January 2021: 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
1/1/20. Frizzle Mountain, Calais, VT. 1 mile today, 3029.7 miles total.
Categories: everything
Today I celebrated New Year's by doing a 60-minute bioblitz in my back yard. The notion came into my head in the morning when I saw that we still had no new snow. And I was thinking back on New Year's past when we were in other places, far away. I got curious about how many species I could find in the yard on January 1, with the limitation that I give myself a strict time limit of 60 minutes with a buzzer at the end. I had great fun traipsing through the woods, the back field, and inspecting our single boulder for mosses.
I found black-capped chickadee, wild turkey (who followed me around for about 20 minutes, curious), hairy woodpecker, and ruffed grouse (in the form of a single scat pellet on a log). Trees and shrubs were beech, sugar maple, red maple, red oak, black cherry, white pine, balsam fir, yellow birch, white ash, American elm, alternate-leaved dogwood, honeysuckle, white cedar, apple, hawthorn, alder, daphne, Norway spruce, red elder, black elder, red spruce, meadowsweet, beaked hazelnut, and fire cherry. Winter weeds and herbs were goldenrods, virgin's bower, beggarticks, broad-leaved dock, St John's wort, blackberry, raspberry, flat-top white aster, wild basil, wild lettuce, calico aster, strawberry, burdock, willowherb, milkweed, sweet clover, New England aster, goldthread, speedwell, bladder campion, bull thistle, musk mallow, greater plantain, and English plantain. Bryophytes were Ulota crispa, Frullania, Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus, Callicladium haldianum, Thuidium, Pleurozium schreberii, Ptilium crista-castrensis, Ulota montanum, Anomodon attenuatus, Conocephalum salebrosum, Plagiomnium ciliare, Nowellia curvifolia, Brachythecium laetum, Orthotrichum stellatum, and Anomodon viticulosus. Fern and clubmosses were intermediate wood fern, bracken fern, New York fern, interrupted club moss, and appressed tree clubmoss. Plus I found a handful of lichens and fungi and some mammal tracks and a bouquet of sedges without reproductive parts. It was great to be out!
1/2/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3031.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
This morning I decided not to go on our usual Saturday morning hike because we had about 4-6" of new snow and it was still coming down hard. I didn't think the road crews had been out yet, and it seemed a bit fool hardy to drive just for a walk. Instead, I waited until the snow let up a little and then when out around 11 AM to look for arthropods. Conditions were great, about 34F with moderate snow fall and a good thick coating of fresh snow. The roads had not been plowed at all, except for some undercarriage "plowing" by folks who went out early. I found 3 Tetragnathas (2 green, 1 brown), a leafhopper, 2 Trichocera flies, 5 snow scorpionflies, 13 caterpillars, and an Acleris busckana micro moth. Why all the caterpillars today? Another mystery.
1/3/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3033.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
Conditions looked good today for a bug walk, and the roads had been plowed as well, so I invited my 2 friends over for a bug walk along my Peck Hill route. We had a glorious time hunting spiders together on the snow, although one of them decided to leave after just inspecting the driveway because his glasses kept fogging with his mask. He is struggling to find a solution to the fogging problem while taking extra care to wear his mask anytime he is with people. In any case, our hunt was quite successful. We found 11 Tetragnatha spiders (all brown), an orbweaver, and 3 other species of spiders, several Chionea flies, several Trichocera flies, a Psyllid, a green caterpillar, and 3 snow scorpionflies (all gold).
I love your New Year's bioblitz idea and kind of wish I'd done it myself.
I also have a lot of trouble with fogging glasses and masks. Putting your glasses on top of the mask helps some, but then they are farther from your eyes and the focus is off (and sometimes they still fog). I remember walking across campus at Middlebury one very very cold day with just a scarf across my face and having to stop three times to de-ice my glasses, I'd think with masks it would be even worse.
1/4/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais VT. 2 miles today, 3035.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
We had another 2" of snow last night to freshen up the surface, but then the temperature got a little warmer, almost 40F by the time I went out, so hunting was as good. When I first went out to take my weather measurements, the turkeys followed me to see what I was doing. This year's batch of turkeys is quite remarkable. A few years back I trained our yard flock to approach snowshoes and skis for photos. It took weeks. I think this year it would hardly take any training at all. Maybe I should try...
Arthropods today were 2 caterpillars (brown and green), a Tetragnatha spider, 3 other spiders, and a Diamesa fly. Last night at our weekly arthropod photography discussion group we put our heads together and came up with some tentative IDs for the other spiders: Xysticus, Zelotes, and Hypselistes florens. Now we're hoping for a spider expert to take a look and give us feedback.
1/5/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3037.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The temperature was about 34F when I went out yesterday with overcast skies and very light snowflurries, rather ideal for arthropod hunting. And indeed, I had great success. I found mainly spiders, with a few other creatures. The spiders were mostly Entelegyne Linyphiids, as well as some Cicurinas (Hahniidae), and some others, maybe also Linyphiids. But absolutely no Tetragnathas. Besides spiders, there were quite a few Trichocera flies, another large fly, a winter stonefly (first of the season), some brown caterpillars, a few snow scorpionflies, a snow flea, and a Nabis bug (first of the season).
1-2-21. Camp Carr and Sunnyside Park, Hunterdon County, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 911.25 miles total
Category: fruit
Molly and I went and explored two parks that I had only peeked at before. Camp Carr was a wooded hill with a cliff top above a brook. Sunnyside is a somewhat shady riverside picnic grove (currently closed to picnicking). We passed an amazing number (probably 2 dozen) of walkers along the roads in the area, more than we saw total hiking or walking anywhere else all day.
