October 2020: 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.
Comments
10-1-20. Hoffheimer Trail, Warren, NJ 1.0 mile today, 826 miles total
This was a stunningly beautiful fall afternoon. The color here was just beginning (though it never got particularly good this year). I walked up through the township's compost yard (and passed the jimsonweed I used years ago when I was looking for things with "J"). And someone had dumped a deer corpse here that was just covered in maggots (and the smell was quite something as well). I found a fishing spider as well, but that was it for arthropods, and, as I've walked this trail many, many times, there were no new plants. But it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
10-4-20. Harmony Rd., Warren, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 826.5 miles total
My friend, Laura, and I walked up her road today, trying to find the source of the chestnuts some squirrel has been dropping at the foot of her oak trees. We never did find it, but there was a nice, brown wooly bear (perhaps the winter will be mild; I'd like that). We found swamp milkweed with aphids, rich weed, a whole pile of lanternflies, and I was able to point out many of the standard fall wildflowers to her.
10-6-20 Summit Medical Group, Berkeley Heights, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 827 miles total
I had a doctor's appointment today, so walked the perimeter of the property afterward. There is a large lot here (though not enough parking for all the patients they get) which is surrounded by woods. There was some lovely, red, highbush blueberry, and likewise a very colorful tupelo. I also found a bumblebee on calico aster, and a leafmine in some poison ivy.
10-8-20. Tenafly Nature Center, Tenafly, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 827.75 miles total
Today I met up with @sadawolk , @trh_blue , and @margela and explored this mostly wooded preserve with a large pond.
Unusual finds for me were herb Robert, greater celandine, some planted Dutchman's pipe, escaping anise hyssop, deerberry, black huckleberry, blackberry seed galls, glaucous greenbriar, willow leaf galls, arrowhead fruits, tussock sedge, cinnamon fern, greenstain fungus, sessile bellwort, American bugleweed, mile-a-minute, linden viburnum, and common (rather than Japanese) hops. It was a lot of fun and really nice to go botanizing with folks who don't mind my snail's pace.
10-9-20. Washington Valley Rd. Martinsville, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 828 miles total
Took a very short walk, through this abandoned farm that is now a park, while I was on duty for the rescue squad on Friday.
I found lanternflies and an eastern yellowjacket, Virginia wild rye, and a polished lady beetle.
10-10-20. South Mountain Reservation, Maplewood, NJ. 1.75 miles today, 829.75 miles total
South Mountain is a huge park. I walked in a section that is flat though on a hilltop, with a stream, all deer fenced, plus an artificially maintained meadow, and another section outside the deer fence. There was lots of lovely fall color, even though the day itself was gloomy. interesting finds included ostrich fern, zigzag goldenrod, maidenhair fern, cup plant, a rose that I think was Carolina, bigtoothed aspen, bluestem goldenrod, and some sweetgum that gave me a lot of trouble with ID (as I'd thought it was opposite leaved).
10-11-20. Gene King Park, Bridgewater, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 830.25 miles total.
Somehow I'd never actually done the loop at this park. I'd read that it had the highest bridge in the township park system and I believe it, though it's only about 12 feet and crosses a brook that often runs dry. I found carpenter ants tending aphids on white snakeroot, but not much else of interest.
10-13-20. Six Mile Run, Franklin Twp., NJ. 1.0 mile today, 831.25 miles total
Returning from a doctor's appointment in the drizzling rain, I brought out my big umbrella and walked anyway. This trail had a sign at one end asking folks not to walk on it when it was muddy as it causes erosion. Unfortunately I'd not seen it until I'd walked most of the trail (but luckily not the most eroded parts).
I found far eastern smartweed, walnut petiole galls, Virginia copperleaf, an eastern yellowjacket, lanternflies, and stump puffballs.
10-15-20. Duke Island Park, Raritan and Bridgewater, NJ. 4.5 miles today, 835.75 miles total
I walked today with three friends of mine, two of whom are very avid hikers. I'm still just recovering from the plantar fasciitis and this was far and away the longest walk I've taken since last winter. I led the way, mostly through woods along a canal, but didn't stop for photos and so took very few. The poison ivy and Virginia creeper were lovely and the sassafras was starting to turn as well. Lots of asters, goldenrod, and smartweed. There was woodnettle, lanternflies (all dead) and a small flock of common mergansers (though I had to get the photo on the computer to be sure; they were rather far away).
10-17-20 River Road Park, Bedminster, NJ. 1.5 miles today, 837.25 miles total
Molly, Katie, and I walked around the pond here this afternoon. We hadn't realized there was a farmer's market at this park on Saturdays, so we went and checked it out, too. Not much unusual today but there were buckthorn, alder, wingstem, and a bunch of flies dancing over the wolfmeal on the pond. Oh, and Katie spotted both a turkey and a black vulture.
