September 23rd.  Fall has arrived.  Thirtynine degrees this morning.  A couple of Bouncing Bet (Saponaria officinalis) blossoms still hanging on.

 

Ornamental Phlox blooming at the Route 85 trail head.

 

 

 

Several species of Aster blooming.

 

 

 

 

 

A Leaf-footed Bug (Acanthocephala terminalis).  This one has a white parasitic wasp egg atop its prothorax.

 

Lots of Assasin Bug nymphs around.  This is Zelus luridus.

 

I think this is a Damsel Bug (Family Nabidae; Nabis sp.).

 

An Ichneumon Parasitic Wasp (Family Ichneumonidae; possibly Spilichneumon sp.).

 

A Flower Fly (Family Syrphidae; Sericomyia chrysotoxoides).

 

A Katydid (Family Tettigoniidae).

 

 

 

A male Meadowhawk Dragonfly (Sympetrum sp.).

 

It was resting on Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), which has turned brilliant red already.  (I hope parents keep children from picking the leaves to bring to school.  Although less toxic at this time of year, oils on the leaves could surely affect tender young skin.)

 

September 24th.  A few hints of color near Raymond Brook Marsh.

 

A mid-morning walk in Lebanon from the bridge over the Willimantic River west to Village Hill Road.

 

 

 

A few wildflowers hanging on.  Butter-and-eggs (Linaria vulgaris).

 

I was surprised to see a single plant of Common Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) in bloom so late in the year.  Guessing it was mowed (it was under power lines) and so got a late second start.

 

 

 

 

 

Small Asters.

 

Connecticut Light and Power has posted signs and gates, allowing them to close a small stretch of the trail where new power lines will cross.  I could hear them working some distance away but the trail was open today.  Turkey Vultures were finding thermals high above the lines.

 

This section of the trail, a little over a mile in length, is almost all wooded.

 

September 25th.  Holly.  Ball.

 

September 27th.  Near the downtown East Hampton trailhead, several attempts at a Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) close-up.

 

 

 

 

 

Neart the Smith Street crossing, a small Weevil (Family Curculionidae) on Multiflora Rose.

 

September 28th.  Out early, hoping for a sunrise... but virtually no clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dawn at last.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two species of Sawfly larvae (Family Tenthredinidae) this morning.  This one was on White Oak (Quercus alba).

 

 

 

A predatory Stink Bug nymph attacking a Hickory Tussock Moth (Lophocampa caryae).

 

The bug's proboscis has punctured a soft abdominal proleg.

 

 

 

A small (about 11mm) land snail.