Written by Sue Crowley, Executive Director
The dense wall of green vegetation appeared uniform and unremarkable, except for the inviting purple flowers emerging from the tops of the plants. Some blossoms were fully formed while others were in the early stages of blooming; these are vervain, providing a visually appealing contrast among the reed canary grasses and sandbar willows. I climbed down onto the graying weathered boardwalk to sit in stillness with eyes, ears, and nose open with curiosity of this wall of mostly green.
Next these caught my eyes: more purples, oranges, some dappled and sun dappled, yellows buried deep into the green, and then also seeing textures of the round stemmed bulrush with its loose cluster of brownish flowers. There were jewelweed flowers, bulrush, and a single golden rod poking through this seemingly plain wall of green.
Wait–what was falling from the sand bar willows. Oh my, it is a caterpillar with a variety of hair lengths. It is quite difficult to initially decern its head from its tail. What the exact species I have not yet determined, it may be yellow woolly bear or perhaps more likely a fall webworm. Fall webworms may form quite large nests in deciduous hardwood trees such as maples and oak. The nest looks almost like a giant spider web full of these caterpillars. Rarely do these nests cause any significant harm to the tree. Humans though often find the webworms’ choice of housing to be unsightly and unkempt.
As I continue my stay on the boardwalk, I hear the ubiquitous chatter of goldfinches. Occasionally, I am treated to cedar waxwings father off in the distance with high pitched sreee sreeee and so on. Lastly, I heard a marsh wren with its babbly gurgle type sounds.
Take time to truly experience one place. Though a wall of green may look plain, it often hides unexpected variety. With shorter days ahead, now is the perfect moment to enjoy the last of summer.