November, 2018: 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
11-1-18 Old Bridge Waterfront Park, Old Bridge, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 382.25 miles total
Categories: Beach plants, shells
I went on what Molly would call an adventure today, driving toward South Jersey and stopping as I felt like it. First was this park on the Raritan Bay. There was a boardwalk with some openings to a beach, and a lot of very large signs forbidding swimming, fishing, picnicking, and sunbathing, as there was a high level of lead contamination. I walked briefly on the beach anyway.
The very first plant I found is one I don't know. Then there was seaside goldenrod and buttonweed. I found many of the usual shells: ribbed mussels, soft shell clam, slipper shells, razor clams (I don't see those quite as often), but also a whelk (maybe channeled?) and some seaweed I don't recognize, and then what I think was balls of a red coral. There were also horseshoe crab shells that seemed smaller than usual, and pieces of several other crab species. On the way out were two different kinds of sand burs (I can't remember them and will have to look them up). And there was a legume that I think is Strophostyles sp. The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and not too hot, with just a slight breeze.
Lol, today was a no walking at all day for me as well. A shot through the house would have been awesome, but me, I'd have missed it entirely, having gotten distracted by all the weeds growing around it.
11-1-18. Cliffwood Beach Waterfront Park. 0.75 miles today, 383 miles total.
Categories: Seashore plants, shells
Second stop of the day was a little further down Raritan Bay (and not contaminated with lead). There is a sand spit here, that created a bit of a salt marsh behind it, and I, somewhat accidentally, walked through the marsh and over to a sand beach. Luckily it was very low tide. By the parking lot was a whole grove of young white poplar. In the marsh I found marsh fleabane, beach plum, and several Atriplex sp. plants. On the beach were lots of shells including slippers, mud snails and little snails that might be oyster drills. On the way back I found snakecotton, round headed bush clover, and rabbit tobacco.
11-1-18. Allaire State Park, Farmingdale, NJ. 1.5 miles today, 384.5 miles total.
Categories: moss, weeds
Third stop of the day was an historic village with a small steam train (not open that day). The area is extremely heavily used both by people and by deer, and there was almost nothing here that was not invasive. This is technically the Pine Barrens and I was hoping for something interesting but no luck.
Nevertheless, there were a number of interesting mosses (at this point all mosses are interesting, as far as I'm concerned), lots of fall color, and an herb that has gone to seed that I've not managed to ID yet, which is fun. At one point I stepped on a black walnut while walking down an incline and nearly wiped out, but managed to catch myself. Last thing I need is another injury!
11-1-18. Deep Cut Gardens, Middletown, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 385.25 miles total.
Categories: insects, unintentional plants.
I decided spur-of -the-moment to stop here on the way home and was glad I did. This is a lovely old garden set into the side of a hill with brick terraces and enormous old, drooping trees. The edge of the bottom of the garden is set against a swamp, and this and the service road were the parts that most interested me, but the intentional plants were very pretty as well. There were enormous koi in a small pond, a whole lot of small bees and flies pollinating some late mums, kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate and several different viburnums that have gone wild, and some lovely native sanicle.
11-3-18. Willowwood Arboretum, Far Hills,NJ. 0.25 miles today, 385.5 miles total
Categories: moss, lichen
Molly was home from college for a doctor's appointment, so I took her along with me on an "adventure". We went to Willowwood, where the Japanese maples were just past their peak but still stunning. I've been here many times, so this time looked for moss (and found a number of different types) and possibly also a liverwort. And there was a lovely Cladonia lichen, and Molly found me a woolly bear boldly crossing the trail. After the arboretum we got fantastic pies at the farmstand up that way, which was the actual reason for the trip.
11-4-18 Washington Valley Rd., Warren, NJ. 1.5 miles today, 387 miles total
Categories: unintentional plants
It was a Sunday morning so I figured the traffic would be light on this busy road with no shoulders, and it was. I've photographed the first part before so waited until I got to a new to me section to check out the plants. Smartweed, butter and eggs, chicory and Japanese honeysuckle were all still blooming, despite a light frost already this week. Blackhaw, Japanese barberry, Chinese elm, burning bush and multiflora rose were in fruit, and sassafras, blackhaw, burning bush, and elm were in full fall color. A very pretty walk.
