September 12th. Winterberry (Ilex verticillata).

 

 

 

 

 

I won't try to ID these mushrooms...

 

...or this one...

 

...and this one isn't a mushroom! It's Indian Pipes (Family Ericaceae, Monotropa uniflora). Lacking chlorophyll, it's parasitic on fungi in the soil which in turn are in micorrhizal associations with trees - the ultimate source of the plant's food.

 

September 13th. At Cranberry Bog, lots blooming where everything was dry a week or so ago. Thank you rain!
Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), an invasive.

 

Spotted Touch-me-not or Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis).

 

 

 

 

 

The pods are stressed to the point where if gently touched...

 

...the pod bursts open and flings the seeds away.

 

A female Short-winged Meadow Katydid (Conocephalus brevipennis).

 

The "sword" is her ovipositor.

 

Remarkable how much of the body color blends in with the leaf.

 

A mature Monarch (Danaus plexippus) caterpillar on, what else, Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).

 

The same caterpillar.

 

Another caterpillar on the plant a couple of feet away.

 

Sweet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus)...

 

...being visited by a Leaf-cutter Bee (Family Megachilidae). They carry pollen on the underside of their abdomen, not on the legs.

 

 

 

 

 

A tall bushy Aster, but I can't identify it.

 

 

 

September 14th. West of the commuter parking lot at Route 2, Exit 16 (Route 149). Late Purple Aster (Symphyotrichum patens).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of those asters spread across a clearing.

 

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta).

 

False Nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica).

 

This species doesn't have stinging hairs.

 

Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos). The only picture I took where it was still.

 

The rest of my pictures looks like this.

 

 

 

New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis).

 

September 16th. 41 degrees at the Route 85 trailhead. Light overcast.

 

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) amid leaves hinting at Fall.

 

 

 

Probably Russula sp.

 

 

 

September 17th. Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)...

 

...and the tree it was sitting in.

 

Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) with a Bot Fly larva embedded in its nose.

 

A female Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)...

 

...and a male. Lousy pictures but I was glad to even get the birds in the frame. They fly fast and loud.

 

September 18th. Red Maples (Acer rubrum) out in the marsh are showing color.

 

Since the dam was breached and the beavers trapped 3 years ago, maples and much else have established where once there was open water.

 

A pair of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) far out on the marsh.

 

Also far out on what was marsh, a hawk atop the trunk where a Great Blue Heron often preens.

 

Perhaps the Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) I photographed on September 6th.

 

 

 

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora).

 

September 20th. Foggy after overnight showers.

 

Dew on the spider webs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This odd creature is a female Bolas Spider (Mastophora yeargani).

 

Read about them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastophora_(spider)

 

 

 

A male Pollinia labialis fly gives a sense oif scale. The fly is parasitic on earthworms.

 

The brown structure to the left seems to be encased in silk, but doesn't look like a wrapped prey. Help?