Unusual finds included polypody fern, a twice-stabbed lady beetle, turkeys (I thought of you), lyre leaved sage, trees gnawed by beavers, and an unusual and large track in mud that Molly thought looked like a bear.
1/6/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3039.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
This afternoon was mostly sunny with a stiff breeze and temperatures around 26F. I didn't think I would find many arthropods because of drying conditions. But I still found a few. I found a Diamesa fly, 2 brown caterpillars, a bog leafhopper, a pirate wolf spider, a Linyphiid spider, and 2 Chioneas (1 was road kill).
1-3-21. Tamarack and Bicentennial Parks, East Brunswick, NJ. 1.5 miles today, 912.75 miles total
Category: fruit
Becca and I checked out a new-to-me park on a wooded hillside next to powerlines, then headed over to an old favorite of mine on the wooded bank of a reservoir. This is the coastal plain but not quite the pine barrens here in NJ. Unusual finds included a baby norway spruce, some clavate oak galls, glaucous greenbriar, several interesting fungi, the biggest burl I've ever seen (it was ball-shaped and about a meter in diameter), seedbox (a favorite of mine), button bush, swamp rose, tree-clubmoss, and umbrella magnolia.
1-4-21. Miller Lane, Martinsville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 913.25 miles total
Category: small details
I took a very slow and easy stroll on flat ground as what I really wanted was just some peace and quiet today. I looked closely at things, for fine details. I have walked this area many, many times so there were no real surprises, except maybe for some whispy grass growing among moss on a fallen log. But I really enjoyed the close detail of various tree barks (especially a medium-aged tulip poplar). I thought I found a bit of particularly dark-orange-colored jelly fungus, but when I got it home I realized it was a smoshed bittersweet berry.
1-5-21. Mapleton and Gulick Parks, Princeton, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 914 miles total
Category: fruits
I had a doctor's appointment down in Princeton today so I checked out two parks I'd never been to before. The first was an abandoned industrial complex (and the woods behind it) with an enormous patch of bamboo that my children would have adored (particularly as it was not too dense for kids to squeeze their way into the middle of it). I didn't spend terribly long here as I wanted time to check out the second park. But it turned out to be wet woods with roads so extremely, deeply muddy that I just turned around not a tenth of a mile in and gave up.
Unusual finds were a very long row of planted ginkgo trees, willow oak, water starwort, some nice jelly fungi, false indigo, and a couple of ferns I don't know.
1-6-21. Glenhurst Park, Warren, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 915.25 miles total
Category: 50 steps
I had to drop Katie off at school as she missed the bus, so I stopped by this local park. I avoid it because it's very wet. Today the ground was frozen most places, but as it turns out not hard enough to keep me from breaking through into the muck here. But I went on until I'd actually gotten my socks wet, and then turned around. I've photographed most everything here at some point in the past, so I challenged myself to walk 50 steps then stop and take a photo of something, 50 more steps, another photo, but not the same species I'd already done that day. it kept things interesting. On the way out, though, I went through a damp meadow section and there were a few plants I really wanted a photo of, especially purple gerardia fruits and a skullcap in fruit, plus fox scat (I think). I also got some pretty shots of hoarfrost on various leaves.
I like the 50 steps approach! Stratified random sampling. And fun, too.
1/7/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3041.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods
This afternoon the temperature was about 26F when I went out with some sun, dry and quite blustery. I didn't think I would find any arthropods, but there it was, a pirate wolf spider sunning on the snow by the farm field. That section of my route probably gets the most sun. It is south facing on a slight downward slope. The snow surface temperature was 3C warmer than at my house. I also found a dead Chionea fly, road kill.
1/8/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3043.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods
This afternoon was also cool, temperature around 25F, sunny and breezy. The snow surface was -7.8C. The turkeys came out to see me take my weather measurements as I started my route, but I didn't find a single arthropod on the entire trek. Now I'm praying for more snow to bring the bugs back.
1/9/21. Robinson Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3045.7 miles total.
Categories: birches
This morning I met up with 4 friends for our masked Saturday morning hike. We walked up Robinson Hill Rd which follows a cleared ridge facing east. Although it was calm down by Curtis Pond where we started, it was quite blustery up on the hill. We continued along Robinson Hill onto the unplowed section where the road continues into the deep woods, and the winds died down again. The snow is only about 6" deep at this point, so several vehicles have managed to drive down the unplowed section, leaving tracks for us to walk in. We met a fat tire cyclist coming out of the trail network at the top of the hill. We also met Donna Smyers and a group of intrepid runners at the top of the hill. Donna started our walking group 10 years ago today, but we were all a bit too slow for her. She's a top Ironwoman competitor. She has returned to visit the group a few times over the years and we all know her, so it was fun to see her on the trail today.
I was looking for birch bud, or rather birch catkin photos for my tree course. I found gray birch, paper birch, and even a river birch, which I very rarely see, planted on the lawn of the mansion on top of the hill. We also stopped to admire some scat with a set of tracks along the road.
How nice to have so many friends to walk with. I've really appreciated walking with my daughters during the lockdown. If I were doing birch catkins, it would be all sweet birch all the time. Every now and then an old, dying gray birch. Planted I can usually find river and every now and then a dying planted paper, silver, or European white. And I have to go just a little north of me to see yellow.