10-18-20. Great Swamp Watershed, Harding, NJ. 1.5 miles today, 838.25 miles total
For my birthday I was given a membership to this private nature reserve, and today they offered a guided hike for new members. It's been a very long time since I was on a naturalist-led hike, and I trailed at the back as I was also working to photograph "everything" for a bioblitz. The docent was into mushrooms, which is wonderful as I am terrible at mushroom ID. I also got to meet @swampythings, who volunteers there. After the hike I walked some more on other trails at the reserve.
Unusual items included some old dog vomit slime mold, honey mushroom mycelium, a winter firefly, cut-leaved grape fern, tree clubmoss, narrow-headed marsh fly, a Paroncistroceris pernnis wasp, tarcrust fungus, a tiny coral mushroom, lizard's tail, royal fern, a sedge with extremely large seedheads, an autumn meadowhawk, meadowsweet, marsh bedstraw, maddog skullcap, lumenscent Panellus, red chokeberry, gilled polypore, moonseed, a Pholiata fungus, and swamp aster (we think).
10-19-20. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 840 miles total
Today I walked up a path at the local park that I'd only been on once before, in mid-winter; it's much prettier in the fall. A little brook running down the side of a wooded hill.
Interesting finds included a resinous polypore, and a hen of the woods (I've yet to find a chicken of the woods; it's the most common fungus in my area that I've not seen).
10-20-20. Little-Lord Farmstead, Berkeley Heights, and Seeley's Pond, Scotch Plains, NJ. 0.75 miles today 840.75 miles total
On the way to yet another doctor's visit, I stopped at this historic home with a small pond (maintained with fountains) and a path through the woods behind it. After the appointment I stopped at a much larger local pond to make sure the path I was about to recommend to a friend actually went where I thought it did (it does, but involves a ford, which she doesn't like to do).
Interesting finds today were ebony spleenwort, chinese mystery snails, nodding bur marigold, and what might have been stoneworts in the pond.
10-22-20. River Rd. Park, Bedminster, NJ. 3.0 miles today, 843.75 miles total
My friend and I walked the bike path here, mostly through woods. I found an interesting mite on the wall of the porta-john, she spotted a dead shrew, there was rabbit tobacco, and a really cool, pitted tree. Best guess is maybe it had shelf mushrooms that are now gone?
10-25-20. Delaware Raritan Canal, Trenton Boat Ramp, and Marine Terminal Park, Trenton, NJ. 1.5 miles today 845.25 miles total
Today I drove down and checked out several spots along the Delaware River just south of Trenton. Interesting finds today included ivy-leaved morning glory, 7 stray cats, dryad's saddle, sneezeweed, wild yam, Chinese yam (a new one for me), and pawpaw.
10-27-20. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 846.25 miles total
Molly, Becca, Katie, and I walked together today at this overlook by the local quarry. They found a cliff to stand on the edge of to make me nervous. We saw the folks hawk watching here, though the only bird out at the time was a turkey vulture. My big find of the day was my first ever earth star!
10-28-20. Duke Island Park, Raritan, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 847.25 miles total
Molly and I walked along the canal here, enjoying the fall color even though it was a rather gray day. We had a great blue heron sit still for us and let us get nearly close enough to touch it. Very exciting.
10-29-20. Doyle Park, Hillsborough, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 848 miles total.
It was pouring rain today but all the girls were in school, so I went for a walk in a park I'd never explored before. There were still some pretty fall leaves, if soggy. Virginia rose was the main surprise here.
10-31-20. Hadley Center Mall, South Plainfield, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 848.5 miles total
I walked behind the strip mall this morning, as I was here anyway. There's a drainage ditch and a strip of woods. I got a cabbage white to hold still long enough for a photo. There were lanternflies on the Ailanthus. But the big find was my first ever myrtle warbler.
What a great month you had, even though starting with a stinky deer corpse with maggots did not bode well. Your membership to the Great Swamp Watershed preserve sounds like a wonderful gift, especially with the guided mushroom walk. I don’t think I’ve seen tarcrust fungus. Congrats on the earthstar find—they are incredible mushrooms! What about that deer fencing at South Mountain Reservation? Is it an experiment, or a permanent installation? A demonstration of possibilities? You certainly had some fun finds this month. My personal faves were the walnut petiole galls, the ebony spleenwort at the farmstead, the 7 stray cats and the Chinese yam, the great blue heron with Molly, and the myrtle warbler. As for that woolly bear predicting a mild winter…
10/1/20. Adamant Pond, Adamant, VT. 1.1 mile today, 2845.7 miles total.
Categories: insects, birds, leafminers
This afternoon was sunny and warm with wonderful foliage. I met up with my 2 friends for a bug walk at the church in Adamant. We wandered the church grounds, then crossed the street and walked the perimeter of a friend’s yard that borders the Adamant Pond. We had great luck finding bugs. We tallied Melanoplus grasshopper, tiger fly, Biblio slossonae, Musca fly, cluster fly, common drone fly, bot fly, chinch bug, tarnished plant bug, leafhopper, twice-stabbed stinkbug nymph, woolly alder aphids, ambush bug, wolf spider, six-spotted orbweaver, Asian lady beetle, Chrysolina beetle, Donacia beetle, spotted cucumber beetle, spotted tussock moth caterpillar, black arches caterpillar, Catskill potter wasp, cross potter wasp, sweat bee, dark paper wasp, spider wasp, Campopleginae wasp, umbrella paper wasp, bald faced hornet, Ichneumon wasp, common eastern bumblebee, Pyrobombus bumblebee, honeybee, autumn meadowhawk, band-winged meadowhawk, and Canada darner. Birds by the water included yellow-rumped warbler, Canada goose, phoebe. I found willow bead gall and leafminers on willow, lilac, fleabane, honeysuckle, and red osier dogwood.
