Birds, Butterflies and Flowers

When

Saturday, June 7, 2014 - 10:00am to Sunday, June 8, 2014 - 9:45am

What

Walk

Where

Finger Lakes National Forest

Who

Charlie Smith and Robert Wesley

Description

Charlie has spent many an hour logging bird and butterfly sightings in various locations in the FLNF and he’ll lead the group to some of the best spots for doing so. Oh, and we’ll see some plants, too! This will be a moderate walk on forest trails.Meet at the Ballard Pond parking area on Searsburg Road, West of T-burg at 10, or at CCE at 9 am to carpool. 

Report

If you ever get a chance to walk in the Finger Lakes National Forest with Charlie Smith, jump to be there! He has studied the FLNF for decades and can recite the history, and natural history of the land and "read" the history in the landscape.

 

We visited Ballard Pond, and then moved on to Teeter Pond. We went to see an isolated woodlot that is almost entirely hickories, rather unusual. It's within a pasture just West of Teeter Pond, so it's a grazed woodlot. There were shagbark and red hickories, and little else, and seemed to be the same age. Charlie and Robert Wesley suggested that it might be the result of selective logging to remove the more valuable oaks. The views were spectacular across the meadows into the Seneca valley, and the day was just perfect. A list of the birds and amphibians we saw is below, and the full plant list can be seen by clicking this link (plant list).

 

One spectacular plant was an 'old rose", "Harison's Yellow", blooming prolifically in an old house foundation. According to Robert, Harison's Yellow was bred in the 1800's (1830) by (George) Harison, a New York City rose fancier. It is thought to be the offspring of Rosa spinosissima x R. foetida. It is prized for its cold tolerance, and received the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit in 1993. Also called the "Pioneer Rose", it traveled with settlers throughout the country. It is said to be the famous "Yellow Rose of Texas". (more on Harison's Yellow) Charlie says that several heritage roses are found at old homesteads in the National Forest.

 

Birds seen or heard on the walk:
Mallard
Canada Geese & goslings
Red-winged Blackbird
Baltimore Oriole
Bobolink
Eastern Meadowlark
Savannah sparrow
American goldfinch
Great Blue Heron
Yellow Warbler
Red-eyed Vireo
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Wood Pewee
Eastern Towhee
Common Yellowthroat
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Raven
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Common Yellowthroat
Song Sparrow
Field Sparrow.

 

Reptiles & Amphibians seen or heard:
Bullfrog (heard)
Green frog (heard)
Leopard frog
Pickerel frog
American toad (scrunched into the 'cave' of a deep horse footprint)
Common gartersnake

 

Butterflies and Odonates seen:
Common Ringlet
Pearl Crescent
Juvenal's Duskywing
Black Swallowtail
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Bluets (Enallagma spp.)
Eastern Forktail
Green Darner
Common Whitetail
Twelve-spotted Skimmer
White-fronted Corporal

 

Plants seen:

Acer saccharum var. sacharum

sugar maple

 

Achillea millefolium var. millefolium

yarrow

 

Agrimonia parviflora

small-flowered agrimony

 

Antennaria parlinii ssp. fallax

Parlin's pussytoes

 

Anthoxanthum odoratum

sweet vernal grass

non-native, smells sweet when dried

Arisaema triphyllum ssp. triphyllum

common Jack-in-the-pulpit

 

Bidens sp.

bur-marigold

 

Carex gracillima

graceful sedge

 

Carex laxiflora

broad loose-flower sedge

 

Carex vulpinoidea

foxtail sedge

 

Carex woodii

pretty sedge

 

Carya ovalis

red hickory

 

Carya ovata

shagbark hickory

 

Cerastium fontanum

mouse-ear chickweed

not native (from Eurasia)

Cicuta bulbifera

bulb-bearing water hemlock

 

Cicuta maculata var. maculata

spotted water hemlock, poison hemlock

Extremely poisonous; N America's most toxic plant

Circaea lutetiana ssp. canadensis

common enchanter's nightshade

 

Climacium americanum

tree moss

 

Cornus racemosa

gray dogwood

 

Crategus sp.

