11-14

With the leaves off the trees it's easier to spot barred owls ... and for the owls to spot us. This one was perched roadside up on the west side of town, watching me intently.

Witch hazel is starting to flower. The flowers will often hold their weirdly twisted petals well into the winter. Seeds will form next spring and the seed capsules will hang on late into next summer.

John

10-23

On the morning of 10-23 both Evening Primrose and Wild Geranium could still be found flowering along the roadsides despite several below freezing nights and heavy frosts, while Thimble Weed had gone to seed.

John

9-21

If ever a caterpillar could be considered beautiful, I think this Cecropia moth specimen would qualify.

When young, cecropia caterpillars are black and bristly; later they are orange; next they turn greenish; this is their final color phase.

Soon this one will spin a cocoon attached to a twig in which it will overwinter as a pupa.

This one was feeding voraciously on steeplebush. It didn't seem to mind having its picture taken.

John

Fisher scat was found on our road, and only plant vegetation was in it.
Raccoon scat was filled with cherry pits. There were plenty of cherries around and I enjoyed eating them.

9-19 Ants farming aphids under a milkweed leaf. The aphids produce 'honeydew' that the ants crave.

John

9.05.10 Wetland wandering (or wandering in former wetland) demonstrated their importance to wildlife. The receding water has left a slate upon which animals leave their inscriptions.

9-3

A moss gall which has its own strange beauty and elusive astringent/green appleish odor turns this multiflora rose into a fascinating exotic.

Moss gall is caused when a 4 mm long wasp (Diplolepus rosae) lays up to 60 eggs in the terminal bud of the rose.

I rather like the results!

John

8.31.10 The bull thistle is well-protected by pronounced spines on each point of the leaf. The carpenter bee (note the circular black spot surrounded by yellow in the segment behind the head) was not deterred from approaching it as I was this morning.

8-31

Short-winged Blister Beetles - looking like large blue ants with bent beaded antennae - are active at this time of year and I see them on paths and on infrequently traveled gravel roads.

This beetle lays eggs that hatch into long legged larvae in the ground near bees' nests. Each larvae climbs up a plant and hitches a ride to the nest on a bee. There it changes into a grub which attacks the bee's larvae. Adult blister beetles eat herbaceous foliage.

When disturbed blister beetles fall on their sides and feign death. If handled they exude a liquid from their leg joints that causes blisters.

8.30.10 - This morning my time was limited, so my goal was to visit a wetland nearby. What frustration I met: the invasives, particularly barberry and bittersweet have become so thick that it was impossible to get near the wetland in many areas; I had to give the area quite a wide berth, and view it from the woods whose shady environs haven't been taken over (yet).

I have known from books, articles, etc. that beech sprouts from its roots, but I didn't know it for myself until yesterday. I was clearing the Part Ridge Nature Trail (which everyone is welcome to come to) and I tried pulling out beech about 4 inches high. When I tried to pull it out I saw it was attached to a root from a dying tree.

8-28

Some Monarch Butterflies are starting their long, long journey to Mexico. I saw a total of 8 today all wafting steadily to the south west.

John

8.26.10 A flash of brilliant red in early morning sunlight caught my attention, which I followed up with binocular assistance. A juvenile scarlet tanager, in plumage that resembled a painted bunting or unusual parrot: the olive-yellow feathers of youth remained like a waistcoat revealing the adult male plumage on the breast, paused high in the branches of a tree and pruned for a long while. Perhaps like many teenagers, it seemed intent on ridding itself of youthful reminders and hastening its adult appearance.

This morning's adventures took a different turn with the company of my grandson after yesterday's welcome rain: wood frogs and efts that were out in good numbers led us on an amphibian hunt.
Later I went in search of the blue-stemmed goldenrod. I looked at a lot of yellow flowers and was about to turn back when I found some of them in their usual stance, leaning nearly horizontally, with little clusters of blossoms in the leaf axils along much of the bluish-colored stem . Along the way, a purple-headed sneezeweed detained me. The stem of this 3+ foot plant is 'winged', giving it a very sturdy, angular appearance.

