honeysuckles, I used to think you could distinguish them by the flower. But Go Botany and several other sources concur that the flowers are identical, and the identification comes down to pubescence on the branches and underleaves. So you have to "shake hands" with the plant to photograph the pubescence or lack of it. (L. morrowii being pubescent and L. tatarica glabrous). But they also interbreed, so it may be impossible to tell exactly what you have. What did Dr. Abbott say about them?
ugh why can't they have the common decency to have different colored flowers? Easy enough to feel the leaves but harder to get good photos of that. (or i can note it i guess)
I did a bunch of iNat one day on the other side of that road. not rich from that end either, not surprising since it was in that groton basin. Lots of beaver meadows and seeps, need to go back and do some rapid wetland assessments on those for work.
5-12-17 River Road Park, Pluckemin, NJ. 0.75 miles today. 56.75 miles total.
categories: blooming, insects, birds, newly emerged, as many species as possible.
Walked a newly created trail that goes right along a US highway (and some woods) and then into the woods. I'd set a timer for when to turn around, but the traffic noise was so loud I never heard it, luckily I didn't overshoot by much. Found Canada moonseed, and lots of things were in bloom.
As to birds: those bird IDers are good, but when I can't even figure out which picture the bird was meant to be in, they are not going to be much help. Still, I've gotten a lot of new-for-me bird photos this week. (by the way, one of my "warblers" was a gnatcatcher. I'm no birder.)
As to honeysuckles: Dr. Abbott felt the flower stem length was much more significant than level of hairiness. He said tatarian is rare and can be downy. Every morrow/tatarian/bell honeysuckle I found the other day was slightly downy, none was "hairy", none was "glabrous" (and by the way, I only do botany in writing and reading, as on here, and so was surprised to find out from him that glabrous has a long A, way to feel dumb.) The pink flowers tended to have a shorter tube than the white ones, and their stalks tended to be longer, thus every pink fit his definition of tatarian, and every white (that wasn't an Amur) fit his definition of morrow's. But with the hair... maybe they were bell's, the whole group! I'll send the pictures to their librarian, see what they think. I got good shots of the downy stems and leaf undersides, even on the pink ones. (I took probably 5 dozen honeysuckle pictures)
5-12-17 Rail-to-trail, Marshfield, VT. 3.1 miles today, 195 miles total.
Categories: white, alternate leaves, fruit & mosses, birds, blooms, liverworts, ferns, fungi, invertebrates
Decided to hike the Marshfield rail-to-trail from the point where I turned back a week ago. I rode my bike from the road to get to that point. What a joy! I realized as I was riding that I haven't done any real mountain biking (off a gravel road) in over 20 years. I had forgotten what it was like to ride on a path rather than a road. Great birding on the trail today, once I got off the bike, warblers everywhere. I photographed my first black-throated blue of the season, also my season's first black-and-white warbler and blue-headed vireo. Also heard oven birds, hermit thrushes, black-throated greens. It seems all the usual suspects are here. The trail itself actually wasn't that interesting plant-wise. Same stuff, over and over again, on a long straight path, and not much variety. I think next time I hike Marshfield, I'll try the other side of Route 14, which apparently has very different soils (according to George Springston).
When I photograph birds, I always keep the focus point just above the middle in the center of the frame. Then when I'm reviewing photos later and try to figure out what was that? I zoom in on that point just above center to see if a bird was there. That seems to help figure out where the birds were. A gnatcatcher is a great catch! At least around here, they're not very common, and they're really hard to capture.
The honeysuckle story gets thicker and thicker. I have found both pink and yellow/white flowers, and pubescent and glabrous leaves and branchlets. Someone once told me distinguishing L. morrowi from L. tatarica was all in the flower color. But then plenty of reference websites like Go Botany say to check whether the underleaves and branchlets are pubescent or glabrous. Sounds like there's a lot of disagreement. I don't who to believe. Good thing you got 5 dozen photos!
i do say glabrous with a short A sometimes, and i'm supposed to know what i'm talking about.
Those two loniceras seem to hybrdize. why aren't they subspecies? Or if they don;t have ecological variations or anything truly consistent taxonomically, maybe just varieties
If the experts can't agree on what features distinguish these species, then photo ID to species simply can't be done. That means that IDs can't be verified and the data won't be sent on to GBIF. If we leave IDs at Lonicera, then the IDs also won't be sent on to GBIF, and it's also ambiguous whether our ID as "Lonicera" means L. tatarica/morrowi or L. canadensis. With L. tatarica/morrowi an important invasive, and L. canadensis a common native we lose really important data by using simply "Lonicera" as the ID.
In eBird, there are several species for which you can choose a combo name, like purple finch/house finch. Here is a case where we really need a combo name, one that will cover L. tatarica/morrowi, to distinguish observations of the invasive bushy L. species from the native L. species. Charlie--can you create such an item for the database, or pass on the request?
I mean, really--two species for which experts can't agree on distinguishing features, and that freely hybridize, so the plants themselves can't even tell who they're dealing with!
Erika, i've requested something like that several times in the Google Group and so far have been shot down. I think the admins think there will just be a proliferation of them or something. But this is one of a few really clear cases... its also important for tracking the invasives. So I think it should be done but i don't think i should try to unilaterally create it without admin support of doing it. Maybe you could mention it in the Google group too?