11-6-18 Watchung Lake, Watchung, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 388.25 miles total
Category: fall color
I walked around Watchung Lake today where I've walked a zillion times before, so I concentrated on pretty fall color and photographed beech, winterberry, and blooming witch hazel.
11-8-18 Clover Hill Farm, Fallston, MD. 0.25 miles today, 388.5 miles total
Categories: blooming, moss
A quick walk from house to barn in the morning at our aunt's farm, and I found violets blooming, a few interesting mosses, and something in a swampy area that I can't ID.
11-8-18 Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, MD. 0.5 miles today, 388.75 miles total
Category: weeds
I stopped spur-of-the-moment to eat lunch in this urban park on the way back from the Baltimore Museum of Art. It was a stunningly beautiful day and I explored a really interesting gazebo, a cemetary, a monument to an old pool, and a few sports fields, looking for weeds. The most interesting finds were not (I think) weeds: paper mulberry and an overcup oak with acorns
11-8-18 Lock Raven Reservoir, Sparks, MD. 0.5 miles today, 389.25 miles total
Category: unintentional plants
I walked briefly in several spots in this large reservoir-side park, without actually walking by the reservoir at all. There were a lot of Perilla and some Bidens-like plant that I've not IDed yet. And I found osage oranges without being able to find the source tree. There were a lot of nice mosses, more blooming violets, and several kinds of fern.
11-10-18, Northern Central RR Trail, White Hall, MD. 0.25 miles today, 389.5 miles total.
Category: unintentional plants
I spotted this rail trail parking lot and stopped to take a look on a very cold and windy morning. There were a lot of the typical weeds and a fair number of mosses. There is a ton of cut leaved coneflower here, which I don't see at home, but that was the only real surprise.
11-10-18 Prettyboy Reservoir, Hampstead, MD. 2 miles today, 391.5 miles total.
Category: unintentional plants
I walked in several spots here, down to the reservoir edge (very cold and windy) and then through a pine plantation (the tall pine blocked the wind, which was much more pleasant).
Here there were several ferns and mosses I don't know, plus mountain laurel, big toothed aspen, and wild licorice (which don't grow by me), what I think was sensitive pea, and a heath I haven't IDed yet.
11-12-18 Planets trail, Bridgewater, NJ. 1.75 miles today, 393.25 miles total.
Categories: mosses, fruiting
I went looking for the "planets" I hadn't seen yet on this model of the solar system: Pluto and Uranus. This involved hiking in to Neptune and Jupiter to get the coordinates for the next planets. Only to find the model is new enough that there's no Pluto. I did get Uranus' coordinates, then brought my 12 and 15 year olds out with me to photograph it, with much hilarity about the name.
I found many interesting mosses and a fern or two by the earlier planets, then by Uranus there were blackhaw, crabapple, and privet berries, and Becca (15) found an amazing blue-green fungus I've not IDed.
11-13-18 Whittemore, Lebanon, NJ.0.5 miles today, 393.75 miles total.
Categories: unintentional plants.
This is woods and a pond, all heavily eaten by deer. There were a number of interesting mosses, some fungi, some lichen. They have a wisteria problem, and there was tansy, which I rarely see wild here in NJ.
11-13-18 Columbia Trail, High Bridge, NJ 0.75 miles today, 394.5 miles total
category: unitentional plants
Next stop on the day's adventure was an old rail trail in High Bridge. Unusual (for me) plants here were jimsonweed, common blue aster, bur cucumber, and greater celandine
11-13-18 Union Forge and Arch St. High Bridge, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 395 miles total
Catgory: unintentional plants
This is a ball field lined with woods on the grounds of an old steel plant. About the most interesting things here were some bamboo, catnip, and a bird's nest of some kind. Then around the corner is an old double arch bridge, one of the oldest railroad viaducts in the state. Very pretty with oaks in their fall color all around the bridge and little river running beneath it. Here there were goutweed and bluestem goldenrod.
11-13-18 South Branch Park, Clinton, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 395.25 miles total
category: unintentional plants
A trail mostly used by hunters and fishermen leads off the back side of this medical center parking lot. I didn't go very far, despite having on my blaze orange hat, as it was a gloomy day and good for hunters. Interesting things here included teasel, moth mullein, and mile a minute, looking very bedraggled.