1/10/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3047.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
No snow today and temperatures in the upper-20sF with sun. If only we had fresh snow, it would be a good day for arthropods. As it was, I was delighted to find the one Chionea fly that I did find. It was just at the top of the heavily wooded section of Peck Hill, in nearly the same place where I've been finding the roadkill Chionea.
1-7-21. Lewis Morris Park, Harding Twp., NJ. 1.25 miles today, 916.5 miles total
Categories: fruiting, green, fungi, bark
This park is wooded hills, and a little bit along a shady brook. It was a lovely day for a walk, and yet I only met two groups. (one couple, one lady with two very friendly Labradors). Fruit I found were rose, burning bush, jumpseed, beechdrops, spotted wintergreen, and partridgeberry. There was also a blackberry seed gall that was vaguely fruit shaped. Green things were Christmas fern, forget me not, Chlorociboria fungus staining some wood blue-green, lots of baby mountain laurels, white pine, trailing arbutus (very exciting; I never see it), wintergreen, cinquefoil, hemlock, pyrola, and lots of mosses. I found 8 fungi but can't ID half of them. And barks were hornbeam, tupelo, beech, shagbark and another hickory, sweet and yellow birches, sassafras, and red and chestnut oaks.
1-9-21. Ethel and Brookside Rds., Piscataway, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 917 miles total
Category: fruit
I walked in two spots where unused lots have been allowed to grow up to brush, one of which was also next to a playground. It was very cold and at first I'd forgotten a hat or scarf and regretted it, but for the next spot I'd grabbed it. Fruit-wise I found foxtail, black locust, crabapple, goldenrod, rose, redcedar, peppergrass, ragweed, boneset, reed, sumac, aster, bittersweet, woodreed, mugwort, Tridens, mullein, milkweed, and grape.
1-10-21. Egbert Lake, Rockaway, and Papaianni Lake, Edison, NJ. 1.5 miles today, 918.5 miles total.
Categories: fruit, green, fungi, bark, buds
Carl and I drove up to check out Egbert Lake simply because I thought the name was funny. We walked the trail through the woods around the edge of the pond. Then in the afternoon I had an errand near Papaianni Lake so decided to stop down and see if I could find the bracted plantain I'd seen there long ago (no luck). Still, it was a beautiful day with bright sunshine and a joy to be out.
Interesting things I found were some round galls I don't recognize on a shrub I can't ID either, an old beaver lodge, hemlock scale, northern white cedar (I never see this outside the Pine Barrens), a multiflora rose with no visible thorns, the loudest female mallard I've ever heard, pearly everlasting, seedbox, and a fasciated Chinese bush clover.
Great to hear you've been having good weather for walking. And having such luck finding interesting plants. I'm studying some of your bark photos since you have trees that we don't, like tupelo, sassafras and chestnut oak. Love the loud-mouth mallard!
1/11/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3049.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow.
The air temperature was 23F when I went out today, and the snow surface temperature was -6.5C. No snow in a while and cold temperatures with sun, so I didn't expect to find many creatures. As I started up Peck Hill, though, I saw a large spider, perhaps a wolf spider. I got some good photos of a side view and facial view. Then I tried to flip it to get a ventral view and found it was quite, quite frozen solid. So I got good ventral views, too, but had to log this one as dead. Further along the hill I found a live Chionea fly trudging across the snow. I was quite impressed with its hardiness.
I wonder if any of your frozen solid arthropods can recover from it. I've heard a few species can, but I have no idea if it is a common thing.
1-11-21. Lincoln Ave. Park, Manville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 919 miles total
Categories: birds, galls, buds, green
I had an errand at Walmart (of all places) this morning, so I stopped briefly to check out this nearby park. It's a floodplain that's mowed once every couple years, and the edge of the river is lined with silver maples. I found what I thought was a house sparrow but turned out (when I saw the photos) to be a white throated sparrow, and four (quiet) mallards, plus an unknown nest. I saw thistle stem and blackberry seed galls. Bud-wise there were box elder, silver maple, silky dogwood, poison ivy, and black walnut. I also found what I think must be silky dogwood with golden canker. I've never seen it on that species before.
Green in winter were: English plantain, garlic mustard, Japanese honeysuckle, red deadnettle, ground ivy and moneywort (both covered in mud), a mouse ear chickweed, white clover, a geum, hedge bedstraw, hairy bittercress, lesser celandine, evening primrose, chickweed, dandelion, some unknown turfgrass, knapweed, and several sedges. And there was a set of (not green) sedge leaves overhanging a puddle that were covered in pretty spikes of frost.
Silky dogwood with golden canker? Interesting! I need to look into that one.
1/12/21. Groton State Park, Groton, VT. 0.8 miles today, 3050.5 miles total.
Categories: buds, arthropods
This afternoon my husband had a hankering to try out unicycling on the snow in Groton, so I skipped the Peck Hill route in favor of Groton. I selected a section of the bike trail near some witch hazel that I had seen last fall. It's one of the very few wild witch hazels I know of in our area. I got some photos of witch hazel buds. I also collected some photos of other winter buds, including red maple, striped maple, yellow birch, beech, red osier dogwood, hobblebush, wild raisin, blueberry, blackberry, black ash and white ash.
Unicycling in snow souonds very promblematic. Or maybe he has a wide tire? I am very fond of witch hazel, and photographed several yesterday as well.
1-12-21. Micheller Tract, Warren, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 920 miles total
Category: fine details
This wooded hill is less than a mile from my house and has been preserved property for at least the 28 years I've lived here, but it's undeveloped, and I've never bothered climbing the hill here before. The ground is virtually all fist-sized and smaller rocks with very little surface dirt, and steep; very uncomfortable to walk on.