5-13-17. Warren, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 57 miles total.
Categories: things I haven't blogged (or at least not recently)
Pouring rain, busy weekend, not much energy, so I just walked around near my house, looking at what was out. I have sprouts of goldenrain tree, which were interesting. And my neighbor's pestilential Japanese wisteria was blooming.
Um, I don't know the Google group, Charlie. More info?
5-13-17. Nasmith Brook Trail, Marshfield, VT. 1.2 miles today, 196.2 miles total.
Categories: red, white, round & mosses, ferns, liverworts, fungi, lichens, blooms
Only one other person showed up for our Saturday morning hike today, but that was fine--we had a great walk anyway. I had forgotten that I had agreed to show the group the Marshfield rail-to-trail, the same one I biked/hiked yesterday. Today we went the other direction, though, and then turned off the trail onto a logging road within 100' of the trail head. The logging road followed Nasmith Brook up stream. It was a gorgeous trail, with many interesting plants. My friend wasn't interested in mosses, so I tried to stick to species that only required one quick-fly by photo, and I didn't even try for warblers, although they were out there. Found my first wood anemone of the season this morning.
I just mean the google group when you press feedback below or go to https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/inaturalist .
Opted to fix the garden fence instead of going walking today. but it's fixed! A few other yard tasks too and i found two weird bees or wasps (?)
5-14-17. Cushetunk Mountain, Lebanon, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 57.50 miles total.
Categories: herbs, shrubs, trees, insects, blooming
My son found a park about half an hour away that he wanted to check out, and I went with him for a wonderful Mother's Day stroll. I found naked broomrape and showy orchis, both of which I'd never seen before. Very cool.
5-14-17. Adamant Pond beaver dams and quarries, Adamant, VT. 0.6 miles today, 196.8 miles total.
Categories: trees, buds/emerging leaves, domestic animals (not a chance!) & mosses, birds, blooms, fungi, lichens, invasives
A scenic but wet Sunday stroll through the secret quarries of Adamant on a trail that is probably more of a wildlife corridor than a real trail. Parts of the trails are flagged, but mostly just to the boundary markers. I was looking forward all week to doing some serious birding today with my big lens, but it was too wet to take the lens out. Maybe next week. I managed to catch a few birds with my regular lens, nothing spectacular, but I think recognizable. I found some hogweed in the woods today. Not good--it seems to be spreading from downtown Adamant where it is thick. The area near the hidden quarries looks like a great place to see some wildlife, once it's warm and dry enough to sit a while. Plenty of scat and what may be otter trails.
5-15-17. Glenhurst Park, Warren, NJ. 1.0 miles today, 58.5 miles total.
Categories: insects, blooming, shrubs, herbs, vines.
A very muddy walk through low woods and meadows. Lots of butterflies, the new (to me) lance-leaved violet, the first blooming buckthorn of the year, and blue eyed grass, which has always been a favorite. At one point a brown animal rushed past me and I shrieked. It turned out to be a bunny (must have been a killer, of course)! I also picked more dog ticks off of me than I think I have total before in my life. There were well over two dozen, and I'm still finding them hours later (so far only walking around on me at least).
5-15-17 Beaver Meadow Rd, Marshfield, VT. 3 miles today, 199.8 miles total.
Categories: red, prickly, faces & birds, blooms, mosses, invasives, fungi, lichens, galls
Delightful evening walk along Beaver Meadow Rd. The beaver meadow was full of singing birds, including red-winged blackbirds, song sparrows, and a belted kingfisher. Below the beaver meadow, the road stuck to the side of the babbling brook that empties the beaver meadow. Lots of great mosses between the stream and the road. I caught (on camera) my first bumblebees of the year, all buzzing around the serviceberries, which are in full bloom.
A neighbor works for the state tick survey. He gave me several vials for tick collection. If I find any more on my, I'm supposed to put them in the vials (taking note of place, date and time) and drop them off at his house. Any deer ticks will get checked for bacteria. Joy. Glad that bunny didn't attack!
5-16-17 Montpelier, VT. 2.9 miles today, 202.7 miles total.
Categories: vines, trash, things that start with "k" & blooms, birds, invertebrates, lichens, mosses, ferns
Combined errands in Montpelier today with a walk through some roads on the south east side of town. Found some interesting suburban neighborhoods bordering wild lands. And a giant plot of undeveloped land with a for sale sign and a trail running through it. No posted signs. Hmmmm...A good selection of insects today, our first warm day of spring. A ladybug (Asian), a butterfly, some bees. Lots of bishop's weed, but only one patch of knotweed. (I needed the k!)
5-16-17. Dock Watch Hollow, Warren, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 59.25 miles total.
Categories: blooming, herbs, not posted before.
I needed to squeeze in a quick walk before the kids got home from school. I walked by a spot where they "improved" the road by widening it and changing the bank for slightly better visibility around a curve. This was about 15 years ago, and when they did it they wiped out the closest patch of bloodroot to my house (that I know of). But this time I walked up onto the top of the new embankment, and sure enough back in the woods I found about a dozen bloodroot leaves. yay!
You said you saw lots of bishop's weed and I thought to myself, huh, I don't know that one... Turns out it's what I call ground elder. I would not have expected Vermont to have different common names from New Jersey.
5-17-17. Watchung Reservation, Scotch Plains, NJ. ) 0.75 miles today, 60 miles total.
