My husband and I are up in New Hampshire and Maine for about 10 days. It’s been an unbelievably long time since either of us have been up this way and it’s been wonderful to explore some new places and get to know some new plants and animals. I hiked along a few legs of the Cohos Trail, including up to and along the NH-Canada border to Fourth Connecticut Lake (the headwaters of the Connecticut River). This post is just…
September 22nd marked the autumn equinox – one of two points in the year where the length of day and night are equal. From here, the length of daylight will continue to shorten as we move towards winter. While I always miss the outdoor exploration opportunities that early evening sunshine affords me, there are so many things to look forward to about autumn. Although traditional “berry season” (i.e., blueberries, raspberries, etc.) is long over, many fruits and nuts are ripening…
Much of Massachusetts was in some level of drought earlier this year. All other regions have since had enough rain to bounce back, but as of today, the Cape Cod Region is still classified as having “mild drought” conditions. Although there are numerous adverse impacts that result from a prolonged drought, one positive response is a big bloom year for the coastal plain pondshore plant communities, which thrive in the drawdown areas around pond perimeters in low water years. This…
I discovered something about myself recently: all my favorite non-edible fungi are purple. At the top of the list is the violet viscid cort that is commonly seen in September and October. But coming in at a close second is the violet-toothed polypore (Trichaptum biforme), a common shelf fungus that appears on dead and dying hardwoods. It can be found in all 50 states, and in eastern North America it is one of the most commonly encountered fungi. On a…
Northern raccoons (Procyon lotor) are mainly nocturnal, so we seldom get to observe their antics outside of their exploits with residential trash cans. But I recently captured an entertaining scene of two young raccoons, called kits, chasing each other up and down a tree in a local tupelo swamp on my game camera. Females typically bare between 2 and 5 young, which are born blind and only lightly furred, although even in these first moments their “masks” are already visible….
Last summer my fiancé brought a plant home from a native plant nursery that I’d never seen or heard of before. It was foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis). After my walk at the southern portion of Crane Wildlife Management Area in Falmouth this weekend, I’m not sure how it’s possible for me to have missed this amazingly beautiful and abundant native perennial wildflower. In some places, this foxglove beardtongue dominated the meadow with its panicles of white flowers. These panicles are…
I must admit, I was a little jealous to hear that the Brood X cicadas that everyone’s been talking about in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland would not extend as far north as Massachusetts. So I was surprised, and quite delighted, to discover this Magicicada (periodic cicadas) in my yard last week. Unlike some of the swarm-like photos coming out of NY/NJ, I found just a single female beside its exuvia – the cast-off outer outer skin of…
Perhaps second only to coyotes, fishers (Martes pennanti) are often vilified and blamed for a whole host of occurrences and noises. Fishers get a bad rap as “aggressive” or “dangerous” animals. They are predators, so these animals probably seem fairly aggressive to rabbits, squirrels and mice, but they generally want to keep to themselves as far as humans are concerned. Although often referred to as “fisher cats”, that name is incorrect; these animals are not closely related to cats at…
To me, spring is one of the most exciting times of year in nature. It seems that just about every day there’s a new flower blooming, a new tree leafing out, a new bird arriving back (or passing through) from its wintering area, or a newly emerged insect. With respect to insects, over the last couple weeks I had been noticing two fairly common and unique looking flies around my yard. Both had jet black bodies with noticeable red legs…
Spring ephemerals always bring a smile to my face. These hardy little herbaceous perennials poke their heads up from the soil in early-spring before the leaves have emerged from the canopy trees above them. On Cape Cod, we have Canada mayflower and starflower. Elsewhere in the state where the soil is richer, bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is just starting to flower right now. Found in every county in Massachusetts except for Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties, bloodroot is so named for…