the canopy begins to turn...
The sugar maple’s red leaves begin to appear on the ground, and they begin to appear in the treetops. But only the highest leaves have begun to turn and drop, as the sugar maple leaves down below ...
more busy pollinators
Not only is this yellow jacket (or blackjacket?) covered in pollen dust, but its yellow legs could pass as extensions of the flower itself.
Barberry fruiting
This is another species we’d rather see less of than more… These red berries like the same soil as the native spicebush. But these bushes are not only thorny, but also turn out to offer a prime loc...
spicebush berries are in!
Find these near the Laurel Grove road entrance, especially plentiful by the side-trail toward the old pumphouse. For reflections on harvesting and enjoying spice berries, try nona brooklyn.
stinks-to-heaven tree
I’m sad to report that I’ve now found Ailanthus in our dear Wadsworth park. It’s an opportunist tree that has taken over cities and other degraded habitats in the northeast. It was hiding near Laur...
saddleback
The rear end of the saddleback (Acharia stimulea) looks like the head of an alien. The head, meanwhile, looks like a porcupine crossed with the back of a retro bus. This one was a bit downstream of...
unlikely epiphyte
Here's a 5" diameter black birch growing out of a head-height scar in a big old honey locust (at Taconic State Park, found on vacation). This kind of growth — an "epiphyte" — rarely grows so large ...
Spined micrathena
This spider carries its spiny abdomen everywhere… at Higganum Reservoir.
Tupelo
Not really. At least, no sightings at Wadsworth yet. But I did find Tupelo at the Middletown Nature Gardens, as well as in the more swampy areas of Deep River. It's only mid-July, and already some ...
wintergreen flowering
While I still haven't seen many at Wadsworth (where the soil is mostly base), tiny wintergreen flowers are appearing in more acidic forests around here. Here are some from a bit south, near Chester...
Reticulated net-winged beetle
I've been away from Wadsworth lately; most of my walking has been in Deep River and Chester. Here's a beautiful critter whose home is a chestnut oak leaf.
crane flies
A mass of these flies -- like giant mosquitos without the proboscis -- were hiding in a hollow log at Middletown Nature Gardens… not quite Wadsworth, but close enough to share here. They might be c...