Barre Falls Dam/Rutland State Park (9/16)

On Saturday we spent the day exploring the area around Barre Falls Dam. On the road in to the dam, we spotted some friends, Mark Lynch and Sheila Carroll, who had stopped to check out a Praying Mantis. While everyone talked, I explored the area adjacent to the road and it was amazing what could be found. Several Peck's Skippers flitter about the grass along with a couple of Katydids. Just outside the mow line, Selfheal and Smooth Aster were prevalent.

Since it was a sunny but cool day I thought that I might be able to find some snakes so I started searching the brush cuts on each side of the road. After a couple of minutes of looking I spotted a Garter Snake who slithered into the woods. I followed it down a small offshoot path and discovered one of the strangest things I'd ever seen. On the ground were what appeared to be three dinosaur eggs. They were actually giant puffballs. I'd never seen them even half this big. The first two were pretty big but the third was at least as big as a bowling ball. I took a picture of it next to my water bottle to give a sense of the proper scale. It was immense.

Next we drove down to the open field below the hawk watch site and did a little butterflying. There was a lot of activity, mostly Clouded and Orange Sulphurs and Cabbage Whites. But there were also Viceroys, Monarchs, Common Wood Nymphs, and at least one Great Spangled Fritillary. We even spotted a couple of New England Buck Moths, one which let me get a good shot of it.

Amongst the butterflies Mark spotted an unique sulphur. It was only about half the size of the other individuals in the field. We thought that it might have been a rarity so I took some pictures. But it turns out that it was just a small Clouded Sulphur. But his size wasn't holding him back. As we watched, he tried to mate with several of his species.

After a short lunch we headed back up to the hawk watch site and met up with Bart Kamp and the rest of the "hardcore" hawk watchers. Right when we got there I spotted a Cooper's Hawk and a Sharp-shinned Hawk in flight above the treeline. But, after a while of searching the skies I got bored and decided to take a walk around the area. In the clear cut area above the parking lot I found a small group of Eastern Phoebes. Back in the field, I saw a few Monarchs who seemed to be in migration. When I got back to the parking lot, Bart and the group had begun to find small groups of Broad-winged Hawks kettling before peeling off and heading south.

Unfortunately we couldn't stay for too long because we wanted to take the long way home thru Rutland State Park. We drove slowly thru the park looking for anything interesting. Our first stop was at a small pond where we were surprised to see that some of the maples had already started to turn red.

We continued thru the forest and before stopping at one of the best fields on the property. It was full of Goldenrod in bloom which made it look particularly spectacular. The fruit trees that bordered the field were packed with Cedar Waxwings and we had a great time observing them. Then we took one final walk along the pond opposite of the field to see if we could locate anything interesting. The water was absolutely still which allowed for a perfect surface for getting a reflection of the clouds above.

At the edge of the water several Milkweed plants were in bloom. One of the seed pods was covered with these strange bugs. We spotted a Monarch caterpillar on another plant. The area was also filled with butterflies including a Viceroy and a Mourning Cloak. As we turned to head back to the car, my father almost stepped on a Brown Snake that was crossing the road.

Before we left the park, I had to make one more stop. Mark and Sheila had told us of a patch of Bottle Gentian that was in bloom. After a short walk, I finally located the plants and took about 100 photos of them. I got a couple nice shots of the plant and a good one of the flower. It was a great way to end the day.