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!).

Name Those Firs

Because different species and varieties of trees break bud at different times, there’s a big variance in the amount of new growth this time of year at Christmas tree farms. Using the new foliage as one clue, can you identify the order of the trees in these photos from left to right? (Hint: the choices include balsam fir, Fraser fir, and Canaan fir)

Answer

From left to right: Fraser fir (with distinctive white undersides on its needles), Canaan fir (which typically breaks bud very late, and is just starting to put out new growth in this photo), and balsam fir (which breaks bud the earliest of these three trees and has nearly finished its annual growth here).

This week’s contest winner was PJ Colella