While walking along Nauset spit in Orleans, I encountered this Northern Moon Snail (Lunatia heros) that had been caught out on the sand as the tide retreated. It was just starting to dig down into the wet sand to keep from drying out, as well as to avoid predators, such as gulls. Moon snails also burrow to find their prey: bivalves. Since many clams are found more than 6 inches below the surface, moon snails must burrow to find them….
Until this weekend, I hadn’t seen mole crabs (Emerita talpoida) since I was a child. The lack of sightings was less to do with an absence of the crabs and more to do with the fact that I no longer dig holes and build sandcastles at the beach. My boyfriend and I were discussing these interesting little crabs as we walked down the beach yesterday and he wanted to see one. My suggestion: dig a hole in the wet sand….
There are two abundant but potentially easily overlooked wildflowers blooming in the forest right now. Both are relatively small plants with simple white flowers, but both can be found in relatively extensive patches on the forest floor if you look around. The first, and one of my personal favorite wildflowers, is the Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense). Canada Mayflower, also known as False Lily-of-the-Valley, is a small plant between 2 and 6 inches in height. It begins with just a single…
Dandelions are a common wildflower in New England. Although native to Europe, they have spread nearly worldwide. Common dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) have bright yellow flowers 1 to 2 inches wide on top of hollow stalks, which extrude a milky latex-like liquid when broken. The stalk is surrounded by a ring of basal leaves that are variously cleft and lobed. While many home owners consider them unwelcome in their lawns, other seek them out as an early season wild edible. Due…
Painted turtles are one of the most widespread turtles in the North America, and are fairly common throughout Massachusetts. They prefer shallow bodies of water that offer places to haul out and bask in the sun, such as exposed rocks or fallen, partially submerged logs. They have a rather smooth shell, with red patterns along the outer edge, a yellow spot (sometimes elongated) behind their eye, and yellow stripes on their head and neck. There is a useful identification sheet…
Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) is one of the most invasive weeds in the world. Native to Asia, It was introduced to the United States in the late 1800s as an ornamental plant. Although its delicate flowers are attractive when in bloom, they are rather too small to elicit much praise for their aesthetics today. It was also originally touted as being useful for stabilizing eroding roadsides and creating windbreaks due to its rapid growth habit. Japanese knotweed produces thousands of…
Every day there are new signs of spring. In addition to the three pairs of Piping Plovers and a Killdeer (both first of year for me this year), while walking on the beach on Friday, I also noticed a number of new plants, flowering and leafing out, as well as new growth emerging from herbaceous plants. This new growth greatly expands the options for foraging. One such edible plant is the beach pea, which was sprouting in numerous places at…
I bet you’re thinking, “Newt? It just looks like a salamander.” Physically, newts lack the side grooves typically found along most salamanders’ bodies. Taxonomically, all salamanders are in the family Salamandridae, while newts fall within a subfamily to that: Pleurodelinae. In other words, all newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts. The red-spotted newt (Notophthalmus v. viridescens) is one of four sub-species of the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), and is the only sub-species found in New England. During…
When people think of flowering trees, species with showier flowers, like cherries, magnolias, and redbuds, probably come to mind. But there are understated flowering trees that are worth a look as well. For example, the red maple (Acer rubrum), one of our more common trees, is currently flowering. Its name actually derives not only from the red buds and flowers the tree produces in the spring, but also from its red leaf petioles in the summer and its brilliant red…
There are two common species of whelk in this area: the Channeled Whelk (Busycon canaliculatum) and the Knobbed Whelk (Busycon carica). They represent our largest beach snails, and their shells can grow to be 7 to 9 inches long. As living snails, or as empty shells on the beach, they are fairly easy to distinguish, and are appropriately named. The Channeled Whelk has a groove, or channel, running along the spiraled portion of its shell, while the Knobbed whelk has…