11-19-18 Peter's Brook Park, Bridgewater, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 395.75 miles total
Category: unintentional plants
I walked through this ball field behind a shopping center today. The outer edge was entirely honeysuckle, both a bush and the Japanese. If you simply removed Lonicera you'd be left with almost nothing. Around the other side there was more variety but not much of interest. I did find a mantis ootheca, though.
11-20-18 River Road Park, Pluckemin, NJ. 2.0 miles today, 397.75 miles total
Categories: moss, fruit, not recorded before.
I walked out to a section of this park I'd not visited before, with my son, Carl. It was cold and muddy but still interesting. We found a horse farm I didn't realize bordered the park. I saw lots of moss and fungi, including what I think was lion's mane. Fruiting were: mountain mint, heal all, shagbark hickory, indian tobacco, Japanese barberry, what I think was a skullcap (mad dog is our usual one, but I can't tell in winter), border privet, curly dock, oriental bittersweet, sensitive fern, a small aster, a goldenrod, and multiflora rose.
11-24-18 Wichser Ln., Warren, NJ 0.25 miles today, 398 miles total
Category: fruit
I walked up a back road behind the imaging center before getting an MRI (for low back pain) this morning. Looking for fruit I found: privet, barberry, burning bush, grape, two kinds of rose (multiflora and swamp), honeysuckle, pin oak, reed, mugwort, bittersweet, two goldenrods, barnyard grass, foxtail grass, thistle, Indian grass, what I think is gerardia, ragweed, hops, dock, aster, mountain mint (showy, not the usual narrow-leaved), yarrow, and hemp dogbane. I also found a mantis ootheca and an intrepid dandelion still blooming.
11-25-18 River Rd. Park, Pluckemin, NJ 1.5 miles today, 399.5 miles total
Category: fruit
I walked in a new-to-me section of this local park today, looking for winter fruit and found: pin oak, foxtail grass, beggar ticks, two asters, teasel, mugwort, three goldenrods, bittersweet, knotweed, snakeroot, bottlebrush grass, jumpseed, rose, wingstem, barberry, bitternut, sugar maple, black locust, honey locust, honey suckle, wild rye, burning bush, sycamore, queen anne's lace, poison ivy, walnut, dogbane, honeysuckle, bush clover, stickseed, juniper, purpletop tridens, st. john's wort, privet, cattail, and what might be honewort, I also found a number of interesting mosses and some fungi.
11-26-18 Mountain Park, Liberty Corner, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 400.5 miles total
Categories: fruit, moss
On this gray morning I went out before the rain to this local park and walked a section that I certainly haven't done often, but only a little was completely new to me. Fruiting I found privet, witch hazel (also flowering), milkweed and a sumac. There were a number of mosses and fungi, and a pile of intestines from some small mammal neatly left intact in the middle of the path, with no sign of the corpse. Wondering both what it was and what ate it.
11-28-18 Sourland Mountain, Hillsborough, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 401.75 miles total
categories: unintentional plants, moss, lichen
I had an hour to spare between appointments so I walked up the "mountain" at this boulder-strewn park. It's heavily used by humans and deer so there were not a lot of plants to be IDed, but I found several mosses on fallen trees and on rock, several lichen on the rocks and a few fungi on the logs. Otherwise I spotted: tulip tree, barberry, rose, a sedge, wineberry, wood aster, beech, birch, white oak, probably red oak, japanese stiltgrass, a hickory, honeysuckle, grape, avens, greenbriar, burning bush, and witch hazel (in bloom).
I loved your stories this month, from Druid Park to the plant report from Uranus! Great fun, and such exotic plants you have! It's always interesting to read about what you're seeing since so many of those plants are completely unfamiliar to me.
11/1/18. Tucker Rd, Calais, VT. 3 miles today, 1703.7 miles total.
Categories: blooms, fruits, road kill
It was raining today, so I decided to take my new GoPro camera out to try to learn how to use it. I found it rather frustrating, not at all intuitive, but it seemed to take acceptable photos. I found fruits of Arctium lappa and common buckthorn. And blooms of goldenrods, heart-leaved aster, red clover, fleabane, and a tall mystery plant with purple flowers. Road kill for the day was a common garter snake.
11/2/18. Montpelier, VT. 3.8 miles today, 1707.5 miles total.