I visited the brook stippleback lichen that grows along the road here, and there's a lovely patch of witchhazel as well. I found lots and lots of moss and lichen in general, including a sort of coral-shaped moss (or perhaps a liverwort?) on the stones of the brook at the base of the hill, which I had never seen before.
Once upon a time (even up to 20 years ago) this was just about the most southernly hemlock ravine in New Jersey. There are still scattered, sickly hemlocks here, especially right on the edge of the brook, but they do not form even a tenth of the canopy anymore, and it mostly feels like any other oak-hickory wood in the area. I did see the hemlocks, along with their adelgids and elongate scale.
As I was leaving, I started seeing faces in various standing dead snags, and photographed a few for fun.
My husband got a studded fat tire for his unicycle just for snow riding. A whacky idea, but it seems to be working for him. I'm enjoying it, too, since it means more trips out to Groton where he can ride and I can wander.
Too bad about the hemlock grove. We don't really appreciate how fine our hemlocks are here.
1/13/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3052.5 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow, buds
We got the tiniest dusting of snow overnight. It freshened the snow surface a little in some places, but not in others. No spiders today, but plenty of Diptera. I started off with an experienced male Chionea at the end of the driveway. I read somewhere that they tend to lose legs during copulation. This one was trying very hard to stumble around on his three remaining legs. I then found some Trichocera flies and Diamesa flies, and also one gold scorpionfly. I paused to examine some grape vines and black raspberry vines for buds. On my way back, I noticed some bird wing prints on the snow and some paired hopping bird tracks. I think they might be owl, but perhaps it could be a crow.
1-13-21. Deserted Village, Watchung Reservation, Berkeley Heights, NJ. 1.5 miles today, 921.5 miles total
Categories: buds, bark, fruit
This is a wooded hillside with the remains of an old mill town. Interesting things I found were mostly leftover plants from the old town: trifoliate orange, five-leaved akebia. But there was also golden ragwort, American wintergreen in fruit, a big Amur corktree (I'm guessing it was planted, but not sure), hazel catkins.
1-14-21. Stransky Farm, Warren, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 922 miles total
Categories: fruit, green
After two days of steep and rocky hiking my "good" foot was quite sore, so I went for a very short and flat walk here at an old farmstead. It's often closed (I have no idea why) but was open today. It turned out it was open because they are doing some major construction in the field here. I don't know if they are making a pond or a foundation, but they were digging a big hole. But no one objected to my walking on the other side of the park.
I've been here many times, so there was not a lot new to see. I was surprised to find some brave skunk cabbage already poking its leaf buds out of the ground. This is one of the few places around with young grey birch trees, and they had been very aggressively buck-rubbed; some may not survive. There was an escaped Chinese silver grass I'd not seen here before. Lots of mosses, most of which I can at least get to genus now, and a Chinese mantis ootheca. I was looking for narrow-winged ones, I'd seen them here before, but no luck.
1/14/21. Groton State Park, Groton, VT. 0.6 miles today, 3053.1 miles total.
Categories: buds
This afternoon my husband and I returned to Groton so he could ride the trails on his unicycle. I drove down to the parking lot below Ricker Pond to look at some buds near the pond. The parking lot is plowed for folks using the snowmobile trails, whether on snowmobiles, skis, or unicycles. I didn't get very far up the trail since I found quite a few buds. I photographed mountain maple, striped maple, red maple, gray birch, white birch, yellow birch, willow, Amelanchier, thimbleberry, hazelnut, white ash, and elm. I also found some interesting galls on a Bebb's willow.
I was wondering about the trifoliate orange! Glad to hear the story. And skunk cabbage coming up already? Wow!
1/15/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3055.1 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
I didn't expect to find many bugs today since it hasn't snowed in nearly 2 weeks. But it was warm, near 40F, and there were actually quite a few bugs out. I wonder if the melting snow raised the humidity enough for them. The snow surface was still near 0C. I found lots of Trichocera flies, also a fungus gnat and an acalyptrate fly. I also found several spiders, including 2 pirate wolf spiders, an entelegyne and a Cicurina. Plus a Nabis bug, a rove beetle, and a few stoneflies. Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead, so I had to make do with my phone camera.
1/16/21. Wheeler Rd, Calais, VT. 2.7 miles today, 3057.8 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
This morning I met up with my 4 walking buddies for a masked walk along Wheeler Rd. It was snowing heavily when I left the house and wondered if this was a wise idea as I left, but only a little. There was about 2" of new snow on the ground when we arrived at the meeting place. As we walked and chatted, I kept my eyes glued to the ground looking for arthropods. It was hard to stay focused, though, since the landscape was quite scenic with the new snow. I found a harvestman, 2 spiders, and a Diamesa fly. A friend pointed out a soldier beetle larva and a caterpillar. We picked up quite a few fallen branches in the road as we walked. When we turned around to head back, we found many more fallen branches, and the snow was now deep enough that the 2 cars that passed us did some undercarriage plowing. I was a few minutes behind the others leaving, which was a good thing since one person has a tire go off the road as she turned around and needed a tow. Fortunately, I was in my husband's 4WD car with chains, so I was able to help her out. By the time we got home, we found lots of local power outages.
