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Great Blue, the Moon, Seeds Ready to Fly, a new Ode, and a Returnee

Hidden most of the day, our Great Blue Heron can often be seen on the far side of the Wetlands waiting for us humans to leave for the day. The skies were clear most of last week providing the opportunity to see the waxing gibbous moon each morning. Groundsel Tree is nearly ready to cast its seeds to the wind. Last week I spotted a new species of dragonfly here at the Museum, a Blue-faced Meadowhawk. I see Autumn MeadowhawksRead more

Fall Again

I was walking past the Wax Myrtle that grows along the edge of the Wetlands and remarked about how the fruit is ripe and ready to be eaten by the warblers, the Yellow-rumped Warblers. I hadn’t seen any yet this year, but about thirty minutes after making my remark about that waxy, myrtle fruit, there it was, my first sighting of a butter butt this season (10/10/13). The fruit of the Swamp Rose is ready for consumption as well, roseRead more

Fall

It’s sometimes difficult to predict when the peak in fall colors will occur, if indeed there is a peak at all. Some years, many trees’ leaves simply turn brown and drop to the ground. Whether the trees display a big splash of color across the entire landscape or not, there’s always, I repeat, always, little pockets of color here and there, you just have to look for it. Here’s a few photos of what you may be missing if you don’t getRead more
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Milkweed (Butterfly Weed)

The one, and pretty much only, Butterfly Weed plant out in Catch the Wind is about to cast its seeds to the wind. There are no leaves on the plant, just a bunch of scrawny looking stalks and some seed pods. But don’t pass by that one lonely milkweed plant out in Catch the Wind without stopping to give it the once-over. There are creatures present worth examining. A few weeks back I mentioned here in this Journal that thereRead more

Things you may have walked past and not noticed.

This past Saturday, I saw an adult Pickerel Frog out on the path in Explore the Wild. It was a bright sunny, and dry day. I probably wouldn’t even mention this if it were February or March, or even April, the months when this species breeds, necessity bringing them down to the water for courting and laying eggs. Most of the rest of the year they’re up in the woods or well hidden along the edge of the water, notRead more

It’s all out there, heat or not.

We are not experiencing record heat, in fact it’s hotter today (7/19) in Boston than it is here, high 90s to low 90s, respectively. But it’s still hot. No one could convince me otherwise. So why was there a bullfrog sitting on the pavement today in Explore the Wild? True, the frog in the above photo is in the shade. And, that particular patch of pavement is in shade most of the day, but is it really cooler than a niceRead more
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Love is most definitely in the air!

Spring is here and those animals that haven’t found a mate are seeking one, or two. On Arpil 5 a Common Snapping Turtle crawled out to dry a bit and perhaps get rid of some of its accumulated algae and parasites before seeking a mate. I had seen three other snappers a few days before but this is the first that I’d seen out basking. It didn’t take Big Red (a large female Northern Water Snake) very long to hook up withRead more
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Colors, Fleas, Rocks, and a Mint

A short while ago my daughter asked me how to spell puce. She had asked her mother what her least favorite color was to which her mother replied “puce.” I had heard the word before and thought it a color residing somehwere in the red part of the spectrum. As far as the spelling of the word, I told her that it sounded as though it was spelled either p-u-e-s-e, or p-u-e-c-e, but I had to look it up to be sure.Read more