Categories: fruits, flowers, trees, birds
This afternoon I took a walk up through some Montpelier neighborhoods that I haven't visited before, south of Berlin St. It was raining again, but today I took my underwater camera since that GoPro was so frustrating yesterday. Blooms today included white clover, ragweed, asters, chicory, red clover, autumn dandelion, sow thistle, goldenrods, dandelion, and horseweed. Fruits were highbush cranberry, staghorn sumac, bull thistle, Canada plum, buckthorn, Arctium lappa, and a dock. Trees of note were Norway maple, red oak and white ash. I also found some patches of Japanese knotweed and a little bit of yellow nutsedge. For birds, I saw a hairy woodpecker, some robins, and some pigeons.
11/3/18. Martin Rd, Calais, VT. 3 miles today, 1710.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, fruits, blooms, road kill
This morning I met up with 2 friends for our regular Saturday morning hike. We headed up Martin Rd with a detour first out to the peninsula overlooking Adamant Pond since one of my friends wanted to see some migrating birds. As I expected, we found the pond full to overflowing with hundreds of Canada geese. After watching the geese for a short while, we headed up the road in search of late bloomers. We found an oxeye daisy, some heart-leaved asters, red clover, goldenrods, and autumn dandelion in bloom. We also found Artcium lappa and blue cohosh in fruit. Roadkill today was a dead rodent of some sort and a garter snake. We also found a crazy snake worm in the grass, tsk, tsk.
11/4/18. Adamant, VT. 1.6 miles today, 1712.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, blown down trees
Yesterday evening we had a major windstorm which knocked down trees and knocked out power throughout the area. In Adamant this morning a large trembling aspen had lost its head beside the road. And a dead elm had come down on Sodom Pond Rd, taking down the phone line with it. There were few birds about today, just the flocks of Canada geese, some hooded mergansers, and some blue jays. Blooms today were a red clover and a dandelion.
11/5/18. U32 Trails, East Montpelier VT. 3.4 miles today, 1715.5 miles total.
Categories: fruits, fungi, blooms, trees
This morning I explored some of the trails behind U32 High School. School was in session and I don't know how close to the school you're allowed to go during school hours, so I stayed deep in the woods, for the most part. Blooms today were helleborine (very late), autumn dandelion, and dandelion. Fruits were Japanese barberry, mullein, common barberry, Arctium lappa, Indian tobacco, bull thistle, buckthorn, Canada thistle, and cattails. Trees were white cedar, hemlock, sugar maple, beech, hawthorn, red oak, and white ash. The find of the day was a stink horn fungus--whoopie! Yes, I get excited over stinkhorns...
11/6/18. Peck Hill, Calais, VT. 2.8 miles today, 1718.3 miles total.
Categories: blooms, fruits, road kill
This afternoon I took a wet walk up Peck Hill. I found an oxeye daisy in bloom, also heart-leaved aster and red clover. Fruits for today were blue cohosh, Artcium lappa, grapes, and black knapweed. Road kill were a dead woolly bear caterpillar and a dead mammal of some sort.
11/7/18. Montpelier, VT. 0.9 miles today, 1720.2 miles total.
Categories: blooms
This morning I met 4 other photographers for our weekly walk around downtown Montpelier. My theme for the day was long pointy things. I ended shooting a lot of church steeples. Meanwhile, I found a Rosa rugosa and Galanisoga in bloom. I also spotted a ring-billed gull and a box elder bug.
11/9/18. Batten Rd, Calais, VT. 3.1 miles today, 1723.3 miles total.
Categories: blooms, fruits, road kill
This afternoon I took a walk up Batten Rd after picking up some packages at the Calais Post Office. The first thing I found was some feathers in the road, which I registered as a dead bird, but they got identified as chicken feathers. Poor chicken! Other road kill today were a dead northern redbelly snake and a dead Virginia tiger moth caterpillar. Blooming today was red clover. And fruits that I found were blue cohosh, milkweed, Indian tobacco, common barberry, Oriental bittersweet, and buckthorn.
11/10/18. Sodom Pond Rd, Calais, VT. 3.5 miles today, 1726.8 miles total.
Categories: fruits, roadkill
Our Saturday morning hike this morning was just me and one other friend. We had a good time walking up Sodom Pond Rd, through. We found meadowsweet in bloom, and winterberry, Arctium lappa, bittersweet nightshade and honeysuckle in fruit. We paused to admire some black ash, some Canada yew, and some tamarack cones. Road kill today was a garter snake.
11/11/18. Adamant, VT. 1.5 miles today, 1728.3 miles total.