hawthorne

 

Dactylis glomerata

orchard grass

not native, introduced for hay

Diervilla lonicera

northern bush honeysuckle

 

Elaeagnus umbellata

autumn olive

not native, invasive

Eleocharis sp.

spike-rush

 

Epipactus helleborine

eastern helleborine

not native, orchid

Erigeron annuus

daisy fleabane

 

Fragaria virginiana

wild strawberry, Virginia strawberry

 

Fraxinus americana

white ash

 

Galium mollugo

hedge bedstraw, false baby's breath

 

Galium tinctorium

stiff marsh bedstraw

flowers white, 4 leaves per whorl

Geranium maculatum

wild geranium

 

Geranium robertianum

herb Robert

 

Geum aleppicum

yellow avens

 

Geum canadense

white avens

 

Hesperis matronalis

dame’s rocket

not native

Hieracium caespitosum

field or meadow hawkweed

yellow ligules

Holcus lanatus

common velvet grass

not native

Hylotelephium telephium ssp. telephium (Sedum purpureum)

witch’s moneybags, garden stonecrop, frog's stomach

not native

Impatiens capensis

orange jewelweed, spotted jewelweed

up to 9 teeth on one side of leaf

Lonicera sp.

shrub honeysuckle

not native, invasive

Malus pumila

apple tree

 

Ostrya virginiana

hop hornbeam

 

Oxalis stricta

common yellow wood sorrel, sour clover

 

Penstemon digitalis

foxglove beardtongue

 

Pinus strobus

white pine

stumps used for fencing

Platanus occidentalis

sycamore

 

Poa compressa

Canada bluegrass

perennial grass, introduced from Europe

Podophyllum peltatum

Mayapple

 

Potentilla simplex or canadensis ?

old-field cinquefoil, common cinquefoil

 

Prunella vulgaris var. vulgaris

heal-all

not native

Prunus serotina

black cherry

 

Prunus virginiana

choke cherry

 

Pyrus communis

European pear

escaped

Quercus alba

white oak

 

Quercus rubra

northern red oak

 

Ranunculus abortivus

kidney-leaved buttercup

 

Ranunculus acris

tall buttercup

not native

Ranunculus sceleratus var. sceleratus

cursed crowfoot, blisterwort

annual, native to N America & Europe

Rhamnus cathartica

European or common buckthorn

not native, invasive

Ribes cynosbati

eastern prickly gooseberry

 

Robinia pseudoacacia

black locust

not native

Rosa 'Harison's Yellow'

Yellow Rose of Texas, Oregon Trail Rose

a hybrid rose cultivar

Floribunda (rose)

floribunda rose

polyantha/hybrid tea cross

Rosa multiflora

multiflora rose

not native, invasive

Rubus allegheniensis

blackberry

 

Salix spp.

willows

 

Scirpus atrovirens

dark green bulrush

not a rush, in sedge family

Sisyrinchium sp.

blue-eyed grass

 

Solidago juncea

early goldenrod

smooth stem, bracts in leaf axils

Solidago rugosa

rough-stemmed or wrinkle-leaved goldenrod

 

Sphagnum sp.

a species of sphagnum moss

probably S. girgensohnii

Stellaria graminea

little starwort, common stitchwort

not native, native to Eurasia

Symphyotrichum lanceolatum (Aster lanceolatus)

panicle aster, lance-leaved aster

 

Taraxicum officinale

dandelion

 

Toxicodendron radicans

poison ivy

 

Tragopogon pratensis

showy goat's-beard, meadow salsify

yellow ligules

Trifolium pratense

red clover

 

Vaccinium sp.

blueberry

 

Valeriana officianalis

garden heliotrope or common valerian

escaped garden plant, native to Europe and Asia

Veronica chamaedrys

bird's-eye speedwell

native to Europe and Northern Asia

Veronica officinalis

common speedwell, gypsy-weed

not native

Viburnum dentatum

arrowwood

 

Viburnum lentago

nannyberry

 

Viola sororia

common blue violet

 

Vicia tetrasperma

lentil vetch, sparrow vetch

introduced as a forage crop, native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa