Moth Jackpot

Another partly to mostly cloudy day with little or no moisture.  The wind kicked up a bit in the afternoon, blowing pretty good out of the Southeast and maybe shifting over to the Northeast for a while.  The forecast was for an unseasonably strong low pressure system to move through this evening and tomorrow before mellowing out again by Sunday.

Got a report from Kent B. that there were swallows at Swan Lake this morning.  I didn’t see any when I stopped by briefly this afternoon.  It was very quiet bird-wise at the park, though thanks to Connor’s sharp eyes, I did see a Semipalmated Plover.  It was also interesting to me that on one stretch of shoreline the number of ducks (Bucephala spp) in this case doubled or tripled in the 20 minutes or so between the times I walked by.

We spent a few minutes looking along the outer walls of the Visitor’s Center.  Saw 6 or 7 Variable Carpets (Anticlea vasiliata) in various different shades.  Found 2 or 3 other species I didn’t recognize but was only able to photograph two of them.  I also got pictures of a third Rowan noticed along the trail.  It seemed to have a damaged and/or malformed wing which was limiting its ability to fly.  In any case, we’ll probably keep checking back regularly to see what other moths show up.

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