21 August 2023. Great Meadows NWR.

Great Meadows NWR/Concord Unit, Concord, Middlesex Co, MA.

0824 to 1024 EDT. Started with loop of Black Duck Creek Trail, then did clock-wise loop of the Lower Impoundment on the Dike and Edge Trails. 2.9 km (1.9 miles) on foot.

Broken clouds with limited sun. 21 to 23C. Dew point: 18C. Humid. SW 0-8 km/h. SLP: 1017 hPa. Concord River up in the floodplain woods and both pools full and draining through culverts due to recent heavy rains.

Birds: very quiet, as expected at this post-breeding/molting time. Species accounts and detail in:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S147822801

Flora/flowering:
American Lotus Nelumbo lutea/Nelumbonaceae
Wild Cucumber Echinocystis lobata/Cucurbitaceae
Blue Vervain Verbena hastata/Verbenaceae
Annual Fleabane Erigeron annuus/Asteraceae
White Meadowsweet Spiraea alba/Rosaceae
Swamp Smartweed Persicaria hydropiperoides/Polygonaceae
Water Smartweed P. amphibia/Polygonaceae
Pickerelweed Pontedaria cordata/Pontederiaceae
Broadleaf Arrowhead Sagittaria latifolia/Alismataceae
Common Jewelweed Impatiens capensis/Balsaminaceae
Swamp Rose Mallow Hibiscus moscheutos/Malvaceae
Goldenrod Solidago sp./Asteraceae
Coastal Joe-Pye Weed Eutrochium dubium/Asteraceae
Showy Tick-Trefoil Desmodium canadense - more tick-like (seed pods or loments) fruits than flowers now.
Common Evening Primrose Oenothera biennis/Onagraceae
White Wood-Aster Eurybia divaricata/Asteraceae
Climbing Hempvine Mikania scandens/Asteraceae - lots of it growing out of shallow water at edge of dike in the NE end of the lower pool.
Flora/fruiting:

Southern Arrowwood Viburnum dentatum/Adoxaceae- fruits 100% ripe with many eaten.
Silky Dogwood Swida amomum/Cornaceae- fruits now at 100% ripe.

Fungae: lots in woods due to recent heavy rains.

Viscid Violet Cort Cortinarius iodes - numerous in oak-pine woods on Edge Trail.
Red Russula Russula sp.

Odonates: just a few Blue Dashers, plus Fragile Forktails.

Herps: several probable Northern Leopard Frogs leaping across dike path ahead of me.

Mammals: Eastern Chipmunk (1); Eastern Gray Squirrel (1).

Posted on 25 de agosto de 2023, 05:27 PM by mpgooley