1/17/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3059.8 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The snow storm continued through much of the night. The snow was quite wet and heavy, with a bit of rain mixed in, leaving us with a total of 6" of sticky, slippery new snow. When I went out for my walk after lunch, the temperature was nearly 40F, so I expected to find quite a few critters. But I was wrong again. I found a Trichocera fly, some snow fleas, a stonefly, and a single spider. Part of the issue was that when I got to the class 4 part of Peck Hill, I found it had been recently plowed, better than the town roads. Up near the agricultural field I found a single spider in the road, so I set up my meteorological equipment to measure temperature and humidity by the spider, but just as I got it set up, the plow truck came down the road. I moved my equipment off the road into the field to let him pass. Then I set it up again, and then he came back for another pass. So I cleared it off again. As I walked on up the hill, he made yet a third pass, and then a fourth. So there really was nothing in or near the road after that.
1/18/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3061.8 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
This afternoon the temperature was just under 30F when I went out for my walk. The surface temperature was about -0.1C, so about the same as the air temperature at 1.5m. I thought I might find a good crop of critters since it had snowed recently and was warm. But all I found today was a single Trichocera and a spider. No cars, plows or neighbors on the road, but there was a fresh set of snowshoe tracks.
I can just picture you setting up to measure and having the plow go by again and again. It reminds me of trying to shovel out the end of our driveway, and along comes plow after plow. We caught just the very southern edge of your snow storm, I think, as we were in the Catskills for the weekend. Luckily the snow started just as we arrived and finished (nearly entirely) well before we left. Also luckily it was under 6 inches and no lost power. Back home Molly got nothing but rain.
1-16-21. Brother's Hole, Frost Valley, NY. 2.25 miles today, 924.24 miles total
Category: sticking out of the snow
Katie and I went on what was supposed to be an "easy" ecology hike and ended up being one of the hardest I've been on in quite a while. But at the beginning we went fairly slowly and I took photos. The woods here are yellow birch, diseased beech, sugar maple, hemlock and scattered other things. I found creeping snowberry (first for me), American bugleweed, European raspberry, greater whipwort, and shining firmoss, all of which are rare for me (as are the yellow birch and the beech bark disease).
1-17-21. Chapel area, Frost Valley, NY. 0.75 miles today, 925 miles total
Category: not covered in snow
After breakfast, I wandered around the dining hall, up to the outdoor classroom, and through the woods to the pottery studio. I found so many lichens, including one that looked like it was splattered with red paint. My best guess for the red is Neonectria fruiting bodies, but I'm not at all sure. There were tree clubmoss, and spruce adelgid galls. Script lichen are common here and I almost never see them at home.
1-17-21. Observatory, Beaver Brook, and Side Mountain parking areas, Ulster County, NY. 0.5 miles today, 925.5 miles total
Category: identifiable.
I drove around a bit, parking at trailheads and exploring near my car. There's no cell service here and I was alone, with an iffy foot, so I didn't go far from the populated areas. Nonetheless I found hobblebush, something that doesn't grow at all at home, plus scots pine (a favorite of mine). There was also a shrub sized plant with bright red twigs ringed at the nodes with black. The computer thinks it's red osier, but I'm skeptical.
1-17-21. Waterfront, Frost Valley, NY. 0.75 miles today, 926.25 miles total
Category: identifiable.
In the afternoon, Katie and I walked a bit around the archery range and then I wandered down to the waterfront while she went into the range and shot. I found cinnamon willowherb, sensitive fern, wild basil, what might be an ugly nest caterpillar nest, greater burdock, and some splitgill mushrooms.
1-17-21. Caring Court, Frost Valley, NY. 0.5 miles today, 926.75 miles total
Category: identifiable.
In the evening Katie and Chuck went sledding and I walked down the road to the end and back. I found yarrow, a mint I can't ID, dog rose with mossy rose galls, timothy, and St. John's wort.
1-19-21. Buck Garden, Far Hills, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 928 miles total
Category: buds and blossoms
My friend Laura had never been to this garden. Not the most beautiful time of year to go, but we saw blooming hellebores, which were lovely. Also Pieris and witch hazel with big, swollen buds, though it's two months yet before either will think about opening. Laura is a fast walker and not much interested in stopping for photographs, though she did take a picture of the hellebores. Luckily, I've been here many times before.
It's so interesting to read about new or uncommon finds for you in New York. For the most part, the plants, at least, are all quite familiar to me, like creeping snowberry and yellow birch. But when you mention the plants that are common for you in New Jersey, so many of them I have never seen before. I got curious about your red osier, whether it could be a striped maple, and indeed it was.
1/19/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3063.8 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The weather was cooler today, 24F when I went out and cloudy. I didn't think I would find anything. And then I found a brown Tetragnatha spider right away wandering on the snow. Up by the field I found a large Xysticus huddled up but still alive. After finding the Tetragnatha I decided for sure that I can't predict spider days at all. Has it been too warm for Tetragnatha lately? Could it possibly be too warm in winter for them to go wandering?
1/20/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3065.8 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
My husband asked me to talk to his 2 lab classes this afternoon, but I managed to take a quick walk between classes. The air temperature was 24F, and the snow surface temperature was -8.5C. Still, I found a brown Tetragnatha and a tan crab spider. The Tetragnatha was crawling but the the crab spider was huddled up.
I thought it was interesting, too, how much more the Catskills plants are like yours than mine. Thank you for the maple help; I always forget those two (striped and mountain) as they don't grow by me at all. How odd if your winter temperature turns out to be too warm for your spiders. Why on earth would they need even colder weather? And yet...
