I have been watching the ducks on the Mystic River. Mallards, Buffleheads, Mergansers. I am wondering what they are eating when they bob under the water? Is there still plant life available? What happens to the water plants in the winter? Don't they die back like perennials on land?
This week I have been busy at home and haven't had a chance to travel nearby or visit a local aubodon sanctuary. For my nature exploration I stuck close to home and went to the bike path in Watertown behind the arsenal mall. I walk here a few times a week with my beagle and we are familiar with the super diverse range of plant life.
It seems to be to be kind of a meadow/swamp environment with tall mostly deciduous trees about 10 feet out on each side from the bike path and brush/ weeds on either side leading up to the trees. There are a few stands of cedars on either end of the path, and one stand of some type of pine in the middle -- next time I'll investigate it further! Most of the small shrubs and herbs are covered in a few inches of hard-packed snow at this time.
I've been noticing small buds start to form on the trees/shrubs, and I took a closer look today and posted some photos on iNaturalist. I will continue to watch them as the season progresses and see what they do! Yesterday on this bike path I saw a squirrel carrying dried oak leaves up a tree and I stopped to watch her, but she seemed unnerved by my dog being nearby (or maybe by me staring at her). I've also seen tons of rabbits on this path especially at the end of summer and into fall, but not as many out lately. I've seen a woodchuck once or twice off the path, but now I know they are truly hibernating so it makes sense I haven't seen on this winter yet. It's cool to think of them having a little burrow out there behind the Target.
There are woods and a large adjacent field a few miles from my home. A coyote den was rumored to be in the area, I had seen an owl fly through it a week earlier, and I knew deer frequented the field. So on 2/4 at sunset, around 5:00pm, with anticipation of hearing an owl and seeing animal tracks of deer and coyote, I snowshoed through the woods staying close to the adjacent field. The sky was clear, winds calm, temperature 31 degrees. I did come upon a snowshoe or cottontail track in a shrub area between the woods and field but saw no other tracks in the area. As I started to venture further along in the wood line bordering the field, I heard a brief screech which I could not identify. Soon I settled under the splaying arms of a giant oak. Hearing nothing more for 30 minutes or more I was ready to return home. Then finally the hoot of a great horned owl floated across the field.
It was disappointing not to see more animal tracks here, as I had seen several deer track the day before at Wachusett Meadow Audubon Sanctuary. Were there fewer animals here because of the proximity of homes? Hunting seasons? Or was I just not in the right location. How much did the the heavy snowfall earlier in the week change the activity of the deer, coyote and other animals? Did the snow cover on the field eliminate the need for deer to search for food there? How much more difficult is it for owls to find food with a deep snow cover? Do they go into torpid states longer or more frequently as food becomes scarce? Was the screech I heard at the beginning of my observation that of the great horned owl I heard later? How do the deer and coyotes survive with scarcer availability of food? Do they go into states of torpor?
I love that plant life looks so different in winter, and identification can be much more of a (fun) challenge because the usual methods of using leaves or flowers to identify them is not an option for the most part in our area.
I was walking through a very tiny preserve near my house that I hadn't been to since early October. Since a lot has died back for the winter, I was able to take a path that I couldn't during the summer months because it's not well-traveled and usually more overgrown than I'm comfortable with. I spend a lot of time looking at the ground when I'm walking in nature, and I came across a large, long brownish seedpod. It was only one half of a pod, about 5 inches long and 3/4 inches wide, had a very thick/sturdy feel with a velvety outside, and indented spaces for two seeds.
My first thought was that it was dropped here by an animal or a bird because I had never seen one of those before, but as I looked around I realized there were more of these littering the ground, varying in length from 3 to 7 inches. Some of them had seeds in them, or space for more seeds than the first one I'd found. The seeds were very bean-like, around the size of a lima bean but mottled brown/tan and more round in shape.
I started to look up and all around to figure out what grew these pods, and soon saw a few still hanging from a vine that was growing all high up and all over the trees in this one spot. Of course, being winter there are no leaves on it, and even though it was hard to distinguish it from the other invasive vines I tried to take a photo to include in my iNaturalist observation. So far I still have no idea what it was, and I think I may have to wait until things start leafing out, and make a point of taking that path before it gets too overgrown. My guess is that it is something invasive, because this preserve is so full of invasive species. I wonder if the vines die off completely for the winter, and need to start again by seed in the spring?
On 1/20 I visited the edge of a nearby swamp. While observing I noticed a log that had been torn to splinters. Who did this? a bear, skunk, or other mammal?
After finding a hollowed out acorn shell in a witches broom and imagining the chipmunk that may have called it home for a bit, I wondered how are witch's brooms formed. So I went to Wikipedia today: "This can be caused by cytokinin, a phytohormone which interferes with growth regulation. The phenomenon can also be caused by other organisms, including fungi, oomycetes, insects, mites, nematodes, phytoplasmas, and viruses". Wow, so much diversity that can change a tree or bush resulting in a singular mutation! And I had naively assumed that all witch's brooms were caused by only one certain insect, fungi, or hormone, etc.
Also, there were numerous shrubs of the same species in the swamp. What characteristics or adaptations make this particular shrub survive so well in the swamp?
Photos of shrub and witch's broom have been submitted.
Ginger
Hi everyone!
I was lucky enough to sit and watch a Barred Owl yesterday resting (cautiously) for about 30 minutes yesterday! I have a photo of them, and am wondering about posting owl sightings and locations on iNaturalist.
In the past I have heard of efforts to not share owl locations as to help support them to stay private without too many people coming to look for them. I'm wondering if that is a specific practice for certain owls and not others, and if any of you have any thoughts or practices around this.
Thanks for your help!
Hannah
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