For many, New Years is a time for making resolutions. For me, it’s a great time for reflecting on what I’ve accomplished in the past year and setting intentions and goals for the new year to come in terms of nature study. Below is a run down of how I did on my 2017 goals and what I hope to accomplish in 2018. My goals for 2017 included: Post to Seashore to Forest Floor regularly. — I managed to post new…
On a recent walk along Scusset Beach along Cape Cod Bay, the wrack line was dotted with four-pronged, dark-brown, leathery pouches. These pouches, sometimes called “mermaid’s purses”, “devil’s purses” or “sailor’s purses” are actually skate egg cases. Although many species of skate and shark lay similar egg cases, based on the size, shape and location where they were found, these dried black leathery cases are likely from the Little Skate (Leucoraja erinacea). Little Skates can be found from Nova Scotia…
This book was enlightening, but not at all in the ways I expected it to be. I expected a book about coyotes, what they eat, what habitats they prefer, how they raise their young, and other ecological information. I expected a book about coyotes in my America (that is, in Massachusetts, where as far as I can remember coyotes have always existed). Instead I learned just how recently coyotes have expanded into the east coast states (only in the last…
Last night the temperature dropped below freezing for the first time this season – down to 18 degrees, in fact. Although there wasn’t as much frost as I would’ve imagined, there was ice. (Last year’s first frost happened ten days earlier – October 31.) While taking a walk this morning near Santuit Pond in Mashpee, with the temperatures still hovering around 32 degrees, I observed frozen ditches, puddles and ponds. The surface of this small pond had frozen. Interesting ice…
With the exception of the veritable army of squirrels stashing acorns in my backyard, my (live) mammal sightings are relatively rare. I’ve caught glimpses of white-tailed deer and a fisher while walking in the Bourne Town Forest. Occasionally a red fox or a coyote dashes across the road at night in front of my car. I have encountered skunks near my house a few times. But for the most part, indications of these species’ presence take other forms, such as…
The distinctive wooly bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella) has reddish-brown hair in its mid-region and black hair at both its anterior and posterior ends, giving it a banded appearance. If disturbed or threatened, the caterpillar will defend itself either by “playing possum” (rolling up into a ball and remaining motionless) or by quickly crawling away. The one in the photograph below was actually running away so fast it was difficult to capture a clear picture. Unlike some moth and butterfly species,…
Although many shorebirds are only found in the Arctic during the breeding season, with the onset of fall, many will start appearing along the Massachusetts coast. One example of this is the sanderling (Calidris alba). Sanderlings are long-distance migrants, breeding only on the far northern Arctic tundra, while dispersing to almost all sandy beaches of the world during the winter, including Cape Cod. Sanderlings are medium sized sandpipers and have fairly distinctive nonbreeding plumage: white belly and breast with grey…
There are fresh water turtles (e.g., snapping turtles, red-eared sliders, painted turtles, etc.), there are sea turtles (e.g., leatherback turtles, green turtles, kemp’s ridley turtles, etc.) that live in salt water, and then there are diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin). Terrapins are the only turtle in North America found brackish coastal tidal marshes, with Cape Cod marking the northernmost extent of their range. Terrapins can tolerate short periods of below freezing temperatures, but not for more than a week or two,…
I have a love-hate relationship with spiders. I’m semi-terrified of them, especially when they appear in unwanted places (e.g., the shower), but I find watching them build their webs fascinating, and many, like this marbled orb weaver (Araneus marmoreus) are showy, brightly colored, and beautiful in their own spidery way. In addition to the bright colors and pattern, this marbled orb weaver is also striking because of its size. Her abdomen alone was larger than my thumbnail. Let’s just say,…
Last night I left the porch lights on longer than usual in hopes of attracting interesting moths. The light did attract a number of moths, but most were small, tan, and less exciting than I was hoping for. But it also attracted this charismatic northern bush katydid (Scudderia septentrionalis), a species native to the northeastern and north central United States. Because the northern bush katydid prefers to spend most of its time in the tops of trees and shrubs, they are…