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…
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…