1-20-21. Watchung Lake, Watchung, NJ. 1 mile today, 929 miles total
category: fine details
We had an inch of fresh snow, and my foot is not happy with uneven paths, so I decided to walk the paved mile loop around this local pond. Usually it's crowded, but since COVID they have insisted that everyone walk counterclockwise, so I only encountered one person (who walked much more quickly than I did).
It was beautifully sunny, and the snow had been in big flakes that sat prettily on top of everything, so I took a number of nice photos. I've walked here many times before, so there were not a lot of surprises, aside from an enormous mixed flock of black and turkey vultures, perched all over one house and its yard. Made me wonder what on earth was going on there.
1-21-21. Duke Farms, Hillsborough, NJ. 2.25 miles today, 931.25 miles total
Categories: fruit, animals
I met three of my friends (two of whom average 4.5 miles of walking every day, way more than me) to walk at this former estate. I saw the podiatrist two days ago who told me to try to rest my foot (I have an irritated nerve in my "good" foot) and just do light walking. The paths here are flat, which is good. The group walked about 5 miles, but I only did about the first mile with them, then turned back. I waited a while, taking photos and then reading my book, near the exit from the main area, but eventually had to leave to meet school buses. As it turned out I'd only missed them by 5 minutes. But in the meantime I saw a fox, we all found a dead shrew (which was tiny and turned out to be a masked shrew, all my previous shrews were short-tailed), and I was nearly hit in the head with a bunch of fruit on a wafer ash (hoptree) that was growing near the exit, another new species for me. So all in all a very nice walk on a beautifully sunny (if cool) day and at least for a bit with some of my favorite people. Who could ask for more?
So sorry to hear that your foot is acting up! That makes it so hard to get out when you want to go. I loved your vulture photo on the trash can!
1/21/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3067.8 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
A bit chilly today, 20F air temperature when I went out, -8.1C surface temperature. I was quite confident I wouldn't find any arthropods. But there it was, a single brown Tetragnatha wandering on the snow. We had had snow flurries all day, adding up to 6" of fluff. Our driveway wasn't plowed, the town roads weren't plowed, but the Class 4 section of Peck Hill was well plowed. All clear.
1/22/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3069.8 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The temperature was warmer today, and everything was plowed on the route, from our driveway all the way to the top of Peck Hill and back, so I didn't get any snow in my shoes. (I'm in sneakers this winter due to foot issues...I can't find boots that don't hurt, so I'm dependent on electric socks to stay warm and gaiters to keep the snow out.) The 30F air temperature was matched by -0.5C surface temperature. I found 3 Chionea flies, 1 a male hopping on 4 legs, 2 Diamesa flies, a stonefly, several Entelegyne spiders and a brown Tetragnatha. I guess the Tetragnatha wasn't deterred at all by the tropical temperatures. OK, so maybe it's phenology that determines when they are out?
1/23/21. North Street, East Montpelier, VT. 2.9 miles today, 3072.7 miles total.
Categories: buds, bark
I met up with 3 friends today for our regular Saturday morning hike. The weather was cold (10F) and blustery, not a great day to be out on the mountain top, but we headed north over the ridge into the woods, so it was actually quite comfortable. I was keeping my eye out for Bebb's willow and was glad to find a handsome specimen. I got some bark and twig photos, and also got some close-ups of balsam fir twigs, weeping willow twigs, striped maple bark, and black locust thorns. One member of our group slipped and fell on her back on the compressed snow in the middle of the road, but was not injured, thank goodness!
1/24/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais VT. 2 miles today, 3074.7 miles total.
Categories: tracks, arthropods
Our cool weather here has continued. I didn't have much hope of finding arthropods, so I shot some tracks along the way, some deer and snowshoe hare. Then as I was coming up the driveway on my return I found a single brown Tetragnatha crawling across the snow. Surface temperature was -7.5C in the trail of the Tetragnatha.
I'm glad your friend was unhurt; we've been getting a lot of slip and falls on the rescue squad lately. I cannot find waterproof boots that don't hurt, either. I have never (knowingly) seen bebb's willow or balsam fir (aside perhaps from a Christmas tree). I love 30 degrees as "tropical". We've been close to that lately and everyone is freezing.
1-23-21. New Market Pond, Piscataway, NJ. 1 mile today, 932.35 miles total
Categories: fine details, birds
I walked at this busy suburban pond after a meeting this morning. They have string trimmed everything along the edge except in a few spots where the bank was steep. I'm aware it keeps the shrubs down and lets some annuals in, but it still frustrates me. But then nature got back at them, as a beaver had come and eaten every single ornamental tree under 4 inches in diameter. There were dozens of bever-killed stumps. It tried to do some big oaks as well, but gave up.
In the pond were mallards, geese, ring billed gulls, all common here, and then hooded and common mergansers. The hooded in particular I rarely see. There were pigeons on the wires here (also not common for me) and then a raven flew overhead and I managed a clear photo! Very exciting.
The plants were less exciting, nothing unusual, but it was beautifully sunny and I took some pretty shots with the blue pond in the background.
1-24-21. Chimney Rock Park, Martinsville and Lake Pocahontas, Morristown, NJ. 2.25 miles today, 934.5 miles total
Categories: fruit, sunlit
In the morning, Molly suggested a hike in this local park. Katie and I came along. We walked up the hill on the rockiest path in the whole park, and at the top she was exhausted and my foot was starting to hurt, so we called my husband who drove up and rescued us, even though Katie was game for walking back down. Somewhat unusual plants that we spotted included woodland stonecrop, broadleaved sedge, and black ash.
