This scene was seen the morning after a rain storm. What are the orange items on the hood of this vehicle? (Fun tiebreaker: guess the vehicle make and model!)
Answer
Those are male, or pollen, cones from the eastern white pine trees seen in the background of the picture. These cones had already released their pollen and were knocked off the tree by rain; the needles were also knocked off by the rain. Needle drop of old needles (2-3 years old) in white pine typically occurs in October but in the Northeast over the past 15 or so years, three fungi have been infecting needles and causing trees to drop one-year-old needles in June and July. This condition is known as “white pine needle damage.” Learn more here. And for the bonus: that’s a Nissan Frontier hood - we stumped you all with that one!
This week’s contest winner was Hannah McGhee