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!).

Filthy Forest Mystery

This small black patch was seen on the forest floor in early October in southern Vermont. What is it, and what helped cause it?

Answer

Sooty mold on the leaf litter under a beech tree. Above this spot, a branch of the beech is infested with beech blight aphid. The aphids suck the sap but they can’t process all of it and the excess “honeydew” drips down and supports the growth of the sooty mold.

This week’s contest winner was Peter Rzasa of Seymour, CT