10/2/20. Fifer’s Ride, Calais, VT. 1.3 mile today, 2847 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, insects, galls
This afternoon I drove up to Fifer’s Ride so that I could take a leafminer walk through the deep wood there. Fifer’s Ride is a dead end road at the top of Peck Hill that I could easily reach on foot from my house, but I wanted to focus on woodland leafminers without wearing out my feet too much getting there. I found leafminers on sugar maple, heart-leaved aster, trembling aspen, fleabane, wrinkle-leaved goldenrod, orange day lily, sweet clover, helleborine, black cherry, Canada mayflower, black raspberry, Solomon’s seal, burdock, lilac, currant, colts foot, alternate leaved dogwood, wild sarsaparilla, basswood, yellow birch, beaked hazelnut, burdock, and honeysuckle, plus willow bead gall. Arthropods today were tricolored bumblebee, hemlock looper, and an orbweaver. Blooming was evening primrose.
10/3/20. Taylor Farm Rd, Marshfield, VT & Marshfield Pond, Marshfield, VT. 3.7 mile today, 2850.7 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, spiders, galls
This morning I met up with 4 friends for our Saturday morning hike. We started from the parking lot by the old art building at Goddard College. It is so sad to see the building disintegrate, especially since one of our group learned her pottery trade there. But with the campus gone to distance learning some 20 years ago, they have given up on upkeep of the unused buildings, which are rapidly becoming one with the ecosystem. We walked the Goddard trail past the library, through the woods, and up Taylor Farm Road. I found leafminers on honeysuckle, sugar maple, grapes, zigzag goldenrod, burdock, coltsfoot, heart-leaved aster, buckthorn, anemone, willow, lilac, red raspberry, chokecherry, hemp nettle, and thimbleberry. I also found red nail galls on basswood and saw 2 woolly bears and a large flock of turkey vultures.
In the afternoon I went up to Groton with my husband. While he rode the rail trail on his unicycle, I paddled Marshfield Pond in my kayak. I searched the shrubs along the shore for insects but found mostly spiders: six-spotted orbweaver, six-spotted fishing spider, aphids, Tetragnatha spiders, and running crab spider, plus an alder bud gall.
10/4/20. Wrightsville Dam, Montpelier, VT & Railroad Bed West, Marshfield, VT. 1.1 mile today, 2851.8 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, insects, galls
Today my husband and I took a picnic lunch to enjoy along the shores of Wrightsville Reservoir with some neighbors who live up the road (the ones who took us berry picking on their land in July). We had a lovely lunch in the bright sun enjoying the foliage. I spotted an American pelecinid wasp while were eating (but kept quiet about it because our friend doesn’t like “bugs”) and a common merganser out on the water. As my husband and I were heading up the trail back to our car, a very mangy fox cub started to approach us. It got closer and closer. We ducked away. We were quite alarmed at is behavior, since it showed no sign of fear but was so sick its eyes were swollen almost entirely shut. One of our friends was with us near the car, and she was quite alarmed. Her husband was still down by the water, unaware of the issue. There was a crew mowing the dam with gas-powered weed whackers. We finally got their attention and asked if they had a rifle to shoot the fox. One did have a rifle in his truck, but was initially reluctant to shoot the fox because of game regulations. But when he saw the condition of the fox and the way it was approaching our friend by the dam, he got his rifle and made quick work of it. We knew this would be a very traumatic incident for our friends to remember since they are strict vegans. But better to remember the violence of the rifle shot than getting bitten by a sick, possibly rabid fox.
My husband and I drove direct from the dam to the railroad bed in Marshfield so that he could ride his unicycle and I could hunt for leafminers. I also inspected the undersides of leaves for arthropods. I found leafminers on heart-leaved aster, sugar maple, honeysuckle, red raspberry, beaked hazelnut, goldenrod, beech, elm, hop hornbeam, anemone, whorled wood aster, fleabane, yellow birch, burdock, bush honeysuckle, helleborine, chokecherry, and balsam poplar, as well as speckled tarspot, and dogwood eyespot fungus. Arthropods along the trail were tricolored honeybee, Philodromus spider, Pityonyphantes spider, Anthophagini beetle, six-spotted orbweaver, Xanthocaecilius barklouse, Macremphytus tarsatus sawfly, woolly alder aphid, eastern harvestman, Mangora spider, aphids, black sawfly larva, pale green assassin bug, and Pimpla wasp.