Categories: weeds, shrubs, trees, flowering
I took a brief walk in the 90-degree heat to check out the west end of the big Watchung Reservation. This involved parking at Dunkin Donuts and walking through a UHaul dealer then into a gated housing development to access the path. And this section of the park is narrow and stuck between a big, active quarry and the highway. Needless to say I wasn't expecting much except invasives. And instead I found three separate plants of wild comfrey, which I've never seen before, and which is at its northern limit in the state (and has only been recorded once before in NJ on iNat). So that was exciting.
It turns out yesterday I also found an adult hackberry psyllid, which I've never found before. It's what makes the most common kind of hackberry gall.
5-17-17. Robinson Hill Ridge trails, Calais, VT. 3.2 miles today, 205.9 miles total.
Categories: compound leaves, simple leaves, prickly & mosses, blooms, birds, invertebrates, fungi, invasives, ferns
I wanted to see some ephemerals today, so I hiked a bit of Calais forest instead of more Marshfield roads. Funny how the town lines really do relate to geology and soils. We have a lot more ephemerals here in Calais, so I'm guessing it's the soils--ours just seem to be richer. I started on the Calais Conservation Commission trails. Then I turned off onto a logging road that petered out after a ways. Then I just went along by dead reckoning. I wasn't lost, since I knew I was still in Calais, and I had a general idea in what direction the trail network should be. But I have to admit, I was a bit relieved to finally come across some maple tubing and sugaring roads. Eventually I recognized one of sugaring roads and figured out exactly where I was. Great blooms in the woods, but once again, they were mostly on the Calais side of the woods, and a lot fewer towards the Worcester side. Acres and acres of spring beauty, trout lily, wild oats, some Dutchman's breeches and squirrel corn. No bishop's weed or ground elder, either. Although there was a big patch of Vinca beside an old cellar hole. The warblers were out in force--I kept chasing scarlet tanagers, but never caught sight of one. Lots of black-throated greens, hermit thrushes, oven birds, yellow warblers. And clouds of blackflies, which fortunately don't like my tick jacket.
Wild comfrey--Cynoglossum virginianum? That's a really cool plant!
5-18-17. Mountain Park, Liberty Corner, NJ and Peter's Brook, Somerville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 60.5 miles total.
Categories: blooming, blackberries, bedstraws, grapes, strawberries, mouse ear chickweeds, honeysuckles, sedges.
Very hot today and I didn't get out early. So I took two short walks instead of one longer. The specific plants are genera where I'm trying to learn the species. Blackberries are blooming so now is my time. The biggest surprise of the walk was when I was looking closely at plants and taking lots of pictures while walking toward the 7-foot high bank of a brook. I got near the edge, looked down, and surprised a teen-aged couple, kissing down by the river edge! (at least they were fully clothed). I think my camera particularly freaked them out.
I've never seen squirrel corn in real life, not even in a garden. (and if I've seen a black-throated green warbler or oven bird I certainly didn't know it). I saw lots of lesser celandine, dying now so a bright yellow-green that really stood out, and I thought of you.
5-18-17. Eagle Ledge Rd, Worcester, VT 3 miles today, 208.9 miles total
Categories: roots, blue, & fungi, ferns, birds, blooms, lichens, mosses
Drove to the gate at the end of the Eagle Ledge Rd that was closed last month. Today it was open, but was posted no motorized vehicles. No problem--I was there to walk. To my surprise, though, there were plenty of fresh vehicle tracks. The road clearly sees quite a bit of vehicular traffic. There were seasonal camps along the way, in general a very scenic hike through the woods. On the way up the hill I came across a fellow hiker skinny dipping in the brook. On the way back down 40 minutes later, I found an ovenbird bathing at the same spot. I felt like quite the voyeur. No celandine on the hill, lesser or greater, but plenty of Japanese knotweed. Odd. It must get dragged in on logging skidders, I'm guessing.
5-19-17. Frizzle Mountain and environs, Calais, VT 0.5 miles today, 209.4 miles total
Storm damage
Thunderstorm/microburst hit the neighborhood at about 7:30 pm last night. Our immediate neighborhood seems to have been the epicenter, although we weren't aware of it at the time. We watched the storm out the windows, heavy, heavy rain with an ominous yellow glow. We didn't hear any trees falling. But I guess that was because the rain was so heavy. We decided to wait until morning to see the damage. I had hoped to go bird watching at the Nature Center at 6:30AM, but there were 4 trees across the driveway, so I wasn't going anywhere. We spent the morning clearing the driveway so we could go get gas for the generator. We always joke about getting TP and milk before a storm. But really, one must make sure there is gas in the chainsaw and gas in the generator tank before the storm hits! Anyway, we got the driveway clear and the path to the garden clear by noon. The only lasting damage (besides the trees themselves) was a flattened rose bush. We were lucky! Good thing we have been clearing trees around the house over the past few years. It turns out both ends of our road were blocked by trees last night. The road crew cleared them this morning, and the power came back at noon. Hooray! But no phone or internet (and we have no cell service). In the evening, our neighbor told us that he saw an electric line on the ground under a tree in our neighbor's yard. That's our phone line. Last time this happened, it took 3 weeks to get service back. Joy. So it looks like we'll be mobile communicating for a while--driving somewhere to get cell or wifi service. Ah, but the flowers are still blooming!
