July return to Woods

Saturday July 7 I returned to the Woods to see their look in midsummer. I entered via the NE Gate and was struck again by the destruction wrought by the line crew; but then eagerly advanced into the shade and solid humid warmth beyond the first trees. I walked 70% of all the trails and things were OK, no major tree falls. Lots of creatures in the Woods. Small (softball-sized) young box turtle on trail just west of NW Pond. Water there was lower but good at 1.4 ft. The growth of the cattails was lush and made an interesting sharp line of division between them and the 0.7 meter lower growth of the sedges (equally lush). Be interesting to map the line between the two species and think about what might control that.. water depth/ water permanence, soil difference, light? Hovering dragonfly looked like an aeshnid. I did not see the red-eared slider pond turtles, but I am sure they were there. Just inside the NE Gate a young spotted white-tailed fawn spooked and sprinted away 60-70 m, then turned and watched me. South and west in the Woods, I saw two does. At the East Pond there were scores of young small frogs all jumping back to the water as I approached the water.. now substantially withdrawn from max shoreline, although water depth was 1.1 feet. Throughout the Woods, there were hundreds of webs of Micrathena across the trails. Great time to study the spiders in the Woods: what is the diversity? what controls their abundance in different areas of the Woods? (types of vegetation shrubs/ tall trees, proximity to water, amount of sunlight etc) If webs are broken, does the spider rebuild using the same points? how quickly do they rebuild?
  Mosquitoes, unfortunately were moderately abundant, despite DEET. There is some water left in isolated bodies in the Wash, none at Island Crossing or Elm Bridge. I disturbed a big Neotibicen cicada at Island Crossing. There was one of the same, caught in a web and I found the shed exuvia of one on the underside of a leaf of a mexican hickory. Must have been an emergence of these while I was gone in Europe.
  Along the westside of the NW Pond I was surprised to see a moderately large crayfish castle/ chimney at the base of a young ash tree. I didn't know there were crayfish in there.
  Along the South Boundary trail, just west of the patch of small roughleaf dogwoods, I watched from thirty feet away, the slow flight of an exciting Megarhyssa ichneumon wasp with its giant ovipositor tail. It was flying through a wreck of tangled, fallen tree trunks and branches.
  The canopy in the Woods, surprisingly, felt more open.. more sunlight coming through. It may be that storms had taken out some leaves or the understory was thinned out a bit. Along the trails, Elephantopus elephant's ear was taking advantage of the light.. healthy thick patches of these mixed with Polygonum pink lady's thumb, especially by the junction of the North Rim and North Loop Trails. At the same location I snapped off the tops (again) of three fast growing invasive Ailanthus tree-of-heaven, keeping each one below one meter.
  I checked on the invasive bittersweet and it looks like the majority of the canopy growth of the patch has died after cutting. But there are now scores or more of new young twining tendrils, with orbiculate, toothed leaves, rising from the cut stumps of the vine. By the SW Gate, along the fence line, the orange flowers of the Campsis trumpet vine were blooming.