Young striped skunks such as this little one — photographed by a remote wildlife camera near a barn this week — disperse from their families in autumn. Skunks tend to be solitary, although they are known to den up together in winter burrows sometimes. This photo offers a good look at the long claws on the front feet, which are well adapted for digging, as well as pulling apart rotten logs to search for grubs.
The early autumn crowd on goldenrods has dwindled, but you can still find bees, flies and wasps nectaring on the flowers. The spangled-winged thread-waisted wasp is a common species that’s active in the Northeast from June to October. Females build their nests in sandy soils, where they cache caterpillars (mostly moth species) to feed their larvae. One of the unusual features of these wasps is how much effort they put into hiding their nests. The females dig conspicuous false burrows not too far from their real nests — presumably a ploy that distracts predators. Before heading off on a hunting trip to provision her larvae, a female wasp will also pick up pebbles or other materials to cover the nest entrance.
Resinous polypore becomes much tougher bodied as it ages, but in its early stages, as shown here, it has a fluffy pancake look. At this stage, it also exudes amber colored drops (“resin”) from which it gets its name. An autumn fungus, it grows on dead hardwoods, and often appears at the base of snags.
What have you noticed in the woods this week? Submit a recent photo for possible inclusion in our monthly online Reader Photo Gallery.