8-24

Young Gray Squirrels, the second litter of the year, have their eyes open and are venturing out of their natal dens. While a bit tentative at first, these little squirrels embrace the world with absolute enthusiasm.

Beech-drops are at their peak. The upper white flowers are male. The smaller, lower flowers are females. Beech-drops are parasitic on beech tree roots.

And Hops - which I did not realize could grow wild - is draping an apple tree along Camp Arden Road; an escape, the domestic gone back to the wild. That seems right and sensible to me.

John

8.22.10 - The drought has made wandering about in wet places a bit easier. I reached these Bur-reeds, often partially immersed, without getting muddy just as it started to rain this morning. Moving on to a wooded hillside, I found a fern which I've tentatively identified as a Rattlesnake fern (suggestions welcome!) Finally, the raindrops brightened the Canada Hawkweed's yellow face. Such treasures we can savor in this town!

8-22 Pictures of Great Lobelia, Groundnut and Closed Gentian. John

8-22 Overcast skies and the absence of any breeze made this morning a perfect time to take some pictures of riverside wildflowers.

Great Lobelia, the biggest and showiest of these flowers, is possibly a garden escape. It now grows in a willow, milkweed, goldenrod thicket and I can never find it until it flowers.

Groundnut has been in flower for a week or more but all my previous attempts at capturing its image were blurred by breezes.

And Closed Gentian was a bonus - a lucky and unexpected find.

The first of the rain caught me afoot on the cobble bars of the West River. The rain was warm, and gloriously soothing... but the rocks were slick and treacherous within minutes after the rain started. Nevertheless, as every living thing seems to revel in this warm, moist, dimly lit moment I believe that I should do no less!

John

8-19

This morning my daily ramble yielded a plant I had long sought. Not a rare plant, just one that had mostly eluded me: Pipsissewa. And, not only did I find one, I found a dense patch containing perhaps 200 stems. The flowers had gone by, but the seed heads remained.

Fifteen or twenty years ago I saw a few stems of pipsissewa in the nearby woods - and was never again able to locate them. This patch I've documented a bit more carefully!

John

8-17

These are three caterpillars I've found on recent walks. The yellow hairy one is probably the caterpillar of the White-marked Tussock Moth. The orange, yellow and black one is probably the caterpillar of the Brown-hooded Owlet Moth. And the white bird-dropping mimic is probably the caterpillar of the White-spotted Sable Moth.

The white-marked tussock moth and the Brown-hooded owlet are smallish drab brown or gray moths. The white-spotted sable moth is glossy black with bold white spots.

Thus the drabbest of these caterpillars becomes the most boldly marked moth!

John

8.17.10 - The August sun was intense as we walked the power line east of Route 30, but the rewards were great: Bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum), a member of the mint family, is usually found in dry soils such as these.

8-16

Mixed warbler flocks are drifting south, foraging as they go. One group had Blackburnean Warblers, Black and White Warblers and American Redstarts. Ospreys have left their nesting areas. I've had two fly over recently. The Bald Eagles that will nest this coming winter in Florida are moving through. And three Nighthawks went over this evening.

The season is starting to wind down.

John

Blooming season is NOT over! A recent walk along the cobble shoreline of West River entertained us with Canada Burnett, Ladies' Tresses, and Wild Mint( pictured here), Turtlehead, and many more plants of interest.

8-15

In my neighborhood, several fledgling Cooper's Hawks have been feeding on insects and making awkward attempts at catching the songbirds that will make up the bulk of their adult diet. Young Cooper's hawks can be distinguished by their brown backs, adults are a steely blue-gray, and by the incessant long, drawn out, raspy, shrill begging calls

they make.

Pine Cone Willow Galls, looking for all the world like pine cones, result when a gall gnat lays an egg in the tip of a willow twig. Each pine cone gall feeds and shelters on

e

gnat grub. I saw this one on a recent walk along the West River.

The first migrating Nighthawks are moving through the area. A Brattleboro birdwatcher reported several recently. Keep an eye on the sky.