Categories: birds
This morning I went birding in Adamant. I found some blue jays and mallards on Sodom Pond, and some Canada geese and hooded mergansers up on Adamant Pond. When I checked out my photos later, I discovered I had also captured a common merganser and a bufflehead on the upper pond. Clematis was the fruit of the day.
11/12/18. Tucker Rd, Calais VT. 3 miles today, 1731.3 miles total.
Categories: fruits, road kill
This afternoon I went for a brisk walk up Tucker Rd. I found mullein, Jack-in-the-pulpit, common barberry, and helleborine in fruit. Road kill today was a northern redbelly snake, a garter snake, and a toad. The Tucker Rd waterfall was frozen, and I found what I think were skunk tracks in the snow by the side of the road.
11/13/18. Peck Hill Rd, Calais. 2.3 miles today, 1733.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow, fruit
We had heavy snow last night and more falling all day. I went for a walk up Peck Hill and was delighted to find lots of arthropods on the snow. I found a smooth brown caterpillar, a scorpionfly, a Trichocera garretti midge, some Pityohyphantes spiders and some Tetragnatha spiders on the snow. Fruit today were some Artcium lappa and a wild cucumber. The neighbors have recently moved their beef cattle to the upper field on Peck Hill Rd. They were magnificent in their black fur posing against the white backdrop. Curious, too.
11/14/18. Northfield, VT. 3.6 miles today, 1737.2 miles total.
Categories: blooms, fruits, birds
I went to Northfield with my husband today, so I took my walk around the streets of Northfield hitting both sides of the Dog River. I found some hawkweeds in bloom, but that's it for flowers. Lots of fruits, though: honeysuckle, honey locust, Arctium minus, buckthorn, thimbleberry, Japanese barberry, bull thistle, and Virginia creeper. I also managed to catch some blue jays, and a robin. Plus a Bruce spanworm. I miss mothing, but I was very strict with myself this year. No moth lights until I get last year's moth light photos processed. If I had my moth lights on, I'd be seeing a lot of Bruce spanworms now, I'm sure.
11/15/18. Sodom Pond Rd., Calais, VT 3 miles today, 1740.2 miles total.
Categories: fruits
I managed to fit in a walk up Sodom Pond Rd this afternoon between errands. It's tough to find something new to photograph on this road since I walk it so often. But today I found meadowsweet in fruit, also highbush cranberry, and clematis. Plus some willow cone galls.
11/16/18. Peck Hill Rd, Calais VT. 2.7 miles today, 1742.9 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow, tracks
This afternoon I took another walk up Peck Hill Rd in the snow. The black cattle were happy to see someone on the road and walked up to the electric fence to check me out. They have a small horse trailer for shelter, which they came running out of as soon as they heard me approach. I had great luck with my snow creatures hunt today, finding lots of Tetragnatha spiders, some scorpionflies, a Trichocera garretti midge, some Linyphiidae spiders and a brown Noctuid caterpillar. I also found the tracks of some mammal and a some squirrel tracks. And sweet Cicely fruit.
11/17/18. #10 Pond Rd, Calais, VT. 2.5 miles today, 1745.4 miles total.
Categories: fruits, arthropods on snow
This morning I met my friend for a hike up #10 Pond Rd from #10 Pond to Nelson's Pond in Woodbury. We found Arctium lappa in fruit, also sumac and basswood. And lots of arthropods on snow, including a moth (Bruce spanworm?), a Trichocera garretti midge, and some Pityohyphantes spiders.
I'm always wondering how close I can go to a school without raising suspicion/ getting in trouble and thus tend to avoid them. I also get very excited about stinkhorns (and how can my kids resist something with a name like Phallus impudicus). I love the idea of a photography theme of "long pointy things"! I've never seen a redbellied snake (alive or dead) and I've also never seen a Bruce spanworm (at least not knowingly) though apparently someone has just a few miles from me.
Bruce spanworms are the plainish looking greyish tan moths that fly in late autumn--early winter. Around here, they are common in late October and November. If you were to do some moth-ing in December, I bet you would see some on your porch. If you see some moths flying on a 30 degree day in December, it's probably Bruce! But just the male Bruces fly. The females don't have wings.
11/18/18. Adamant, Vt. 1.5 miles today, 1746.9 miles total.
