I spend a lot of time in my yard, or at least a lot of time looking out the window at my yard – probably more than most people. But even so, there is so much time when I’m not able to observe the comings and goings of animals on my property. This is particularly true at night – when I’m asleep and many of our local mammals are more active. I can only watch for so much of the…
For many, New Years is a time for making resolutions. For me, it’s a great time for reflecting on what I’ve accomplished in the past year and setting intentions and goals for the new year to come in terms of nature study. Below is a run down of how I did on my 2019 goals and what I hope to accomplish in 2020. My goals for 2019 included: 1. Post to Seashore to Forest Floor regularly. — I managed to post…
This week marked our 3rd snowfall of the season, and winter technically doesn’t even start for another week (December 21st). The cold weather, snowy trails, and depressingly early sunsets have most people going from home to work (or school) and back again with little to no time spent outside in nature. But with a little planning and a slightly different approach spending time outside, even on cold winter days, it can still be enjoyable. Below I’ve compiled a list of…
After finishing my hike up and over Mount Greylock, I came upon a large stand of rough horsetails (Equisetum hyemale) at the base of the mountain, at the edge of a boggy, wetland area. These plants are primarily found in riparian zones, around springs and seeps, in wet forests or other wetland areas. The rough horsetail has 2- to 3-foot tall vertical jointed hollow reed-like green stalks. Each node, or joint, along the stalk is marked by a ring of…
The long, four-parted woody fruit capsules of common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) are readily recognizable even in winter. These capsules are arranged in spikes at the tip of the stem. Common evening primrose often grows as a single tall stem, 3 to 6 feet tall, but can develop multiple branches. In the case of a plant having more than one branch, each stem tip will produce a spike of flowers, and ultimately a spike of these woody capsules. The seeds…
Excited to put my new copy of Weeds and Wildflowers in Winter by Lauren Brown to good use, I spent the day hunting for unique seed heads and other dried flower parts. The seed capsules seen here were from swamp rose mallow (Hibiscus palustris) and were by far some of the most striking. Each dried swamp rose mallow seed head consists of woody five-parted capsules that appear to resemble a flower themselves. The insides of these capsules are lined with…
Beach plums (Prunus maritima) are best known for the fruits they produce in August/September, which are popular in jams and jellies, but they are most easily spotted this time of year, even from a distance, due to their showy displays of bright white flowers. The flowers bloom in May before the leaves emerge. Although these short, densely-branched beach plum shrubs appear rather scraggly-looking prior to leafing out, they will soon fill in with alternate, simple, approximately 2 inch long leaves…
If you look closely at bare twigs and stems in the winter, you may come across a hard papier-mâché-like blob approximately an inch across. This is a praying mantis ootheca, a type of egg mass laid by a variety of species, including mollusks and cockroaches, as well as mantises. The word “ootheca” is a combination of the Greek words “oon” meaning egg, and “theca” meaning cover or container. The ootheca material is produced from a pair of accessory reproductive glands…
Many plants and animals are logically named: Common winterberry (Ilex verticillata) produces berries that last through the winter; Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) have a black “cap”; and Beach peas (Lathyrus japonicus var maritimus) are a species of pea that thrives on beaches and dunes. Sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina), however, is much less logically named, as it is neither a fern nor (in my opinion) sweet. Ferns belong to a class of vascular plants that produce spores, rather than flowers and…
Although black bears (Ursus americanus) spend the winter hibernating in New England, there are still opportunities to find signs of bear activity from previous seasons or previous years. For example, on a recent walk in Asheville, MA with naturalist and tracker Kathy Dean, we found a tree sprinkled with claw marks. Discovering a tree marked by a black bear climbing activity is not uncommon, since these animals are known to forage in oak trees for acorns, in beech trees for…