In most years around this time, I review my previous year’s goals and set new ones for the upcoming calendar year (see: 2021, 2020, etc.). But, interestingly, I never established set goals for 2022. Perhaps on some level I knew this year would prove hard to stick to my typical plans; my pregnancy and the birth of my son have certainly thrown my typical routine a bit out of whack. However, I’m a very list-driven, action-oriented person, so this bugged…
At 9 months pregnant, my woods walking speed has slowed to almost a snail’s pace. But the beneficial side effect of this is that I notice tiny details I would’ve otherwise missed. On Friday, for example, I noticed a single strange seed pod mixed in among bear oak and huckleberry shrubs. This was a seed pod I’d never seed before, but I was hopeful that it’d be fairly easy to identify. It was part of a low-growing (only ~6-8 inches…
Everywhere you look, preparations are underway. Sometimes those actions are easily observable. For example, people are preparing for holiday gatherings and festivities, and gray squirrels are lining their nests for additional warmth and stashing away acorns in preparation for winter. Even within our own house, my husband and I have been doing our own preparations – getting ready for the birth of our first child (who’s due any day now!). But sometimes those preparations are more subtle, and require a…
While the majority of flowers have their peak bloom time in the summer months, the fall is the asters’ turn to shine. Although a quick look outside will leave no doubt that fall is here, with autumn colors and crunchy leaves falling to the ground, and insect numbers are definitely down, a number of important pollinator species, such as bees and moths are still active… and still need a source of food. Cold hardy late-blooming perennials, like asters, are a…
Throughout the summer you can find a variety of galls – the wool sower gall, the oak apple gall, the scrub oak gall and many others. Many galls, like the ones listed here, are found on oaks, which are common host plants for many gall-producing insects. But a few weeks ago, I noticed a gall on staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) for the first time. If I hadn’t been inspecting the undersides of the leaves closely, in search of a butterfly…
This is a great time of year for nature observation in Massachusetts. Almost every day something new is happening: a new plant is flowering, some new insect has emerged or I’ve spotted a new bird, recently returned from its winter away. So these days, when I’m out and about, I try to keep my eyes pealed to spot these “happenings”. A few days ago, while poking around the woods in my backyard where I was checking on the blooming mayflower…
I took a quick walk at Wareham Land Trust‘s Agawam River Trail after work today, enjoying the abundant late-day sunshine. Although signs of spring were seemingly everywhere, from the red-winged blackbirds calling in the nearby wetlands to the red maple flowers bursting in vibrant color, I did notice an interesting trend. At least five different plant species were pushing out new green leaves, but none of these were native. Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) 2. Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) 3. Shrub…
Although I’m sure many of you are waiting as eagerly for the first flower buds, returning migrant birds, and other signs of spring as I am, I do still appreciate some of the nature observations that are just plain easier in the winter. Galls are certainly one of them. With no leaves on trees and shrubs, any galls remaining on woody stems are easily visible. Galls come in a variety of unique shapes and sizes; I’ve written about a number…
Beech bark disease causes defects and mortality in American beech trees. In North America, this disease is tied to a combined effect of fungi and insect attackers. The introduced beech scale insect, Cryptococcus fagisuga, begins the cycle by feeding on the bark of a beech tree. Feeding activities of the scale insects create tiny wounds such that the tree becomes susceptible to two different species of Neonectria fungus: N. faginata and N. ditissima. Once the bark is wounded by the scale insect,…
Here in late November, we are solidly into autumn. The temperature has dropped, the days are getting short, most of the leaves have fallen from the trees and shrubs, and the predominant landscape colors are brown and gray. But lichens, clubmosses, and some ferns remain green year round, providing splashes of vivid green throughout the landscape. One such fern is the aptly named evergreen wood fern (Dryopteris intermedia), which is indeed green year-round in areas of mild winters, such as…