In the late afternoon I drove up to explore a fairly urban park I'd never visited before, with a nice, flat, rock-free trail to a reservoir. The reservoir was full of gadwalls, another unusual bird for me. The area is mostly invasive weedy plants. I challenged myself to only take photos of things that the low sun was illuminating through the trees. It kept it interesting (and made for some pretty photos). The most interesting plant was lots of crested Elsholtzia. Also relatively unusual for me were autumn clematis, poison ivy flower galls, some kind of wood ear fungus, a white maze polypore, and a nest some bird had made in a shrub that incorporated a plastic bag; something I'd not seen before.
Sounds like some fun birding--gadwalls and mergansers! Too bad about the trimming around the pond. The state and local conservation groups really try to discourage that kind of trimming around here. Or any mowing on the edges of ponds, for that matter. Great idea about the sunlit photos!
1/25/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais VT. 2 miles today, 3076.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods
The air temperature was marginally warmer today (-7.5C), but the sun was shining and giving off a little heat that could be felt. I met our next door neighbor at the bottom of our driveway. She's the one who moved in last April, living by herself out in the woods. She's often out walking at the same time as me. She walked me to the corner of George Rd just to chat. Fortunately, we're both carrying masks in our jackets these days just in case we run into someone, which we usually do. I had faith that I would find at least one spider despite the cold temperature, and I did. Up by the agricultural field, where the sun comes in at a good angle across the field and meets the wooded slope, where was a pirate wolf spider making good time across the snow. I took temperature measurements there in the sun, and found -3.5C at the surface, -0.2C at 1 cm, and +1.8C at 1.5 m. Interesting to see what a difference the sun makes, and also what a large difference there is between the snow surface temperature and just 1 cm above. I wonder if the arthropods sense the warm heat in the air and that draws them out on the snow.
Your temperature data are fascinating; I'd never realized how much variation there is in the same place at the same time.
My current solution to the may-well-meet-someone issue while out walking is to wear my mask, but improperly, with my nose out. If I wear it correctly in this weather while exercising, my glasses fog, no matter how I position them relative to my mask. So I take them off and pull the mask up properly to talk to people (or pass them by) and then go back to nose-hanging-out when alone. Which bothers me, as I've always been annoyed by the folks who wear them that way in stores. It does keep my face warmer, though, and without tickling my nose the way a scarf does.
1-25-21. Frontier Rd., Bridgewater, NJ. 1.5 miles today, 936 miles total
Category: fruiting
I parked at a new commercial development and walked up the old service road behind it, along the edge of the interstate and past some corporate buildings and a sports arena, all of which are on the backside of a quarry. Not exactly undisturbed, but mostly untended, which is something. I found a great place (and not posted, either, which is rare here) to sit and watch the sunset (or rise, if I'm ambitious) just two minutes from the parking lot.
Somewhat unusual (for me) plants I found included horse-nettle, trumpet creeper, persimmon, hackberry, and an astoundingly thorny rose that I suspect is dog (but unfortunately had no fruit or leaves).
1/26/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3078.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods
The air temperature was relatively warm today, near 30F. But the surface temperature was still cool, -3.5C. I managed to find a single Chionea fly and no people.
1/27/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3080.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods
It's been warm for over 24 hours now, and we had a little snow last night, perhaps an inch or so. It was overcast when I went out, and the air temperature and surface temperature were nearly the same, around 0C. I thought to myself when I went out that if this were in December, it would be great weather for finding bugs. I had no idea what I would find actually since it was January. And there they were, dozens of creatures out on the snow. I found quite a few Trichocera flies and Chionea flies, a single red scorpion fly, an acalyptrate fly that tried to fly away but its wings were twisted, lots of Hypselistes spiders, one Cicurina spider, a Diamesa fly, and the first caddisfly of the year. A great day for diversity!
I love "and no people". I can't remember the last time I walked anywhere and did not encounter any people.
1-26-21. Thompson Ave., Bridgewater, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 937.25 miles total
Category: fruiting, insects
I parked on the other side of the development from the previous day's walk and this time went east. Lots of weeds, not a lot of surprises. Unusual for me (at least in this area) were spotted knapweed, slippery elm, coralberry (I think it was planted), rose of sharon, and there were sycamore saplings with their stipules still attached. I also found locust borer moth galls, mugwort stem galls, evidence of yucca moths in the fruit, and a big bald hornet nest.
1-27-21. Clover Hill Park, Flemington, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 938.25 total
categories: buds, animals
I walked here as I'd not been in three years, and it's on the way to Flemington, where I was to get my second COVID vaccine (and did). It's an old farm and they are mowing the fields every few years, keeping it as grassland, except for the edges. Not a lot of surprises here, though I found rabbit tobacco, ivy leaved speedwell, black elder, and a big smartweed that might still have enough left to it to ID. Also spotted a turkey vulture, evergreen bagworm, goldenrod bunch galls and buckrub on a sumac.
1-28-21. Wood Hill Park and Pompton River, Pequannock, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 939 miles total.
Category: fruiting
I had to drive up this way to pick up the materials for the new, updated CPR class I will be teaching Sunday. The first place I stopped was a park next to a pond. It appears the pond had been flooded for probably well over a year, about 10 feet above the current water level, though the current one looked like the "normal" water level as all the trees had "normal" roots at this level, but then many had these sort of "hula skirts" of roots about 10 feet up. Branches had them, too. It was weird.
