This week in the woods marks the beginning of deer hunting season and almost the peak of deer rutting. This alder sapling in Lyme, New Hampshire, shows sign of a deer rub, when a buck used the pearlations at the bases of its antlers to shred and scrape off the bark. This activity not only removes velvet from antlers but also marks the buck’s territory visually and by scent. The complex olfactory messages he has left communicate his identity, physical condition, and social and sexual status.
We can still see the fruiting bodies of fungi from earlier in the season, such as this bolete mushroom (one of several possible species). Boletes tend to have stubby stalks and brioche-like caps. Elongated tubes rather than gills carry their spores, giving their undersides a porous look.
Taking its common name from the teeth-like spines on its underside, the northern tooth mushroom parasitizes hardwoods like this old sugar maple and causes heartwood rot. The sizable fruiting body might remain through autumn but not last until next year; its presence – often emerging from a wound – indicates that the fungal infection has spread throughout the tree.
Milkweed floss has for the most part long since burst from the plant’s pods, although some remains. The silky substance serves as a parachute or hang glider for seed dispersal. Deer mice sometimes collect the fluff along with the seeds for lining their nests. Humans have used the soft, buoyant fiber for similar functions – in mattresses and pillows and, during World War II, life preservers.
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