5-19-17. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 61 miles total
Categories: blackberries, honeysuckles, chickweeds, strawberries, wood sorrels, viburnums, blooming, trees, shrubs, insects
A quick, and blessedly dry, if sweaty, walk before duty. Not many suprises, on a trail I've not walked in over a year, but very similar to other parts of this park. Found a viburnum I don't know, and another shrub which will probably turn out to be buckthorn, just because all my unknown shrubs turn out to be buckthorn. A fair number of insects, including a mosquito in the process of biting me.
Wow, Erika, the devastation at your home was amazing. Like a giant just came along and snapped all those trees in half! Thank goodness no one was hurt and the house was fine. Crazy storm.
5-20-17. Ken Lockwood Gorge, Annandale, NJ. 1.0 miles today, 62 miles total
Categories: blooming, insects, unusual for me, as many species as possible.
I wanted to walk some place new, and somewhere that hasn't been done much on iNat. This is a popular fishing river (and every iNat post from the area is a fish) and there were lots of fishermen out, and a lot of fishermen riding bikes, which I've not seen before (to get to their preferred spot, not while actually fishing). There's a nice, closed, dirt road along the river, and that's what I walked along. Found so many species that I rarely see, including a liverwort! Other than Frullania I can probably count all the liverworts I've ever found on one hand. Lots of lovely great blue herons, and I got pretty good shots of one in flight (considering I only had my handheld with the normal lens). Lots of insects, and a new flower for me: woodland stonecrop (Sedum ternatum). On the way home I spotted a church with a black vulture perched where the steeple should be (it was one of those churches with a square turret that looks like the steeple is missing).
I'm so far behind on posting pictures; I have my work cut out for me this weekend!
Finally got out on a non work related walk, 2 miles, 19.6 total. Did a little family walk in Middlesex Notch. Holly points at things and goes 'ooh!' especially flowers. she loves flowers. anwyay i have already done tons of iNat there so only added a few things to mark plant phenology or places we hadn't been before. The streams were full. Arriving at the beaver pond complex, two of the layers had drained out We startled a turkey vulture on the ground which made me wonder... and sure enough smelled something dead. Did not drag Holly off into the bushes to try to find the dead animal and also no photo of the vulture. But I wondered if maybe the beaver died and that's why the dams weren't all being maintained. Or perhaps some fish were stranded and died if there are fish up there. On the way down we tried going up a side logging road but didn't go up very far. It was overgrown with grasses and ferns and that area has a lot of dog ticks and besides, Holly was getting ready for her nap. What a beautiful day though!
Pretty amazing that the microburst hit you. We had lots of lightning and fairly heavy rain in that storm but almost no wind. Microbursts like tornados are so localized. My friend who lives not far from you had a microburst a couple of years ago too. Maybe you're in the severe storm track. We get lots of lightning and before we lived here a pine got hit and destroyed according to the neighbors. So i do worry about our trees in lightning, even though i otherwise love thunderstorms. We tend to avoid the heavy wind, though i'm sure a microburst could happen here too. The lightning was really eerie here too but also really beautiful. It was PINK all around while it poured, and the air flickered with lightning. It was weird and eerie and beautiful. I guess the sun was shining through the rain from behind. Saw some orange sky earlier in the day too. with that i wasn't surprised there were some microbursts.
5-20-17. Twinfield School Trails, Marshfield, VT. 2.4 miles today, 211.8 miles total
Categories: opposite leaves, white & ferns, blooms, mosses, lichens, fungi
Saturday morning hike with my buddies in Marshfield today. We didn't know about the Twinfield School trails when we started out down the rail-to-trail heading towards Plainfield from Jerusalem Rd. We turned off of the rail-to-trail directly across from where we turned uphill last week. This time we went downhill and found a network of trails, all very clearly blazed. Finally, we deduced that the trails must be connected to the school. What a fabulous resource for the school! One of the highlights was a giant white cedar swamp. As well as the "usual" wildflowers, red trillium, painted trillium, gold thread...
Still no Internet or phone at home. And so the arguments with Unfairpoint begin. 20 years ago when we moved to our little cabin, landline service was an important public utility. When we ordered a dedicated dial-up line for my internet business, Verizon had it installed within 24 hours. The internet connection was as fast as any private person had anywhere. Now landlines are a dinosaur that Unfairpoint would abandon if the state would let it. So they are way understaffed for repair and new installations, and they never do line maintenance. When something goes out, it goes out for weeks. Last time, it took phone calls from our state legislator to get them to even show up after several weeks. I wish, I wish, I wish we had another option for communications besides moving. But there's no cell service and no cable service, and satellite isn't fast enough for VOIP or streaming. Our little neighborhood has become a backwater. So there's my rant. Now we get to do our internet and phone calls from the porch of the lovely Adamant co-op, which has provided free internet to the community since the days before DSL arrived in town, when nobody in the neighborhood had access to broadband. Screened porch overlooking the waterfall. Friendly folks stopping to chat.
Loved the story about the Black Vulture Church! The dead beaver was sad to hear about, though.
ugh... yeah, comcast had a monopoly when we lived in East Middlebury and they screwed us over likewise. The telecom companies are crap.
