Goldenrod Party (Cutler version)

More goldenrod action, featuring a slightly different cast of characters than the CRP. Including gigantic bumblebees carpenter bees,

goldenrod soldier beetles, and the attractive Ailanthus Webworm Moth.

And there's a lovely flower with a yellow center

--oops, my mistake--it's a yellow crab spider eating a cabbage butterfly.
And another yellow flower lover--the ruby-throated hummingbird! More blurry photos, alas, with the best shot from behind, but this one was perched for quite a while before feeding so I took in a long long look. What a charming bird.

The Goldenrod Party Continues

Today's party animal (and they are "partying" indeed) is a yellow and black long-horned beetle, leading the novice naturalist in me to think...hmmm....maybe there's some causal relationship between the yellowness of goldenrod and its popularity with yellow and black creatures...

I looked up the beetle and it turns it is the destructive (if you value black locust trees) Black Locust Borer Beetle. While their main food is the black locust, they love the yellow stuff.

Mushroom in a tree

It hasn't rained in a while so the mushroom situation has calmed down around here. But there is a beautiful large satiny fungus under the pine tree in front of our house that is still hanging in there.
Makes a dramatic stage for our cicada skin collection (we found fourteen of them around the base of the pine tree).
And during an afternoon walk to Noanet Woods, I spotted a mushroom in the crook of a tree.

Who might be responsible?
Could it be you, red squirrel?

Bees and Blooming Goldenrod

Today the focus at the Charles River Peninsula turns to goldenrod. It is in bloom and it is attracting zillions of bees, wasps, hornets, and other bee-like creatures. It is interesting to watch the diversity of insects on a single bloom.


Also, the monarch butterfly caterpillars are out--

this one was camped out on a tiny milkweed right in the middle of the trail.

Mammals at the Charles River Peninsula

A red fox! A mangy red fox... Caught it on video as it slipped behind some bushes, and then got some longer distance shots (with a pile of brush obscuring its face, sorry...)



But that's not all!

I was peeking at the river and I saw a large lump in the water which, every once in a while, seemed to move. A turtle? My first close ups were not terribly conclusive. (Though I do seem to see a little paw there). Then it started to swim and I realized it was either a beaver or an otter. The side view close up is also confusing (I think it is biting an itchy tail or leg). I'm guessing beaver. Or maybe it's just a muskrat.... [UPDATE: Definitely a muskrat.]

Great Meadows

On my way home this morning, I couldn't resist stopping at Great Meadows in Concord. A beautiful late summer day. That's not a duck above, it's a Common Moorhen. Also got a nice shot of a gorgeous female yellowthroat,

a blurry hummingbird (better than nothing!),

and, of course, a great blue.

Fowl Meadow (Blue Hills Reservation)

I got my grading done a little early today, so I decided to take a walk in an area I just discovered (though it is rather close and pretty obvious). I've long noticed a large wetland along the Neponset River east of Route 128. I picked up a Blue Hills map yesterday while Lily watched the otter at the Trailside Museum in Canton and sure enough, there is a trail system in that wetland with parking right off of Brush Hill Road.

The main trail is called "Burma Road" and it is a long straight grass and mud road that stretches all the way from Brush Hill Road to the highway. It is largely wooded, though it offers glimpses of marshland along the way. About 3/4 mile down the road, there is an intersection. If you take the right hand path (I didn't explore the left hand path), you'll eventually get to the banks of the Neponset and a much narrower and brushy path that runs about a mile along the river toward the highway.

It meets up at the end with the Burma Road. (Note: On the Blue Hills map there are a couple of paths in this area that I saw no signs of in reality).

'tis the season of hummingbirds (got a great look at a female ruby throat--no photo though--that perched on a branch about ten feet away before it buzzed away) and pewees (who taunt me by perching on branches that confuse my camera's auto focus). Also had an odd encounter with a group of wrens who were making catbird-like whines back and forth. I've read that carolinas do this, but these looked more like house wrens. Here's the blurry evidence.


And on the way out, to add to this season's buck and doe sightings, a fawn.