10/5/20. Calais Town Forest, Calais, VT. 0.5 mile today, 2852.3 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers, galls
This afternoon I took a quick (slow) walk through the Calais Town Forest looking for leafminers. I followed the trails straight across the northern perimeter of the forest rather than heading into the maze of trails towards Bliss Pond. I was searching for leafminers and found some on beech, yellow birch, chokecherry, red maple, black cherry, bunchberry, red raspberry, blackberry, and hawthorn. But I also had good luck finding insects and spiders under leaves. I found Anthophagini beetle, Banasa calva bug, Frontinella spider, Tetragnatha spider, Chrysanthemum lace bug, aphids, filmy dome spider, orbweaver, Otiocerus coquebertii leaf hopper, six-spotted orb weaver, crane fly, and Pithyohyphantes spiders. Galls for the day were speckled tar spot and dogwood eyespot gall.
10/6/20. Old Country Club Rd, Montpelier VT. 1.2 mile today, 2853.5 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers, galls
This afternoon I met up with my 2 friends for a bug walk on the new section of the Montpelier bike path that runs along Old Country Club Road. This section has the Winooski river on one side and a wild forested slope on the other. We had great fun hunting for bees and pollinators in the late season asters. We found common eastern bumblebee, ligated furrow bee, blood bee, eastern yellow jacket, bald-faced hornet, ichneumon wasp. Other arthropods were cluster flies, harvestman, common drone fly, bog leafhopper, goldenrod crab spider, bagworm moth, bristle fly, woolly bear, geometer moth caterpillar, and Allenomobius cricket. We also saw a white-throated sparrow and a couple of yellow-rumped warblers. I found leafminers in sweet clover, evening primrose, honeysuckle, coltsfoot, black cherry, fleabane, and grape, and galls in honeysuckle and goldenrod.
10/7/20. Pekin Brook Trail, Calais, VT. 0.6 mile today, 2854.1 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, arthropods
This afternoon was cold, clammy, and rainy. I took my underwater camera out for a short walk up the trail from Pekin Brook Road. When we first moved here over 20 years ago, there was a sign post at the end of the trail that said it was a town highway. The post has rotted, but I still assume it is a public trail. I walked as far as the culvert that washed out a few months before Hurricane Irene. Since the washout, you have to descent a very steep hill into a gully and back up the other side to continue, and there are lots of large trees across the trail on the other side. I found plenty to look at on this side of the washout, so I didn’t bother with the gully today. I found leafminers on sugar maple, goldenrod, red raspberry, beaked hazelnut, basswood, honeysuckle, beech, red osier dogwood, and coltsfoot. I also found some six-spotted orbweavers and a pale green assassin bug sheltering from the rain on the undersides of leaves.
10/8/20. East Montpelier Town Forest, Adamant, VT. 1.2 mile today, 2855.3 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers, galls
This afternoon I drove down to Adamant for a leafmining hunt in the East Montpelier Town Forest. I found leafminers on honeysuckle, goldenrod, sugar maple, beech, black cherry, flat-topped aster, buckthorn, hazelnut, and red raspberry. I also collected a leafminer from helleborine. Other arthropods for the day were cranefly, fierce orbweaver and golden tortoise beetle. Galls were speckled tar spot, dogwood eyespot gall, elm finger gall and maple spindle gall.
10/9/20. Railroad Bed West, Marshfield, VT. 1.4 mile today, 2856.7 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, arthropods, galls
This afternoon my husband and I went up to the railroad bed in Marshfield so he could ride his unicycle and I could hunt for leafminers. I had great success on my hunt, finding miners in elm, sugar maple, balsam poplar, honeysuckle, trembling aspen, red raspberry, yellow birch, chokecherry, beech, black raspberry, hawthorn, virgin’s bower, goldenrod, heart-leaved aster, bush honeysuckle, plantain sedge, beaked hazelnut, panicled aster, elm, hop hornbeam, foam flower, columbine, anemone, and leatherwood. I also found galls on dogwood, elm, and balsam poplar. The weather was clear and warm enough, but the leaves are mostly down—stick season is approaching. I found quite a few insects on and under leaves: six-spotted orb weaver, aphids, crab spider, hump-backed fly, Tetragnatha spider, cranefly, gall midge, Drymus unus bug, red-banded leafhopper, Belytinae wasp, citrus flatid planthopper, and hemlock looper moth. I also found a sawfly cocoon with a Braconid wasp opening.
10/10/20. Hollister Hill Rd, Marshfield, VT. 2.7 mile today, 2859.4 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, arthropods, roadkill
This morning I met up with 2 friends for our Saturday morning hike. Today we walked up Hollister Hill Road starting from one friend’s house. The weather was sunny and decently warm for a mid-October hike. I began hunting for leafminers as soon as I got out of the car and found a Phyllocnistis insignis in some cultivated flowers alongside the house. That’s the one that I usually find in coltsfoot. I found others in feverfew, lilac, grapes, anemone, basswood, burdock, fleabane, blackberry, sugar maple, Solomon’s seal, snowberry, columbine, violets, speedwell, and sweet clover. Arthropods for the day were wolf spider, Asian lady beetle, common eastern bumblebee, ground crab spider, honeybee, six-spotted orbweaver, woolly bears, Haploa moth caterpillar, hickory tussock caterpillar, fall field cricket, small milkweed bug, ruby tiger moth caterpillar, oblong wool carder bee, with lots of caterpillars crossing the road. Roadkill was woolly bears (2), garter snake, splendid earth-boring beetle, and a honeybee.
