Goose Pond Mountain Created Wetlands, 06 August 2008

Kat talks about the wetlands today...

The crazy summer weather (rain one minute, sun the next) has forced us to cancel and reschedule quite a number of our outings, but we have been lucky enough to be able to get out at least once a week. Today we checked out the wetlands to see if the ponds have dried up and to see the Cicada Killer and Golden Digger activity. You have to check this out for yourself, even though seeing these insects in person can be intimidating. We actually got on video a Cicada Killer struggling to get its Cicada into its burrow. Usually the wasp can carry the Cicada right into the burrow in two seconds flat, but this particular wasp took a couple of minutes to get the Cicada in... allowing us to get it on tape. We also filmed a tumbling mass of Cicada Killers, perhaps trying to pair up so as to mate (we saw mating pairs as we walked further down the path). The rangers have repaired the part of the boardwalk that had been struck by lightning and Lily and Penelope took a little rest on it toe-to-toe, looking like mirror images, playing indentical twins for the day. Laurel and I checked out the wildflowers (New York Ironweed, Joe Pye Weed, Black Eyed Susan, etc), trying to capture the depth and beauty on film (which is virtually impossible), while the kids threw rocks into the water. It was pretty windy and we watched two sets of Monarchs and two sets of Tiger Swallowtails try to cling to the Joe Pye Weed (some of which were about 10 feet tall). Since we've had so much rain we saw plenty of fungus: Puffballs, some bright orange fungus growing on the boardwalk, Bird's Nest fungus, and Earth Star fungus. Check it out!