5-20-2017, 2.8 miles, 22.4 total. Funny that you were just in the twinfield trails Erica, we went and walked around the u-32 trails. I'd only been there in winter and very early spring, so there was lots new to add.... mostly common wildflowers and weeds, but a very pleasant walk. Most of the forest is weevly white pine forest but there are some nice hardwood and hemlock patches and an area of cedar - not quite a swamp but seems seepy.
5-21-17 Jenny Jump Forest, Great Meadows, NJ 0.5 miles today, 62.5 miles total
Categories: As many plants as I could find while chasing children up the trail, oh, and some trees on the way back.
Took three of my four kids (aged 10, 18, and 20) to Ghost Lake on Shades of Death Road (how is that for the most awesome road name in the state?). We took a short trail to a cave. They crawled in and found a chamber just big enough to stand up in. I stayed out and took pictures of plants (and two snakes, and a turtle; I've never had herps be the most common animal group I found before). Jenny Jump forest is supposed to be named for some colonial girl who jumped off a cliff to her death rather than be ravaged by Indians.
there's no real way to add ghosts to inaturalist
fossils, maybe....
5-21-17 Sodom Pond Rd, Adamant, VT. 08 miles today, 212.6 miles total
Categories: yellow, entire & birds, blooms
Finally got in that bird walk I've been trying to get to all spring. Meandered through downtown Adamant, from the store to the beach (so to speak). Started with a goose family with goslings. When I examined the photos later, I discovered that one of the goose parents is banded. I can't quite read the numbers, though. I wonder who bands geese. The next bird I saw was a common grackle, gobbling a northern two-lined salamander. Slimy! Plenty of warblers to chase, plus wood ducks in the pond. Lots of red-winged blackbirds everywhere on the pond edges. In between birds, I managed to snap a few photos of yellow flowers.
5-21-17 Owl's Head Trail, Groton State Park, VT. 2.9 miles today, 215.5 miles total.
Categories: yellow, entire, trees & blooms, ferns, lichens, fungi, mosses
Bird watching in Adamant was terrific, but I was also craving a trip to Groton State Park. I hiked from the road up to the trail head for Owl's Head (mountain), but instead of climbing the "summit", I took the trail down to New Discovery campground. Great wildflowers in bloom on this trail, including at least an acre of dwarf ginseng. It was actually the dominant understory plant for a stretch. Plenty of trout lily still in bloom as well. No ghosts.
5-22-17 Laird Pond Rd, Marshfield VT. 3.3 miles today, 218.8 miles total.
Categories: bark, opposite leaves, grasses & birds, blooms, mosses, fungi, ferns, lichens
Walked through central Marshfield today, starting back at Jerusalem Rd again where we were Saturday. This time I hiked up Jerusalem Rd and turned onto Laird Pond, walked it to the end, and saw a little of Holt Rd as well. Good wild flowers all along the route. Near Holt Rd, the road ran along some farm land, and the birds seemed to be quite at home in the edge habitat. I think I heard some bobolinks in the open fields. The baneberries are well on their way now, and I found my first rose twisted stalk open.
i've inatted the heck out of that summit anyway... did some natural community mapping around there. went a little way down that other trail, never went too far but it looked intriguing and there are also lots of little pocket wetlands and vernal pools in there. Never saw all that dwarf ginseng, wrong time of ear maybe... very neat.
5-22-17. Delaware Raritan Canal, Franklin Twp., NJ. 0.75 miles today, 63.25 miles total
Categories: weeds, blooming
A soggy walk in drizzle along a canal. I scared two families of geese with goslings. There was a cluster of ladybug pupae on lawn weeds. I found sulphur cinquefoil, field bindweed, and yellow flag, all blooming for the first time (for me) this year.
5-23-17. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ 0.5 miles today, 63.75 miles total
Categories: blooming, leaf insects, galls.
Damp but not raining. I went slowly and really looked for bugs on leaves and was rewarded with lots that will have to go through Bugguide before I know what they are, including a very odd beetle with big jaws. One I did know was Acanthocephalas terminalis (a big leaffooted bug that really needs a common name). Also a weird little fungus that looked like a molar. And a whole lot of daddy-long-legs. They must not mind the wet.
5-23-17. Eagle Ledge Rd, Worcester, VT. 3.1 miles today, 221.9 miles total
Categories: entire leaves, alternative leaves, things that begin with "l" & amphibians, blooms, ferns, mosses, invertebrates
Took my bike and rode out Eagle Ledge Rd to where I turned uphill the other day. The uphill section was marked as "Town Trail" but was not on the map. Today, I continued out along Eagle Ledge Rd proper. It's a fascinating and rather wet road that runs through wilderness between 2 steep slopes. The "road", which does appear on maps, although it's officially closed to vehicular traffic, is filled with puddles, and the puddles are filled with amphibians, at least 2 kinds of tadpoles and lots of eastern newts. In a few places the puddles join the ditches, and I had to take off shoes and socks and wade. Nearing the 1.5 mile mark, the "road" was inundated by a beaver pond so I turned around. I'm intrigued, though. My maps show the "road" continuing for a few more miles beyond that pond. Maybe I'll come back, if I can brave dragging my bike through the ponds. It's no wonder I saw so many dead salamanders on the traveled portion of the road back in April. Although the "road" was mostly clear of the common invasives like honeysuckle, there were the odd patches of forget-me-knots and Japanese knotweed, just near the camps (scattered hunting camps along the road).
wow, interesting. that area is fascinating, a huge habitat patch and part of connectivity between the NEK and greater green mountains, but seems to mostly be difficult to access and/or private land. There is a WMA that's landlocked - Worcester Woods Wma - can be accessed by a class 4 road or something. Has some wetlands. I've never been, need to check it out some time. There are probably wetlands worthy of the rapid assessments we do at work
5-24-17. River Road Park, Pluckemin, NJ. 1.0 miles today, 64.75 miles total.
