This week in the woods, we found a flock of house finches in a thicket, and this male bird was obliging enough to hop up on a perch and show off his rosy red plumage. Although nowadays house finches are common in the Northeast – and are frequent visitors to birdfeeders – they’re actually native to the western United States. According to Cornell’s All About Birds website, house finches arrived in the East in the 1940s, when they were released into Long Island “after failed attempts to sell them as pet ‘’Hollywood finches.’”
Continuing with the red theme, you can still find winterberries along the edges of marshes, although their numbers are dwindling as birds, mice, and other berry eaters seek them out. The plants spread through the seeds that are consumed (and defecated) along with the fruit, but they also have the reproductive trick of layering; living branches that bend down and get mired in the soil (for example, during a heavy snow) may form new root systems.
Finally, if you’re in a hemlock grove, keep an eye out for the old form of hemlock varnish shelf attached to dead or dying wood. At its later stages, this polypore fungus looks as if it has been coated in bright red lacquer. It’s closely related to Linghzi, or Reishi – a fungus traditionally prized in Japan and China for its medicinal properties.
What have you noticed in the woods this week? Submit a recent photo for possible inclusion in our monthly online Reader Photo Gallery.