Van Cortlandt Nature Group Walk

June will be busting out all over the park! In June, parent birds nudge reluctant fledglings to leave the safety of the nest, while keen-eyed predators with their own hungry mouths to feed watch the newly fledged eagerly. It’s a good time to see flycatchers, and look for spots (that unloved mark of adolescence) on the plumage of young robins and blackbirds. Animals will be seeking shade, but they also go hunting, reproduce, and, of course, in this time of the year they start to store energy that will be needed for them in the autumn and winter.

Many of our native plants come into bloom in June and will be an important source of food for pollinating insects, as well as birds and small mammals. On the walk in the northwest woods we are likely to see whorled loosestrife, bladder campion (naturalized), bladdernut, yucca, and shin leaf in flower. Elderberry, a valuable food source for butterflies and moths should be in flower.

Milkweed is showing; may the monarch butterfly soon follow. On the walk in the Tibbett Meadow and along the John Kieran Trail the waterlilies, dogbane, tall meadow rue and butterfly weed are likely to show their flowers.

Walk meets in the parking lot of the Riverdale Stables.