Monday, August 2, 2010

Rapid Assessment Part II

I am "on vacation" again this week. According to the weather gurus, it's not going to be the beautiful weather we've had the last few days, so I took advantage of yesterday's pleasant weather to get in another invasive plant survey.

This time I was able to do it on foot, for it was the snowmobile trail that parallels the Hudson River in town here. So I packed up the dog and we went for a walk.

The only invasives I found were a single plant of spotted knapweed and a small stand of honeysuckle.

I found plenty of other interesting things, though, like the virgin's bower in full bloom:


And narrow-leaved gentian, everywhere! (More on this to come.)


The cherries are ripe, and when you have trees and shrubs loaded with ripe cherries,

you also get trees and shrubs loaded with cedar waxwings.


This shelter was a surprise find! Someone was rather industrious and built a fine retreat right along the banks of the river.



How about this tall plant? I have to check my field guides, but I'm thinking false hellebore?

The coolest thing we encountered was the bumble bees in the gentian, but, as mentioned above, I'm going to have them in a separate post.

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