So many wonderful insects! Every now and then I can find a mine (and often galls) now, but I am so looking forward to "bug" weather.
So sorry about the sick fox. And how funny that the maintenance crew had a rifle. We'd have to call the police here, first because most people either don't have guns or won't admit to having them (and mostly what they have are handguns) and second because if we shot something the police would be called by 6 different people anyway. Mind you, they would have to shoot it with a handgun as well, as even our police don't generally carry rifles.
10/11/20. Railroad Bed West, Marshfield, VT. 2.4 mile today, 2861.8 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, arthropods, galls
This afternoon my husband and I returned to the railroad bed so that he could ride his unicycle. I explored the trail in the other direction from the other day, heading west this time. Many of the leaves are down but I managed to find miners in coltsfoot, burdock, black cherry, heart-leaved aster, big-toothed aspen, bush honeysuckle, meadow rue, beaked hazelnut, beech, yellow birch, beech, early goldenrod, bunchberry, virgin’s bower, balsam poplar, avens, anemone, strawberry, hawthorn, and elm. Arthropods for the day were autumn meadowhawk, Melanoplus grasshopper, running crab spider, ichneumon wasp, aphids, Meteorus wasp, Ribautiana leafhopper, spotted spreadwing, Suillia, Pityohyphantes spider, fungus gnat, winter firefly, and red-banded leafhopper. I found galls on goldenrod and beech. A mixed flock of small birds came by and I managed to shoot brown creeper, golden-crowned kinglet, and chickadee.
10/12/20. Curtis Pond, Calais, VT. 0.9 mile today, 2862.7 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, arthropods, galls
This afternoon I drove up to Curtis Pond to hunt for leafminers in the forest by the swimming area. I found miners in beech, burdock, sugar maple, black raspberry, highbush cranberry, helleborine, heart-leaved aster, big-toothed aspen, yellow birch, balsam poplar, and serviceberries. I also found some galls: goldenrod stem mine, speckled tar spot, blackberry seed gall, blackberry leaf gall, and dogwood eyespot gall. Arthropods for the day were an adult aphid, a Trichocera fly, a juvenile spider and a caterpillar mummy.
10/13/20. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2.1 mile today, 2864.8 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, arthropods
This afternoon was a bit wet, so I took my underwater camera for a walk up Peck Hill to see if I could find any new leaf mines along the route. I found mines in beaked hazelnut, speckled alder, black cherry, and apple. I also found a Pityohyphantes spider and fungus gnat, and a large flock of turkeys hanging out in the farm field.
10/14/20. Chickering Bog, Calais, VT. 1.8 mile today, 2866.6 miles total.
Categories: insects, leafminers, galls
This afternoon I drove up to Chickering Bog for a leafminer hunt along the access trail. I walked quickly through the lower part of the trail since I already hunted there last week. I started about where I finished last week, by the stonewall that runs along the east side of the trail for a stretch before the first marsh. I found leaf miners on burdock, bunchberry, sugar maple, yellow birch, buckthorn, black cherry, trembling aspen. I also found an adult basswood leafminer beetle, Haploa moth caterpillar, dark-winged fungus gnat, and Bibio slossonae fly. Galls for the day were speckled tar spot. I also managed to catch a ruby-crowned kinglet.
10/15/20. Sabin’s Pasture, Montpelier, VT. 1.8 mile today, 2868.4 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers, galls
This afternoon I met up with my 2 friends for a bug walk in Sabin’s Pasture. My friend’s wife came along as well. She isn’t that interested in insects but is quite eager for some socialization, even if it means strolling at an insect observing pace. Sabin’s Pasture is private land on the eastern side of the “city” that the owners want to develop. But people have been using it as a de facto park for generations, so they fight development plans vociferously. We don’t know how much longer it will be accessible as a park so we figured it was time to explore it some more. As we walked down the access trail near Vermont College, we walked past the tents of a local private homeschooling school, who are holding their unclasses entirely outdoors this semester. Today my friends were taking me up to the quarry in the pasture, which I had never seen before. The quarry was quite scenic, both inside and out, and we had a great time doing a photo shoot inside with the blue skies and full foliage. Insects today were Empoascini leafhopper, Dendryphantina jumping spider, ligated furrow bee, cluster fly, metallic sweat bee, Melanoplus grasshopper, Zadontomerus bee, jagged ambush bug, honeybee, boxelder bug, bagworm, Haploa moth caterpillar, bot fly, Megalonotini bug, Belytinae wasp, running crab spider, dark paper wasp, tricolored bumblebee, and common drone fly. I found leafminers on goldenrod, buckthorn, black raspberry, cinquefoil, apple, black cherry, hawthorn, silverrod, gray birch, and burdock. I also found black tar spot, goldenrod stem gall, goldenrod crown gall, willow pinecone gall, oak leaf gall, and dogwood eyespot gall. A turkey vulture soared overhead as we returned to our cars. We also found the lower leg and hoof of a white tailed deer hoof hanging in a tree along the trail.
10/16/20. Center Road trail, East Montpelier, VT. 2.1 mile today, 2870.5 miles total.
Categories: insects, leafminers, galls
This afternoon was rainy and cool when I went out for my walk. I drove up to Center Road and took the East Montpelier trail west towards Templeton Road. The first part of the trail runs alongside a major corn field for Templeton Farm, who raise beef cattle. Then it ducks through a short stretch of sugarwood and continues through a mixed woods with lots of beech. I found a Trichocera fly, a dark-winged fungus gnat, and red-banded leafhopper. Leafminers today were on buckthorn, burdock, sugar maple, beech, black cherry, hophornbeam, red raspberry, and yellow birch. I also found some speckled tar spot on striped maple.
10/17/20. Bayne Comolli Road, Calais, VT. 2.8 mile today, 2873.3 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers, galls
This morning I drove up to #10 Pond to meet up with my 4 friends for a Saturday morning walk. One of the friends had had friends who built a cabin along Bayne Comolli Road in the 1970s, and she wanted to walk past the cabin site. Except, she couldn’t remember where it had been. We walked most of the way to the intersection of Bayne Comolli with Dugar Brook Road, and she never recognized the site of the cabin. It was a stunning walk, though. The weather forecast had been for rain, but soon after we began walking, the sun came out and we had clear blue skies. I found twice-stabbed lady beetle, tangleweb spider, pale green assassin bug, bald-faced hornet nest, and Banasa calva bug. Leafminers today were on dogwood, sugar maple, anemone, coltsfoot, serviceberry, burdock, yellow birch, quaking aspen, ninebark, mock orange, and black raspberry. I also found dogwood eyespot gall midge, blackberry leaf gall, and speckled tar spot. Roadkill was Scudder’s bush katydid.
10/18/20. Groton State Park, Groton, VT. 2.2 mile today, 2875.5 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers, galls
This afternoon, I went up to Groton with my husband so that he could ride the rail trail on his unicycle. Meanwhile, I went leafminer hunting. I found leafminers on sugar maple, bush honeysuckle, trembling aspen, black cherry, early goldenrod, beech, and blackberry. I also found some speckled tar spot on striped maple. Arthropods today were Bibio fly, Prescottia lobata leafhopper, Bibio slossonae fly, cluster fly, running crab spider. I got to visit briefly with a curious hermit thrush who came down to see what I was up to as well.
10/19/20. Robinson Hill Rd Trail, Calais, VT. 1.4 mile today, 2876.9 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers, galls
This afternoon was cloudy and a bit chilly (45F). I drove up to the southern end of the Robinson Hill Trail system for a leafminer hunt. The trail from here runs parallel to Robinson Hill Road, but just a bit uphill. I had the trail mostly to myself at first. Then I heard of couple of women coming along, but I ended up on a side trail heading west before they ever passed me. I found a common eastern bumblebee in a New England aster, Bibio fly, hammock spider, Typhlocybini leafhopper, six-spotted orbweaver, Bibio slossonae fly, and Nabis bug. Leafminers today were on coltsfoot, sugar maple, trembling aspen, burdock, goldenrod, red raspberry, avens, basswood, beech, and yellow birch. And galls for the day were speckled tar spot on striped maple, dogwood eyespot gall, and blackberry leaf gall.
10/20/20. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2.4 mile today, 2879.3 miles total.
Categories: arthropods
This afternoon I took a bug walk up Peck Hill, searching for bugs under leaves. My first find was a male common eastern bumblebee sheltering in New England aster along our driveway. I also found Corytucha lace wing, aphids, dark-winged fungus gnat, Bibio fly, harvestmen, caterpillar mummy, and cranefly. Up by the farm field on Peck Hill were wild turkey and ruffed grouse.
10/21/20. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2.4 mile today, 2881.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers
This afternoon I walked up Leonard Rd searching for leafminers and insects. I checked the New England aster along our driveway, and the male common eastern bumblebee was still there. Probably dead. Other arthropods for the day were a pair of Bibio slossonae flies (mating), hammock spiders, plant bug, twice-stabbed bug, Erythridula leafhopper, pale green assassin bug, and Nabis bug. I found leafminers on coltsfoot, burdock, sugar maple, beech, plantain sedge, Galeopsis, trembling aspen, forget me not, virgin’s bower, thimbleberry, fleabane, honeysuckle, and heart-leaved aster. And I also found a green frog swimming in a puddle in the rut in the middle of the trail.
Your frog in a puddle reminds me of a green frog I found in a tiny dry well at the base of my aunt's barn downspout. The weird part being the drywell was completely covered in a grating, the only way in was down that spout (unless it was born in there, I suppose).
10/22/20. Center Road trail, East Montpelier, VT. 2.2 mile today, 2883.9 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers, galls
This afternoon I drove up to Center Road for a walk on the East Montpelier Trail system heading west towards Templeton Road. This section of the trail starts alongside a large corn field, but in the shade of a hedgerow beside a stone wall. Then the trail ducks into a sugar wood and continues through a hardwood forest. I was delighted to find a few blooming dandelions near the start of the trail, where I found a furrow bee, Platygastroidea wasp, and sedgesitter hoverfly. Further down the trail I found aphids, crab spider, Bibio fly, Eratoneura leafhopper, Tetragnatha spider, willow flea beetle, Alysiinae wasp, Pityohyphtantes spider, Ichneumon wasp, and an araneoid spider eating an aphid. Leafminers today were on quaking aspen, goldenrod, elm, sugar maple, buckthorn, red raspberry, honeysuckle, and black cherry. Galls were goldenrod stem gall and dogwood eyespot gall. I also managed to catch a white throated sparrow and a ruby-crowned kinglet.
10/23/20. Recreation fields, Montpelier, VT. 1 mile today, 2884.9 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers, galls
This afternoon I drove down to the Montpelier rec fields to meet up with my 2 friends for a bug walk. My friend’s wife came along as well and it was great to chat with her and share our bug finds. We started by the tennis court parking area. There is a large pavilion there for picnics where a group of seniors were sitting well bundled and well distanced around the perimeter having a book discussion group. We gave them quite a sight as we inspected all the plants near the pavilion and found a huge flock of boxelder bugs around the garbage can, which we meticulously photographed with our macro lenses. We also inspected every blooming dandelion and came up with some metallic sweat bee, common compost fly, eastern calligrapher, pure green sweat bee, schizophoran fly, Pterophorinae plume moth, margined calligrapher hoverfly, and chalcidoid wasp. Other arthropod finds for the day were Limnephilius caddisfly, fork-tailed bush katydid, bluebottle fly, Kybos leafhopper, aphid, Ichneumon wasp, large gray dagger caterpillar (dead), bot fly, bagworm, geometer moth caterpillar, pirate wolf spider, bog leafhopper, and stonefly. I found leafminers in sugar maple, white oak, red raspberry, honeysuckle, goldenrod, willow, and virgin’s bower. Galls for the day were virgin’s bower stem gall and goldenrod stem gall. A personable red squirrel gave us a photoshoot from a dead butternut snag near the river. I also caught a chickadee and finished the day with a murder of crows flying overhead.
10/24/20. Bayne Comolli Rd, Calais, VT & Groton State Park, Groton, VT. 5.6 mile today, 2890.5 miles total.
Categories: leafminers
This morning I met up with my 4 friends at the top of Dugar Brook Rd for our Saturday morning hike. Our intention was to walk from Dugar Brook to where it meets Bayne Comolli Road so that we would walk the entire length of Bayne Comolli between this week and last and my friend could find her friend’s former cabin site for sure. It was raining a bit, but we still had a pleasant walk. I found leafminers on trembling aspen, thimbleberry, coltsfoot, burdock, sweet clover, heart-leaved aspen, sugar maple, big-toothed aspen, and columbine. I also photographed a deer track in the road since I didn’t find any free living arthropods. My friend was quite frustrated with her hunt because she never found the cabin site. She implored us to keep walking, even though we had passed the point where we turned around last week. She didn’t recognize that, and other folks in the group had errands to run, so we turned around anyway.
In the afternoon I drove with my husband up to Groton so that he could unicycle the rail trail and I could walk a stretch of it looking for leafminers. There are precious few leaves left, but I managed to find miners in trembling aspen, beech, sugar maple, goldenrod, and heart-leaved aster. I also found some eyelash cup fungi.
10/25/20. Plainfield Rail Trail, Plainfield, VT. 2.3 mile today, 2892.8 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, arthropods
This afternoon my husband wanted to ride the other side of the rail on his unicycle, so I dropped him off at Marshfield Pond and drove down to the Plainfield park and ride to walk there. There were more leaves along the trail on this end, and I found leafminers in trembling aspen, heart leaved aster, virgin’s bower, honeysuckle, foam flower, burdock, sugar maple, anemone, red raspberry, burdock, strawberry, coltsfoot, fleabane, and buckthorn. Arthropods for the day were araneoid spider, red-banded leafhopper, Empoa leafhopper, Ribautiana leafhopper, and fungus gnat, all on the under surfaces of leaves, mostly blackberry. I also found a patch of gentian gone by.
10/26/20. Robinson’s Cemetery trail, VT. 1.8 mile today, 2894.1 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, galls, invertebrates
This afternoon I drove up to Robinson’s Cemetery to walk a new public trail there. This trail is on a long-used VAST trail, but now it is open to the public for year round use. It heads off from the field behind the cemetery into the woods and comes out behind the Maple Corner Community Center. The trail was rather short for a walk, so I continued through Maple Corner a little ways up Camp Road near Curtis Pond. There weren’t many leaves left, but I managed to find leafminers on columbine, sugar maple, red oak, blackberry, red raspberry, trembling aspen, and honeysuckle. I didn’t have any luck finding arthropods today, but I found a Succineoidea snail on the wall of the community center. Galls for the day were black tar spot.
