What in the Woods Is That?

Play our biweekly guessing game!

Whatever draws us into the forest—be it birdwatching or logging, hiking or hunting—all of us are unified by the sense of wonder we feel in the outdoors. The forests, fields, and streams of our region are full of mystery, and if you stop and look closely, you’ll see all sorts of oddities.

Below find a picture of one such woodlands curio. Guess what it is and you’ll be eligible to win a Northern Woodlands woodpecker magnet designed by artist Liz Wahid. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner’s name, will appear when the next column is posted and in our newsletter (sign up here!).

Baffling Bumps

A staff member found a mass of these bulbous pink formations on the stems and leaves of a wild grape vine in Thetford, Vermont. What are they, what makes them, and why?

Answer

These are grape midge galls. They’re formed by tiny wasps (midges) in the genus Vitisiella. The galls form around the larvae as they grow. Larvae eventually emerge from these galls, drop off the vine, and burrow into the ground to pupate. You can learn more about grape midge gall wasps in this blog post by Charley Eiseman, recently featured in our Community Voices series.

This week’s contest winner was Katherine Fiveash