Situated next to the intersection of two highways in a suburban area, Mountainside Park is a gem of a place. What you see here is a natural gas line right of way that creates great habitat for a diversity of dragonflies and butterflies (at least a couple dozen different species of each). There are also a number of breeding birds species, including Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Indigo Bunting, and several warbler species that inhabit the woods and woods edge. I have also seen Black Bear here too. Despite its proximity to the highways, once you climb up the right of way, the noise of the highways fades away, and you feel like you are in an alpine meadow, albeit drier and without an abundance of wildflowers. There are a number of native and invasive wildflower species, but nothing dramatic. Patches of Orange Milkweed and Common Milkweed are the biggest draws for the butterflies. The dragonflies come to feed in the meadows from nearby seepages, marshes and lakes. The highlight for me in 2013 for dragonflies were sightings of Arrowhead Spiketails on several occasions in June.

P1250089a.jpg