Montgomery Town Park (Benedict Farm), 25 July 2007

This place is GREAT! You absolutely must come with us on our next trip here. The104 acre park has forests, fields, streams, ponds and Wallkill River frontage. There are more birds, butterflies, dragonflies and wildflowers than you can imagine!!!!

Walking up the path along the Wallkill River.

Nathan carrying sticks... two in each hand, one in his mouth!

A brilliant red dragonfly, not yet identified.

Mating Gypsy Moths.

A bobolink... Kat's sought-after bird!

Female Eastern Bluebird...

... feeding her young.

Ebony Jewelwing dragonflies playing in the stream.

Goshen Farmer's Market, 20 July 2007

Come join us every Friday for our weekly Heritage Trail walk and Farmer's Market picnic! Every Friday morning at 9:30am we meet at the start of the Heritage Trail in Goshen on St. James Place between South Church Street and Green Street in the town of Goshen. Parking is on the west side of St. James Place (though you can also park on that main road near the Goshen Presbyterian Church and walk over the start of the trail). We will be taking a 45 minute nature walk along the trail, and then we'll head over to the Goshen Farmer's Market to do our shopping and to relax on the lawn. Kat brings her radio so we can have a sing-a-long and sign-a-long, too (she is fluent in American Sign Language). It's great fun. We hope to see you there!

Goose Pond Mountain Created Wetlands, 12 July 2007

Though only a month had elapsed since our last trip to Goose Pond, the landscape was quite different. The first pond (the toads' favorite) had completely dried up. Free from the confines of their strollers, our toddlers walked over what used to be the clear and cool breeding ground of the American Toad. The hot summer sun had caused it to turn into a cracked and dry mud flat. There were tracks of many different animals baked into the mud, making this spot just as exciting for us as if the toads were still here.
As we walked to the second and third ponds, we saw that the milkweed had grown quite tall. Rumor has it that this spot has the largest local population of Purple Milkweed (in addition to Common and Swamp Milkweed). This must be why the Monarch Butterflies love Goose Pond as mush as we do!
The sun was quite strong, and the moms and dads basked in it as the children ran up and down their favorite little "hill." We counted two Garter and three Northern Watersnakes enjoying the sun with us. Most of the butterflies and dragonflies were hidden, but we understood... it was HOT! We headed back to the cars to drink plenty of water and head home for dinner.