Categories: birds, arthropods on snow
This morning I went bird hunting on Sodom Pond, but with the water frozen over the snow here to stay, there weren't many birds at all. I found some chickadees, a junco, and a cardinal. On Adamant Pond I found a few goose tracks on the frozen surface of the swimming hole. I had a lot more luck looking for arthropods on snow. I found some Pityohyphantes spiders and lots of Tetragnatha spiders, plus a some brown Noctuid caterpillars.
11/19/18. Burlington Airport, VT. 0.1 miles today, 1747 miles total.
Categories: unintentional plants
I paced the airport this morning on our way to North Carolina for the Thanksgiving holiday. I peered out every window in search of birds or unintentional plants. I managed to find a box elder weedling and some dandelion greens.
11/20/18. Laguardia Airport, New York. 0.1 miles today, 1747.1 miles total.
Categories: birds
Spent the night in New York last night due to an airplane mechanical delay. That meant more time for birding at dawn from the airport windows. I found a ring-billed gull, some pigeons, and some starlings. More bird life than in Adamant on Sunday.
11/20/18. Brumsey Landing, Moyock, NC. 0.1 miles today. 1747.2 miles total.
Categories: unintentional plants
My brother-in-law took for a ride in their golf cart around the neighborhood. He knows I like to look at flowers so he very graciously showed me all the gardens in their development. Meanwhile, I found spotted some dandelions and asters springing up in the few untended patches of soil that we saw.
11/20/18. River's Edge, Moyock, NC. 3 miles today, 1750.2 miles total.
Categories: blooms, invertebrates, mosses, fungi
This afternoon I walked through the margins of the River's Edge development, enjoying one of their trails that meanders through some undeveloped woods. For a change from my usual route, I walked back to Brumsey Landing on the public road rather than cutting through the neighbor's yard. That gave me some more ditches to inspect. I found Japanese honeysuckle in bloom, also white ginger, Persicaria, and creeping buttercup. I found a brown gilled mushroom, some Russulas, rosy crust, and a big patch of Amanita muscaria right beside the main entrance to River's Edge (don't tell the landscapers!). In the woods I found some Thuidium delicatulum and several other mosses that I haven't been able to identify yet. For insects, I found a black Carabid beetle, a harvestman, and a large mantle slug.
11/21/18. River's Edge, Moyock, NC. 3 miles today, 1753.2 miles total.
Categories: invertebrates, birds, fruits
This morning I took a long walk through the River's Edge development, spending some time in the patch of wooded wetlands that they have preserved by the water's edge. They are currently changing out the railings on their boardwalk through the wetlands, so I could get just a little bit closer to the wetland plants. Invertebrates today were a green smooth Noctuid caterpillar, a dead ipsilon dart moth, several dead centipedes, a peppered jumping spider, and a fat white insect larva, I'm guessing a beetle. I found plenty of birds, including a sea gull, a northern cardinal, a loon, a crow, and a bald eagle. Fruit today were chinaberry, hackberry, and sweetgum, of which the only one I could recognize myself was sweetgum. I also found goldenrod and arrowleaf in bloom, and some Lemna.
11/22/18. River's Edge, Moyock, NC. 2.2 miles today, 1755.4 miles total.
Categories: birds
I slipped out of the house before dawn this morning for a bird walk along the River's Edge property. I came across a cottontail rabbit on the path just as it was getting light enough to see. I arrived down by the water's edge just before the sunrise. Suddenly, a young couple came running up behind me and continued out onto the dock. They were jogging, but not in regular jogging clothes. As the sun began to rise out of the water they paused and watched its fullness, then slowly walked back to the shore. I was overjoyed to see some local folks enjoying the natural world! After the sunrise, I saw flocks of tundra swans, snow geese, and Canada geese flying overhead. I also saw some mourning doves and starlings in the development, and a cardinal.
11/23/18. Laguardia Airport, New York City, 0.1 miles today, 1755.5 miles total.
Categories: birds
I strolled around the airport between connections today, searching for indoor birds as well as out. I finally spotted some house sparrows out the window on top of a jet port.
11/24/18. Sodom Pond circuit, Adamant, VT. 4.1 miles today, 1759.6 miles total.
Categories: tracks, fruits
This morning I met up with 3 friends for our Saturday morning hike. We decided to do the full circuit around Sodom Pond this morning, a little longer hike than usual, but we were all in the mood for a long walk. We kept our eyes out for tracks in the snow, and found red squirrel, deer, crow, and turkey tracks. We found Arctium lappa, buckthorn, honeysuckle, boxelder, and highbush cranberry in fruit.
