This Week in the Woods

This Week in the Woods, we’ve been noticing bright green knight’s plume moss, growing atop old stumps and other dead wood. It’s an exceptionally pretty feathermoss, with…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve enjoyed watching flocks of eastern bluebirds on the edge of a meadow, feeding on insects in stands of young aspens. While they’re not as intensely…

This Week in the Woods, recent rains have mitigated drought conditions, and tree leaves are falling fast. Red oaks are now in full fall color. Common trees of northeastern forests (more…

This Week in the Woods, the winds are blowing, migrating sparrows are hopping around fields and lawns, and more than once this week we’ve discovered a pair of spiky balls perched high in…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve been enjoying the much-needed rain, as well as occasional glimpses of migratory birds. In a typical year, staghorn sumac, a common shrub of field edges and…

This Week in the Woods, the ongoing severe drought conditions are taking a toll, from dried up streams to withered plants. The dry weather also negatively impacts insect populations. All the…

This Week in the Woods, it’s so dry out there. A good time to explore otherwise-soggy cellar holes and other low places. Several species of unfortunately-named beggar-ticks are in bloom.…

This Week in the Woods, we found fuzzy brownish-orange things on oak leaves. Elf bedroom slippers? Star Trek tribbles? Turns out, they’re yet another example of weird looking growths…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve been noticing the circular holes and brown, ring-shaped feeding patches created by maple leafcutter moth larvae. This insect has a clever way to hide from…

This Week in the Woods, it feels like the tipping point between the summer and autumn – cool, foggy mornings, and so many acorns on the trails. Yellow jackets are becoming more…

This Week in the Woods, the season has tipped toward early autumn, with the first turned leaves lying here and there on the forest floor. Fungi is abundant, including eyelash cup fungi –…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve noticed bright green lungwort lichen, which grows on the trunks of both conifers and hardwoods. Because of its lettuce-like appearance, it’s easy to…

This Week in the Woods we’ve been noticing leaf rolls on sugar maples and other hardwood tree species – single leaves that are wrapped up tightly like rolled cigars. These are…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve noticed more berries ripening, including red baneberry and its creepy cousin, doll’s eyes (white baneberry) which as its common name suggests, takes…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve had several encounters with clymene moths. According to the National Wildlife Federation’s Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America, this…

This week in the woods, we’ve had several close encounters with red-eyed vireo fledglings and adults. Common summer residents of deciduous woodlands, red-eyed vireos are hard to see but…

This week in the woods, we stumbled upon this clown-faced caterpillar, which we had difficulty identifying. The linden prominent is common but hard to find; it clings to the undersides of…

This week in the woods, the recent combination of rain and heat has produced a bumper crop of mushrooms and other fungal forms, including crown-tipped coral. This common, easy-to-identify…

This week in the woods, the spring chorus has simmered down, but there is still plenty of bird sound out there, including the “chick-brrr” of scarlet tanagers. The males appear as…

This week in the woods, we’ve been finding flies smooshed to the underside of tree leaves. This is the gruesome work of a parasitic fungus. Although not well understood, the process…