23Sep2008

A six hour tour, a Tuesday, and it is once again, unseasonably warm for this time of year. My trail on this day started at the SE corner of the isthmus, then led diagonally across the open field to the pond, along the NPS path to the neck, down to the parking lot, back up the pathway, and along the eastern edge of the hilltop field and exited by the way I came. The forest floor is littered with leaves and branches(many the trimmings from the cicada hatch this year) from the winds of the remnants of Hurricane Ike that roared through Paint Valley over the last few days.
I wade through the field of spent glory, angling towards the pond, my path graced by New England asters, monarchs, goldenrod, Queen Anne's lace, mountain mint, false boneset, goldenrod and thistle up to my shoulder, scarlet poison ivy leaves, bursting milkweed pods and white asters. A tree at the pond has been laid over by the winds, and there is a bright yellow, softly convoluted fungus clinging to the newly exposed split wood. Recently, waves of warblers have been moving through the area, and I saw my share of them along the footpath by the old farm pond near the parking lot. I did not have my bird guide with me but am now positive in my identification of a hooded warbler, and somewhat less positive about a prairie warbler. Others gathered with them are tufted titmice and catbirds, and later along the footpath, a pair of eastern wood pewees traded calls.