10/27/20. Railroad Bed East, Marshfield, VT. 2.7 mile today, 2896.8 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, arthropods, galls
This afternoon I drove up to Marshfield Pond with my husband so he could ride his unicycle down the rail trail to Plainfield. I walked the trail (Railroad Bed East at this point) towards Marshfield Center, turning around for an out and back. I found leafminers on sugar maple, coltsfoot, red raspberry, anemone, heart leaved aster, burdock, black cherry, goldenrod, fleabane, honeysuckle, trembling aspen, and balsam poplar. By inspecting the undersides of blackberry leaves, I found Ribautiana leafhopper, aphids, Dyciphini bug, Tetragnatha spider, bruce spanworm, and aphids. I managed to find a Norway maple with black tar spot and a small American chestnut seedling of all things. Roadkill was a frog.
10/28/20. Dodge Road trail, East Montpelier, VT. 1.6 mile today, 2898.4 miles total.
Categories: leafminers, arthropods, galls
This afternoon I met up with my 2 friends for a late season bug walk on the East Montpelier Trail system starting from Dodge Road heading north. In a typical year, we would have given up on our bug walks by this late in the season, but we all cherish the time together since we have so few other in-person social gatherings. So I think we’ll keep walking until the snow flies. We had been watching the weather all week, which was cool and rainy, but this was supposed to be the warmest day of the week with no rain. The temperature was about 45F. I told my friends about the luck I have been having finding arthropods under blackberry leaves, so we hunted and hunted, checking under blackberry leaves and also poking through the leaf litter. We found aphids, Cylindoriulus millipede, Ribautiana leafhopper, Trichocera fly, Drymus unus bug, Typhlocybini leafhopper, Entelegyne spider, ground crab spider, Nasocorini bug, Bibio flies, Ichneumon wasp, and dark-winged fungus gnat. We also caught some bruce spanworm moths (male). The excitement of the day was when my friend called over from a raspberry leaf, “Hey, what’s this? Is it a bug? A caterpillar?” I took one look and recognized that it must be the elusive but much sought after female bruce spanworm moth, which has a mothlike body but no wings. I have several entomologist friends who have been seeking female bruce spanworms for years with no success, so we were quite jubilant with this find. I also found leafminers on buckthorn, heart-leaved aster, red raspberry, beech, goldenrod, heart-leaved aster, burdock, Virginia waterleaf, columbine, and hemlock, plus some balsam needle galls.
10/29/20. East Montpelier Town Forest, East Montpelier, VT. 1.9 mile today, 2900.3 miles total.
Categories: arthropods, leafminers
This afternoon was a bit wet and rainy, so I took my underwater camera out for a walk through the East Montpelier Town Forest. I started by Haggett Road and did a loop trail towards Adamant. I found Bibio fly, Pityhyphantes spider, and Ribautiana leafhopper under raspberry leaves. Leafminers today were on red raspberry, sugar maple, and rose.
10/30/20. Peck Hill Rd, VT. 2.2 miles today, 2902.5 miles total.
Categories: arthropods
This afternoon was a bit chilly and overcast. I went for a brisk walk up Peck Hill looking for arthropods under raspberry leaves. I found a lovely painted Psylid bug and a Ribautiana leafhopper. I also found something that may have been a leafhopper on a grass leaf.
10/31/20. Robinson Hill Rd, Calais, VT, Railroad Bed West, Marshfield, VT & Plainfield Cemetery, Plainfield, VT. 4.2 miles today, 2906.7 miles total.
Categories: blooming, twigs and buds, leafminers, arthropods, galls
This morning I met up with my 4 friends for our Saturday morning hike along Robinson Hill Rd. We parked at the trailhead on Long Meadow Rd but just walked along the road, not the trail, so that we could distance. I found black-eyed Susan, red clover, and white sweet clover still in bloom and leafminers on sugar maple, raspberry, beech, yellow birch, columbine, burdock, anemone, and quaking aspen. I also found a willow beak gall. Insect finds during the walk were all under raspberry leaves: Ribautiana leafhopper, aphids, Nematoceran fly, and a spider. I kept my eye out for interesting buds and twigs and collected photos of basswood, elm, and yellow birch.
In the afternoon I dropped my husband off with his unicycle at Marshfield Pond, then drove down to Jerusalem Road and walked a section of the Railroad Bed West. I found Ribautiana leafhopper, and Panaphidina aphid, and a leafminer in bunchberry. I also collected bud and twig photos of beaked hazelnut, black ash, mountain maple, black cherry, and sugar maple.
I then drove down to the Plainfield park and ride to meet my husband after his ride. While waiting for him, I wandered through the top of Plainfield Cemetery, and photographed some buds of lilac, box elder, and burning bush. I also found an Ichneumon wasp and an Acalyptrate fly in the grass, and some black tar spot. Blooming in the cemetery was dandelion.
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