This snake was by the haybarn in a brush pile getting sun. We have annual hatchlings in our granite walled basement.
Clara Barton Rd
The first and last sound
Two needles in a bundle, so I guess it's a red pine, but it looks too full to be a red pine. Other red pines that I have seen don't have branches on the lower halves of their trunks. Maybe this specimen gets a lot more sun than the other red pines that I have seen.
On trail in quabbin reservation.
they conveniently posed for a fledgling vs adult side by side comparison. Easiest giveaway when watching from afar is the adults bright yellow eyes.
Single sapling (ca 8 feet in height) observed in mesic forest. Both lobed and unlobed leaves present.
Leaves with secondary veins which curve before reaching the margins (Saar et al, 2012). Vein pattern consistent throughout. Adaxial leaf surface pubescent with stiff hairs which provide a scabrous texture. Abaxial surface pubescent throughout.
This site is underlain by a brownish-purple mesozoic basin sedimentary bedrock with laminae which readily separate.
Thanks to @threepogonias for assisting to confirm ID and for providing additional identification resources. An article published by Dayle E. Saar et al (2012; in Phytologia) proved particularly useful.
Two chucks, a whip and a booming nighthawk on this one!
Found together. Shot
Almost all of the birds that were collected within a few hours from three regions in the island (Sarakiniko, Karave, Kastri - but mostly the first area).
A mass migratory bird death event took place in the island this season. Its probable cause was strong North winds that caused a 1-2 week delay in Africa-East Europe migration. Many birds arrived to the island in critical condition, which was worsened by the lack of food and water. Most died of starvation and exhaustion and many were killed by cats and dogs.
Species found on May 4th- including those not in the photo:
Garden Warbler (30+), Spotted Flycatcher (20+), Wood Warbler (15+), Barn Swallow (15+), European Bee Eater (15+), Sedge Warbler (9), Icterine Warbler (4), House Martin (4), Western Yellow Wagtail (3), European Turtle dove (2), Golden Oriole (2), European Pied Flycatcher (2), Collared Flycatcher (1), Blue Rock Thrush (1), Tree Pipit (1), Eurasian Collared Dove (1), Common Snipe (1), Common Sandpiper (1), Wood Sandpiper (1), Squacco Heron (1), Great Reed Warbler (1), Eurasian Blackcap (1), Common Nightingale (1)
with Green Ash for comparison:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/197822834
Some sorts of voles and/or shrews in an owl pellet
A third-acre stand of pure sassafras, with a few ancient individuals. Possibly/probably a single very old clone
Longtime colony of ferals.
Known rarity, private location
On Castanea dentata.
Under leaf litter in a wet seep.
Dorsal view of native Phylomycid slug Megapallifera mutabilis. Found feeding on lichens on broken branch under an oak tree. Determination by M. Paustian
DSC04907
Was quite pleased to find a Spring Salamander at all, extra pleased to find one eating another salamander, and interested to find it so far from the stream. Maybe they were driven upland by the storm runoff.
Collected outdoors on decomposing polypores, brought indoors for photos
Found in shrubbery under south-facing library solarium/dining commons.
Already added to form
-label-
10/28/2022 Riparia
Lat: 42.396 Long: -72.521 Acc: 32
Roots: 5-15cm
Soil Core: 20 cm and 20 cm
Notes:
no more than two successive tendrils
orchard hill parking lot, in vegetation
sandy soil
Deer shot with copper ammo. I was hoping first mammal this winter would be a Mustalid sp.
This species isn’t typically recognized from New England where it is subsumed under Carya glabra, but given the strange habitat (sandy outwash with perched water table over silt-clay glaciolacustrine sediment) and the fact that I’ve never seen a pignut like this, I’m going to throw out the C. ovalis ID, which is recognized in Weakley’s flora of the Southeast (and lists MA as the northern extent).
64* F ambient Small woodland vernal pool rich with fauna. Wood frogs egg cases have just released tiny larvae. Fairy shrimp, and more.
Feathers on a bush, what happened here?
Every morning at roughly sunrise my bus passes by a field which always has Canadian Geese but today it had 2 or 3 white geese with orange beaks and black-tipped wings.
If they are still there tommorow I'll try to get a photo.
One of very few tree-sized individuals I’ve seen in Massachusetts
First few photos are of the pair mating (female's head kind of looks like a middle branch)
Fungus on oak tree?
This is an adult male Southern Flying Squirrel compared to 2 of the last specimens of Northern Flying Squirrel preserved from MA. The most recent preserved specimen was from Belchertown, Hampshire Co. on May 24, 1968. The species may still exist in MA, but if so, its range has contracted and numbers have significantly declined.
This is about the 6th melanistic Eastern Chipmunk I have heard of in MA. It was in very good condition, so it was donated to a state mammal research collection.
Who knows tropical frogs ?? This dude hitchhiker on nursery stock from Florida
He is so cute. About an inch long and changes colors. I don't think it's a Cuban because I've seen several of those before and it doesn't really have the same color or size .