Walked on a bit of trail that I've never walked before and a section I've not done in two years. There were big, orange crane flies everywhere, and tons of other insects. I think I found a brown thrasher, which was yelling at me, and I heard a wren but coudn't get a photo. There were a lot of swallows swooping over the field, and I only had my handheld camera with my standard lens. But I pointed it in their general direction and did a bunch of "hail Mary" shots, and one actually worked, kind of. I also found bastard toadflax, which I'd never seen before. A very fun day.
5-24-17. Brazier Rd trails, East Montpelier, VT. 2.3 miles today, 224.2 miles total.
Categories: red, signs, evergreens & ferns, blooms, mosses, birds, invasives
Returned to Brazier Rd to explore more of the trail system there. I encountered 3 land owners with their dogs on the trails, including one that I knew. It turns out the trails are used heavily by local property owners for dog walking. The trails seem to run through the back end of everyone's properties, with posted signs closer to their houses and unmarked access trails to the system from their houses or the road. One of the dog walkers showed me a trail section with a vernal pool with amphibian eggs. I saw lots of oak fern and patches of maidenhair fern. I also managed to get a photo of a winter wren--phew! They are hard to catch!
5-25-17. Echo Lake Park, Mountainside (mostly), NJ. 0.5 miles today, 65.5 miles total.
Categories: blooming, insects, as many species as possible
Very rainy day today, though only drizzling while I walked I found Blue Flag blooming for the first time this year, and two sets of mating beetles
(thistle tortoise and fourteen spotted lady). My 18 year old, seeing me get all excited about mating bugs, told me: Mom, seriously, you have problem...
5-25-17. Woodbury Mountain Rd trails, Calais, VT. 2.7 miles today, 226.9 miles total.
Categories: roots, alternate leaves, domestic animals (not a chance--I would have had better luck yesterday with all the dogs!) & blooms, birds, invertebrates, amphibians, mosses, liverworts, ferns
Explored some trails off of Woodbury Mountain Rd today. Woodbury Mountain Rd is a road in name only, 4WD, and only passable with 4WD in the lower parts. I hiked the "road" itself out about 2 miles last year. A friend told me that she used to ride her horse on the trails leading off from the road, and that they went on for miles. I followed every possible hint of a trail and with the out and backs only came up with 2.7 miles, so I think maybe my friend's trails have grown up a bit. All the trails I was following had recent vehicle tracks, so fresh they might have been from earlier in the morning. I was amazed because there were shrubs in the trail over my head, and logs that were knee-high. So I don't know what they were driving. Maybe a logging skidder. But no signs of recent logging where the trails petered out. I found some red trillium and trout lilies still blooming, and some spring beauty in fruit. That was a first for me. Not many bugs out, let only mating pairs. I did pass a handmade sign at the head of the trail that said "Black Flies Matter", though.
5-26-17. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 0.5 miles today. 66 miles total.
Categories: insects, galls, flowering, weeds, shrubs
Another damp Friday walk, but this time I thought to wear a pair of shoes I wouldn't need for my squad uniform. I found three different lady beetles, the first blooming alsike clover of the year, a mocking bird singing it's heart out, and a blue heron flying by.
"Black Flies Matter" made me chuckle. So glad we hardly have them at all down here (though every other year or so someone in the family gets bitten).
5-26-17. Fletcher Quarry Rd trails, Woodbury, VT. 2.9 miles today, 229.8 miles total.
Categories: roots, landscapes, white & blooms, buds, amphibians, mosses, liverworts, ferns, fungi
Returned to Fletcher Quarry Rd because the last time I tried to walk it, I inadvertently turned off onto Quarry Rd. Today I set out to walk Quarry Rd to the end. I almost made it, all the way to Buck Lake. The map shows the road ending sometime before I did, but the satellite image shows the trail going all the way to the lake. This is a fascinating and beautiful area for hiking. It's a working quarry, with a maze of roads leading to slag heaps and abandoned holes. The roads are in good condition for walking, but too rough for driving. Plenty of flowers and other interesting plants, cascades, brooks, and little roadside ponds with tadpoles. I was delighted to find bluebead lily open today.
Yes, it was raining here, too, today. I've been wearing my waterproof gardening shoes when I go out walking. I've practically worn them out already even though gardening season hasn't started yet.