I always assumed the wingless female/ late fall moths were fall cankerworms, but you're right, the two obeservations I have of them are in December (well one's the day before December).
I love the golf cart garden tour. I have several friends who can't understand why I'd rather photograph the weeds in the parking lot than the beautiful cultivated flowers in the garden (though I often shoot those as well).
Neat to see you finding some of my southern species, though white ginger and chinaberry are too southern for me.
We have lots of house sparrows indoors around here; most of the big grocery stores and Home Depots have them. But the other day I spotted an indoor pigeon in Home Depot.
I have never seen a red squirrel, never mind its tracks.
11/25/18. Adamant, VT. 1.5 miles today, 1761.1 miles total.
Categories: snow arthropods, birds, mammals
Adamant Pond is quite frozen over and covered with snow, so there were very few birds to see there this morning. I only managed to capture a single chickadee with my camera. On the other hand, I had good luck with mammals. I got to watch some muskrats at the swimming hole in Adamant Pond. And then there were a pair of otter out on the main part of Adamant Pond. I found a smooth green Noctuid caterpillar, some scorpionflies and a midge on the snow.
11/26/18. Tucker Rd, Calais, VT. 3.5 miles today, 1764.6 miles total.
Categories: tracks, fruits
This afternoon I took a quick jaunt up to Tucker Rd to check on the waterfall. Frozen over, as expected. I saw turkey tracks and deer tracks in the snow and found some Queen Anne's lace in fruit.
11/28/18. Montpelier, VT. 1.5 miles today, 1766.1 miles total.
Categories: birds
This morning I met up with 3 other members of the photography group for a walk downtown to visit a display train. Some local businessmen have the crazy idea that they want to bring a commuter train to Vermont. They have purchased several wagons and gotten them nicely remodeled and ready to roll. Now they need permits to use the rails. Good luck with that. Unfortunately, a pie-in-the-sky idea, but we enjoyed visiting the wagons and dreaming of what it would be like to be able to have trains for public transit. Meanwhile, I shot some pigeons.
11/29/18. Williston, VT. 3.1 miles today, 1769.2 miles total.
Categories: fruits, arthropods, trees, birds
This afternoon I drove to Williston to pick up my camera after a much needed cleaning. After the cleaning, I took the camera for a test walk in the park by the elementary school, which was just letting out for the day. I walked this park about a year ago after my last cleaning, in the early fall. Today it was more like early winter, with snow on the ground. I found sumac, grapes, milkweed, highbush cranberry, buckthorn, Queen Anne's lace, Artcium minus, and mullein in fruit. I also noted some Phragmites. I found a black beetle on the snow and a brown Noctuid caterpillar. Birds today included a junco and red-tailed hawk.
11/30/18. Montpelier, VT. 0.6 miles today, 1769.8 miles total.
Categories: birds
This morning I walked down to the State House to see the spectacle of the century, the setting of the new Ceres state on the dome of the State House. The old Ceres was decayed beyond repair, so the state commissioned a new one to be carved. The carving process has been fun to follow all fall, since it was done by a neighbor in a granite shed in Barre. The shed was open for folks to visit while the carving was happening. At last today, the statue was done, and Ceres was brought to the State House where she was flown to the top of the dome by a giant crane amidst much hubbub and applause from spectators below. Everyone in town was there, milling about in the 12" deep snow, with school kids sitting on blankets or sledding down the hill in front of the State House, and older folks shooting pictures and parading with costumes and giant puppets. Meanwhile, I shot some pigeons, mallards, and crows that flew overhead. And Ceres, too, of course, but I didn't post her here.
A pigeon in Home Depot? That takes the cake! I have never seen an indoor pigon. But seeking indoor birds is my favorite past time in airports. I once found a house sparrow in JFK with a crossed bill. Apparently, one cause of a crossed bill in house sparrows is malnutrition. That crossed bill sparrow was probably eating too much junk food, not enough worms is my guess.
I have finally gotten my journal caught up. I have a few hundred more photos to upload that I found in the process. Then I can start tackling the 2017 moth season. If I can get that out of the way by the end of the month, maybe I'll let myself moth this year. I gotta work fast, though. In 2017 I started mothing on April 18.
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