There was an inch of very old snow on the ground, and I followed the edge of the pond in someone else's footprints, then in through a broken fence to a compound with a lovely, weedy edge. Only once I got back out did I see a sign saying shooting range, keep out. oops. but there'd been no one there. The rest of the park was a wooded hill full of sledding runs. Unusual (for me) plants included lots of bindweed, a flatsedge I don't recognize, brome, smooth and staghorn sumacs, river birch that looked wild, and roundheaded bush clover.
After that I stopped where the Morris Canal used to parallel the Pompton River. They've since filled the canal, but the river was pretty. Not much of interest here beyond another river birch, and a strange bridge built just to carry a large pipe across the river. .
Fascinating root observations! I wonder what's going on. Collecting observations in a shooting range? Uh oh! (I've done that, at my husband's gun club, but only when we sure no one was there.) I'm pretty sure I would never recognize sycamore seedlings, so I'm going to study your photos. There are a few recent plantings of sycamores around here, but no seedlings that I know of.
1/28/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT, 2 miles today, 3082.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The temperature was a little cooler today and breezy. I didn't think I'd find a lot of life on the snow, but I managed to find 3 flies, a Trichocera, a Chionea, and a Diamesa. I said hi to a neighbor who was hauling wood into her house before the big freeze tomorrow.
1/29/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3084.7 miles total.
Categories: anything on snow
The big freeze arrived as promised today. The temperature was 6F when I went out with my weather equipment. The snow surface temperature was marginally warmer, 7F. I didn't expect to find any arthropods, but I also wanted to collect data, to document how cold is too cold. No bugs. Not even any fresh animal tracks. No people. The only things on the snow were blown down branches. The heavy snow we had a week ago now never melted, and with the wind and cold temperatures today, small limbs were snapping. I shot a pine branch so that I wouldn't come home empty handed.
You would need to look at my older observations, these were not very detailed, but sycamore has interesting, cone-shaped buds and very interesting leaf scars that make a ring nearly all the way around them. And then young branches have these enormous, lobed stipules that are like a skirt around the twig over an inch in diameter.
It would so bother me to come back from a walk without having found anything to photograph, I would have to find something to shoot as well.
1-30-21. Kennedy Park, Sayreville, NJ. 1.75 miles today, 940.75 miles total
Categories: fruiting, birds
I have not been to this park in over three years, but I saw what I thought back then might be American wisteria here. Three years ago I didn't know enough to take good photos for ID, now I do, so I went back, and lo and behold I was right. And right next to it was some Japanese, to make it easy to compare. Other unusual for me plants were bayberry, shining sumac, grounseltree, gray birch, mimosa, pitch pine, some willow shrubs I can't ID, including one with a few pussies showing (awfully early), red osier dogwood, sand blackberry, and some fasciated Chinese bush clover.
Bird-wise there were only four species, but they were in massive quantities (plus one turkey vulture): Canada geese, starlings, ring billed gulls, and mallards, including some very interesting-colored domestic mixes.. I also found a narrow-winged (I think) mantis ootheca and lots of willow stem galls.
Thanks for the tips on sycamores. A few have been planted around Montpelier lately. If I get to town someday I need to take a look. As for American wisteria, I never knew there was such a thing. Very cool find! Do you think the blooming pussies are pussy willow (based on timing)?
1/30/21. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3086.7 miles total.
Categories: anything on snow
We had another cool temperature day today, but a little warmer than yesterday, about 8F. My friends postponed our Saturday morning hike until tomorrow with the hope that it would be a little warmer. Getting cushy in our old age, I guess. We never used to cancel or postpone the hike, ever, for weather. But I guess I set the precedent last month when I bailed because of heavy snow right at the time we were supposed to meet. It's also easier to shift plans now since we are a regular limited group of 5 and we aren't sending out open invitations to the community at large. In any case, today was still too cold for arthropods, so I shot fallen plant parts on the snow. I found sugar maple, beech, elm, and big-toothed aspen leaves and fruits of basswood and box elder.
1/31/21. Stranahan Town Forest, Marshfield VT, 3 miles today, 3089.7 miles total.
Categories: interesting buds
The morning started out even colder than yesterday, but by noon when the 5 of us gathered for our postponed Saturday morning hike it was nearly 15F, quite comfortable. We hiked out a snowmobile trail that traverses one end of the forest to the other. We had to clear off for a few passing snowmobiles, but other than that, the trail was quite scenic and quiet and the skies were blue and clear. I found the clear shape of a poplar, a butternut with buds, a very twisted paper birch with scars, an ash seedling with flower galls, a daphne, and a silky dogwood. One friend also pointed out an insect puparium on a branch.
1-31-21 Mountain Park, Liberty Corner, NJ. 0.25 mile today, 941 miles total
Category: fruiting, galls
It was just starting to snow, and they are promising us 14 to 20 inches that won't end for two days, so I wanted to get something of a walk in. As far as unusual fruit goes there was virgin's bower, Indian tobacco, gray dogwood, cinnamon willow herb, and squarrose sedge that was starting to disintegrate (I'd never seen inside the fruit cluster before). I also saw catkins on a planted baldcypress tree.
Galls were everywhere: goldenrod stem and bunch, blackberry knot, a gall on grape tendrils, a gall on what looked like Joe Pye, clubbed galls on dogwood, and thistle stem galls. I also saw an evergreen bagworm (on sassafras, which was a surprise) and a narrow-winged mantis ootheca.
I like to do things fallen on snow as well, at least when I walk through woods. I have much more success with that than arthropods!
I know absolutely nothing about separating any of the shrubby willow species. I wouldn't say the willows were blooming, but the scales had started to separate at least.
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