Anyone who’s spent any time beachcombing in Massachusetts has likely come across a shell riddled with holes, such as the quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria) shell I found recently pictured here. These holes are evidence of the Boring Sponge, Cliona celata. It’s worth pointing out that, although many people consider sponges a lump on a rock, or in this case a lump on a shell, the name “boring” refers to its ability to make a hole in something, not its lack of…
While in Oregon last week, I was able to take a day trip south to California and visit Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, the northernmost location in a string of redwood parks stretching up California’s northern coast. Most of the park consists of an old growth forest, which had never been logged, giving the forest a primeval feel. It is unsurprising then, that one of the park’s groves contains four of the ten largest coast redwoods measured, including one called…
On a recent trip to Roseburg, Oregon, I got to spend two days exploring the North Bank Habitat Management Area, a 6,500+ acre property, which is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for Columbian white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus leucurus). Columbian white-tailed deer are one of three subspecies of white-tailed deer in North America. They were listed as federally endangered in 1968, but the populations in Oregon and Washington have since rebounded enough that in 2013 their status…
Two weeks ago I had a post about rose hips from Rosa rugosa (click here to read the original post), and discussed that they were a readily available wild edible, and a great source for vitamin C. I’d tasted the fruit in the past and really liked the taste, but I have been generally dissuaded from eating them more often due to the tediousness of picking out the seeds and scraping the small bit of flesh off the inside of…
It is pretty general knowledge that many species of birds migrate as the weather starts to get cold. But the details about which species migrate, when they migrate, where they go, and which populations stay as year-round residents are best answered through long-term research projects such as bird banding. Although there are a variety of methods employed by researchers to capture birds for banding, the most common method is mist netting. Mist nets are made of practically invisible thin nylon…
While admiring the colors of some of the remaining fall leaves on the trees around my neighborhood, I noticed that all the Norway maples (Acer platanoides) had leaves with conspicuous black spots on them. By late fall, its not uncommon for leaves to have a number of marks and blemishes, but these seemed unique to me in the regularity of their shape (the spots are almost completely round) and the darkness of the marks (almost black). Norway maples are not…
A foraging trip in Falmouth today yielded a number of edible mushrooms (in addition to the sighting of a lot of interesting non-edible ones not described here). Basket of foraged edible mushrooms – Coral Fungi, Puffballs and Boletes. The first edible we came across was a Coral Fungi, Clavulina cinerea, also known as the Gray Coral fungi. The individuals we found were approximately 3 to 4 inches tall, and had an erect, coral-like shape, with many branches forming from the…
Last night marked the first frost of the season in Bourne. Recording occurrences such as the first frost is important to the study of phenology. Phenology is the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena. The word itself is derived from the Greek word phaino, which means “to show or to make appear”, and the Greek word logos, which means “study”. Therefore, phenology is concerned with the dates of the first occurrence of biological events and natural phenomena in their…
It was fitting that during my visit to the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm in Maine, on the weekend just before Halloween, that one of my new discoveries was a phenomenon called witches’ brooms. With many of the leaves blown down by the storm we had the day before, these clustered growths were easy to see, and were apparent on several highbush blueberry and honeysuckle shrubs. The “witches’ brooms” are abnormal growths on the branches of the shrubs,…
While hiking in the Blue Hills this afternoon, I found a plant I’d never noticed before. In fact, in one section of the forest, where beech trees were the dominant canopy cover, there were many of these 4 to 8 inch high plants. These small plants branched only at the base, had somewhat spongy or succulent stems, and were tan with purple streaks. Almost all of the flowers were still unopened (in fact, I didn’t notice any open flowers until…