Each type of lichen is actually a composite of two different organisms: a fungus and an alga (or less commonly a fungus and a yeast or a cyanobacterium). The fungal partner within each species of lichen is unique, but a single species of algae can be found in many different lichens. It is therefore the fungal partner, also known as the mycobiont, from which the lichen’s name is derived. To help differentiate lichens from each other, it’s helpful to consider…
I’m not going to lie. I’m incredibly excited by all the signs of spring I’ve been coming across lately. But I’m also trying to take in as much as I can of some of our winter visitors, like this Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), before they migrate back north to their breeding grounds in the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska. During the winter, Common Goldeneyes frequent shallow coastal bays, estuaries, harbors and ponds around Cape Cod, and throughout much of…
While birding along the Cape Cod Canal on Saturday, I noticed a fairly large clearing filled with green, densely branched low-growing shrubs. Upon closer inspection, the stems were strongly angled with alternately arranged pinkish-brown buds. Even without leaves or flowers, it did not take long to identify this shrub as Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius). This non-native shrub flourishes in full sunlight in dry, sandy soils, making it no surprise that it was so abundant in this Cape Cod clearing. Scotch…
Although Saturday’s weather forced the rescheduling of the Upper Cape Naturalists Club’s winter bird walk, I ended up getting antsy prior to the end of the snow storm and decided to head out for a walk anyway. Tucking my binoculars inside my jacket to shield them from the majority of the wet snow that continued to fall, I set off down the Sagamore Hill trail at Scusset Beach State Reservation. On the edge of the trail, motionless in the grass,…