Saturday, on a near 50-degree sunny morning, I joined a guided walk led by MassAudubon to explore the vernal pools at Ashumet Holly in Falmouth. A vernal pool is a unique temporary wetland that fills with water in the autumn or winter due to rainfall, snow melt and rising groundwater and remains ponded through the spring and sometimes into early summer. What makes vernal pools different from an ordinary pond is that vernal pools dry completely by the middle or…
Saturday I was lucky enough to see a King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) among a large flock of Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima) along the Cape Cod Canal. King Eiders are an arctic duck, and are uncommon this far south, so seeing this individual was a fairly rare opportunity. This particular male King Eider in the Canal was in his full breeding plumage: a spectacular looking bright red bill topped with an orangey-yellow swollen knob, combined with a blueish-grey head, a yellowish…
This post is a little delayed, but I figured it was still worth sharing. Fittingly for the last day of winter (March 19), I was able to take a snowy walk in the vicinity of the Quabbin Reservoir in Petersham, MA. Unlike Cape Cod that received mostly rain from the “blizzard” the previous week, there was still 8+ inches of snow in Petersham, despite warmer temperatures and some melting over the previous few days. The snow, in addition to providing…
This time of year, with the leaves still absent, it’s hard not to notice the tan spheres attached to the ends of some oak branches. These ball-like objects are oak apple galls, and can range in size from 1 to 2 inches in diameter (approximately golf ball sized). A “gall” is a general term for a plant deformity caused by an insect or a fungus. These oak apple galls are caused by gall wasps in the family Cynipidae. Female wasps…
In an effort to connect with and learn from expert naturalists, I am participating in a year-long natural history course: Hitchcock Center for the Environment’s Nature All Year Program. Divided into monthly classes, the course will cover topics ranging from vernal pool ecology to plant identification to mammal tracking. This month’s class focused on the geologic history of the Connecticut River Valley led by Nikki Hill. Although it’s hard to imagine given the relatively short human lifespan, over geologic time…
In recent walks through the forested wetlands surrounding the Quashnet River in Falmouth, as well as along the edges of the marsh fringing Allen’s Pond in Dartmouth, I came across a handful of shrubs tipped with large bright yellow and red buds. Although most plants are not flowering yet, the buds of many trees and shrubs are enlarged. These particularly noticeable buds belong to the swamp azalea. The swamp azalea (Rhododendron viscosum), also called the clammy azalea, is a medium…
I was given this book, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben, as a gift from my aunt who over the years has introduced me to many of my favorite books. This one was no exception. This fascinating work turned out to be an unlikely world-wide best seller. For one thing, it was originally written in German, a language in which few people outside of Germany are…
It’s only February, but already signs of spring are emerging. The red-winged blackbirds are calling in the marsh, I saw a honeybee on Saturday pollinating the crocuses in my yard, and the skunk cabbage are flowering in forested wetland areas. Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) flowers, and the structures that surround them, are fairly strange looking as far as flowers go. The outer sheath, called a spathe, is purplish with yellow-green streaks and is roughly teardrop-shaped with an opening where the…
Both Smooth Alders (Alnus serrulata) and Speckled Alders (Alnus rugosa) are commonly found near streams, rivers and wetlands. Both species are deciduous trees with alternate, simple, serrated leaves. And they have distinctive flowers, called catkins, that take on two different forms: the male catkins, which are pendulous, and the female catkins, which are smaller and develop into cone-like structures in the fall. Despite many similarities, there are noticeable differences between the two species: The cones of the Specked Alder are…
On a recent trip to Parker River National Wildlife Refuge yesterday, my friend and I saw a number of new-to-me birds, including a Barred Owl (Strix varia) and an American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea). However, those sightings were often fleeting and from a great distance. The Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), on the other hand, were bold and curious and often perched only a few feet from us to search for food amongst the branches and reeds. Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) –…