5-27-2017 - 3 miles, 25.4 miles total - Barre Town Forest/Millstone Hill
Took advantage of the beautiful day to go on a pleasant walk on a trail we'd never been on before. We'd tried in the past to find the barre town forest trail but either couldn't find it or only found the mountain bike part we thought you had to pay for. Well, turns out it is free for hiking and they have a trailhead - looks new. This is an area of old granite quarry holes and big piles of rock that has regrown into a very beautiful hardwood forest with very few invasives. Still tons of granite quarries of all sizes, some probably function as vernal pools. There are also natural vernal pools and seeps. It's mostly nutrient poor beech and birch forest with a few maples and patches of hemlock, spruce, and fir presumably in the cold spots. Found only one oak - a sapling - and one or two white pines but deleted the observation because the GPS point came out wrong :( Main thing I was looking for was creating a quick plant species list for the trail, and marking any seeps or vernal pols. I do rough natural community mapping when it's easy to do, and use the Natural Community field to keep track. In the case of areas in or near wetlands i may use this data for work later, targeting places to do wetland assessments or map wetlands. There are some nice little seeps in here though hydrology is surely altered by all the quarrying. Probably tons of amphibians, since i highly doubt all of these quarry holes have fish.
Neat site, will go back at a different time of year and also to try to find other trails. Only saw a few mountain bikers, and some hikers with kids and dogs.
5-27-17. North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, VT. 2 miles today, 231.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, blooms, bugs (insects, actually)
Enjoyed a morning at the nature center's Birdfest. I started off with a walk led by Zac Cota, where we got to watch bluebirds and orioles gobbling caterpillars. Then a talk with slides by Bryan Pfeiffer about insects for birders (lots of butterflies and dragonflies!), followed by a mass migration with Bryan to chase blues. One of the kids on the bug walk stood still for a second and a blue landed on his sock. No luck with dragonflies today...too early and too cool.
Those trails in Barre sound terrific! I was thinking about visiting them earlier this spring, but the website said they were closed for mud season.
5-27-17.Alewife Greenway, Arlington, MA. 0,75 miles today, 66,75 miles total.
Categories: weeds, shrubs, trees, whatever I could snap on the run.
I'm up in Boston, visiting my sister. Walked after dinner with her and my 10-year-old along this rather smelly brook, and found giant knotweed, which I've seen in PA but not in NJ, so that was exciting.
@erikamitchell there were no signs indicating closure where you went in (which you can of course see from my observations) and it wasn't wet except a few seeps despite an inch of rain the day before. Probably is wet during the core of mud season and not worth going but now its fine. (and it's memorial day weekend when stuff usually opens anyway).
I'm sure there is much more to find in there. We only scratched the surface of the trails, and i didn't even try with birds, and i heard lots , such as thrushes and ovenbirds. you have a better camera so could find some good birds there.
@srall we have a limited amount of giant knotweed which seems just as bad as japanese knotweed :( I saw a bunch in MA while down there for a meeting a couple of weeks ago, but i was the driver so no blurry inat obs.
huh.... it illustrates a rare but signiicant problem with the obscuring system but see http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1067750 . alas in this case the uncertainty circle is so huge it doesn't really matter but also doesn't help you much
5-28-2017, 1.6 miles, 27 miles total. may get out for another walk later. Went to get some seedlings at Littlewood farm, then did a little walk around plainfield and the road to the farm. The whole hillside above the river and road is full of seeps with wetlands and floodplain too, very interesting and pleasant with the river meadering there too. Most interesting was an area of goopy mud and turbid water that had run down the hill to the road with some still flowing. can see some here: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6401633 . Some sort of stormwater up the hill, maybe another blowout on the railroad bed like the one Erika saw. Though we did not walk on it, it looks like it may be private here, with maybe no public access. Sad to see all the sediment and goop flowing into the river. But otherwise a pleasant wander near the river.
5-28-17, Eagle Ledge Rd, Worcester, VT. 0.3 miles today, 232.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, blooms
Returned to Eagle Ledge Rd with my bird lens for a Sunday morning stroll. Surprisingly, not much luck with the birds. I heard a few, but I could hardly see any at all. I'm so much of a beginner birder that I don't even know what the problem was. On my other visits to Eagle Ledge Rd, I heard plenty of birds, but that was always in the afternoons. Perhaps a good birding spot needs some eastern exposure, and this has none. Or maybe you really just need to know a spot well in order to see any birds. I ended up shooting plenty of plants with my birding lens. Those were hard captures!
Sara--say hi to my sister while you're there in Boston. She lives in Medford on North St, just a few blocks from the Alewife Greenway. Is that the name of the path by the river with the boardwalk? PLENTY of invasives there to count. But it's one of my favorite walks from my sister's house. Another place we visit sometimes by car is Middlesex Fells Reservation. It has miles of trails and some great vistas over Boston. Enjoy!
I think it's the same path, but this was the far end, down by the Alewife T stop. no boardwalk (but almost no natives, either). We also walked at Minute Man Park by The Old North Bridge, and downtown (not much other than planted stuff there). And the walk from my sister to the T or the playground both had lots of weeds for me to dawdle along and photograph.
I have taken plants with my "long" lens (which is only 55-210mm as I have no patience for tripods) and agree, very frustrating (though good for tall trees).
5-28-17. Old North Bridge, Concord, MA. 1.0 miles today, 67.75 miles total.
Categories: whatever I could shoot while keeping up with family.
Took three of my kids to the Old North Bridge, with my sister. I got a nice shot of a bluebird and one of a chipmunk, and I found Amorpha fruticosa in bud, and a sedge I don't think I've seen before.
5-29-17. Cambridge, MA. 0.5 miles today, 68.25 miles total.
Categories: weeds, flowers, shrubs, whatever I could shoot while keeping up.
Took my sister's puppy for a reluctant walk around the block with sister and my youngest daughter. Luckily the puppy was slow, which gave me a little time for photography. They have tons of black swallowwort, which I don't have at all by me, so that was neat. There was also a somewhat unusual looking maple and a whole lot of planted flowers that I don't know.
5-29-17. Arlington, VT. 0.3 miles today, 232.4 miles total.
Categories: galls, blooms, ferns, invasives
Went for a walk around camp in the rain with my husband's cousin's daughter-in-law. She is a delightful young woman with a passionate interest in entomology and a keen eye for galls. We had a terrific time scouting out leaf galls, stem galls, and insects trying to hide from my pesky camera. I was a little dismayed to see how full their woods are with invasives, stuff that we don't see that often in Central Vermont, like Asian bittersweet.
5-30-17. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 1 mile today, 69.25 miles total.
Categories: flowering, low growing, shrubs
Walked along the reservoir to a spot I haven't visited in at least 10 years. Lots of rattlesnake root, some yellow flag, deerberries (I think) and a few plants by the water's edge that I'll have to look up. On the way back I swore I heard someone cutting down a tree (complete with "timber!") but it's a big park, so I figured maybe at one of the houses bordering the park? But, no, it was the park rangers, cutting a dead tree right at the entrance to the lot I'd parked in. So it took a little while to get home.
How funny to think of bittersweet as being uncommon. I see it nearly every time I walk, though I've only seen the native once, if that. I am very fond of galls, though not all that sharp-eyed at finding them.
I canoed around Flagg Pond, a wonderful pond in the Northeast Kingdom, today. Not adding to project becuase it was for work - we were surveying the wetland that grows around that pond, mostly Sweet Gale Shoreline Swamp. But i am sharing it here because i like this idea of sharing what i see and what i was doing there. Perhaps the inat journals would work for that but they don't work quite how i'd want for that. Anyway, saw an uncommon sort of honeysuckle i've only otherwise seen a few days ago at Peacham Bog. It was raining rather heavily for much of the canoe trip so not much iNat for most of the lake. It is possible this could qualify as a Class 1 wetland too
5-30-17. Guyette Rd, East Montpelier, VT. 3 miles today, 235.4 miles total.
Categories: domestic animal in photo, red, trees & blooms, birds, ferns, invasives
Chose a road walk today in hopes of staying dry. The staying dry part worked, except when I had to go a little closer to check the plants. I had a barred owl calling right overhead today, but I couldn't see him. Also, indigo buntings and red-eyed vireos were taunting me, but never came in sight. Lots and lots of invasives along the roads in East Montpelier--a 1/2 mile stretch of forget-me-not, large patches of bishop's weed, blooming greater celandine. But then, there was a large patch of maidenhair fern as well. I stopped to talk with 3 friends who lived along the road (I didn't know they lived there before!). One showed me her garden, full of maidenhair fern. She told me that the only thing that wouldn't grow for her was blueberries. Go figure! I tried to explain, but I don't think I was successful.
Flagg Pond sounds like quite a find--and to think you got paid for visiting it, Charlie! A class 1 wetland? Cool!
yeah not every day is that great... but still i'm lucky.
The forget me not is pretty abundant around our house, i haven't really been pulling it because i'm concentrating on the moneywort and clearing around the garden, but maybe it will become the next pest.
5-31-17. Delaware Raritan Canal area, Bound Brook and South Bound Brook, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 70.5 miles total.
Categories: insects, flowering, fruiting, herbs, trees, shrubs, as many species as possible
So many insects out, in the first somewhat sunny, warmish day in a while. I walked here because I wanted to see the open space weeds that are blooming, and I did, but the insects stole the show. I also managed to get stung by stinging nettle (for only the third time in my life) even though I was perfectly aware that it was right next to me. A bug moved, so did I, and just my knuckle brushed the plant, but still, ow! And on the way home an ant bit (or stung? do "regular" ants sting?) me on the back. It hurt, either way.
Tomorrow I chaperone the 7th grade overnight trip at a Y camp in the "wilderness". Alone in a cabin with ten 13-year-old girls, wish me luck!
We were in Alburgh swamp today, another wetland gem. Visit was cut short by a thunderstorm Rode out some hail and then on the drive home had this beast on our tail crossing the causeway. Wow.
Got two 'lifers', a probable ringneck snake (sadly dead, roadkill) and water dock (Rumex britannica)... but mostly just ran away from the huge storm.
oops storm pic didn't work, see https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18839116_10158749394840162_6545619966885543762_n.jpg?oh=d26c45dbda008dea5ef59a256ab0797e&oe=59A5838E
5-31-17. Stonecutter's Way, Montpelier, VT. 1.3 miles today, 236.7 miles total.
Categories: blooms, invertebrates
I was just heading out the door this afternoon for a long walk in Woodbury when the thunder started rolling in. A little rain won't stop me, but I do respect thunder and lightning, so I didn't venture out into the storm. Sounds like you got a bit of a show today, Charlie! I finally got out for a little stroll after dinner in Montpelier, a trip down the railroad tracks along Stonecutter's Way with my husband. I actually like hiking railroad tracks--you find about the fullest collection of cosmopolitan plants anywhere. There was certainly a good variety of invasives blooming along the tracks tonight, everything from garlic mustard to greater celandine, with Japanese knotweed waiting in the wings.
Stung by nettles and ants on the same day? Ouch! Good luck with the campers, Sara!
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