John

8-122

Northern Walkingsticks - frozen in place on tree trunks or birdhouse posts - are starting to appear around my property. Walkingsticks are a bi-annual phenomenon, I see them almost exclusively on even numbered years. The insect shown is a female, heavier bodied and less stick-like than the males which will soon seek her out.

John

8-11

Today I have two more Dummerston wildflowers to report: Golden Hedge-Hyssop and Marsh Skullcap. I actually noticed these plants three days ago, but was unable to determine if they were in Dummerston or one step over the line into Marlboro. Finally - with the help of some tax maps - I learned that both are indeed dummerston residents!

Three Birds orchids strut their stuff after a rain.











Narrow-leaved Mountain Mint's purple-speckled flowers take their turns instead of all blossoming at once. Discovering this wildflower was a highlight of my day .

8-6

The Perseid Meteor showers which peak on the 12th fave me a heads up Wednesday when a single meteor blazed overhead. The Perseids can be a good late night show - if the night is clear. find a site with a good view to the North, spread out a blanket to lie on and watch the show.

Swallows are flocked and can be seen feeding over ponds and still stretches along the rivers. They have finished nesting and abandoned their nesting territories.

Pigeon Horntails use their ovipositor to bore through bark and lay an egg on the wood of deciduous trees. The egg is covered by fungal spores carried in a special pocket in the

female's abdomen. The grub which hatches from the horntail egg feeds on the wood softened by the fungus deposited by its then long-dead parent. The Pigeon Horntail pictured was depositing eggs -and fungus- on a downed beech on Black Mtn.

John

7-31

Sneezeweed Yarrow, Hug Peanuts and Common Dodder - a parasitic member of the Morning Glory family - could all be found in flower today.

In my kitchen garden a Hummingbird Moth known as the Snowberry Clearwing danced from flower to flower.

John

common dodder

7-28

A walk through a local woodlot today turned up three

varieties of Rattlesnake Plantain: Downy, Checkered, and Dwarf. Rattlesnake plantains are orchids that have low rosettes of checkered leaves and tall spikes of tiny white flowers.

John

7-26

Spotted Coralroot - an orchidaceous oddball with no leaves and no green pigment - held aloft its dull purple flowers with their red-spotted, lobed, white lips today.

John

7-25

Drab grayish-brown juvenile Red-Bellied woodpeckers followed their parents through my yard today, hoping to be fed. Young Broad-winged Hawks flopped awkwardly through the understory, hunting optimistically yet waiting for their parents to provide game.

Nodding Pogonia AKA Three Birds Orchid started to flower in wetter locations. Ten days ago I could find no trace of it! Rain seems to be the critical component.

John

7-23

Today on Park Laughton Rd, Bugleweed was in flower and Pearly Crescentspot Butterflies guarded every wildflower patch.

In a wet ditch the aptly named Turtlehead was in flower and for once I could see the rationale behind their name... I could see the turtles!

John

A baby lightning bug! About half an inch long.
So that's what those fireflies are glowing about in June.

7-20

Today in a swampy area, Palm Warblers flitted through the dense tangle. Purple-leaved Willow-herb and Ditch Stonecrop flowered along the muddy edges, and Virgin's Bower tied all together, ribbon-like. Along the drier roadsides Alsike Clover and Burr Dock made their first appearance of the year.

John

Blueberries are in fruit on top of Blueberry Hill officially called Prospect Hill. In addition to eating blueberries and blackberries Betsy Whittaker and I saw two turkeys.

7-19

Bluebirds have fledged a second batch of young. Foxes are killing small prey animals and leaving them along game trails and footpaths where their half-grown kits will find them: a first step toward eventual independence for the kits.

Along the West River, Spotted Knapweed, Bedstraw Bellflower and Dwarf St. Johnswort were in flower. On a dry roadside Spiny-leaved Sow-thistle with its shiny dark green clasping leaves and its bright yellow flower heads glowed as if it had been freshly enameled.

John

7-16

Today, along Beaver Pond Road, Hairy Willow Herb, Meadow Cranesbill and Spotted St. Johnswort were all in flower. In the shade, deer flies attacked viciously. In the sun it was Hot! Summer is here with a vengeance.

John

7-13

Today along the river I was surprised to find that Canadian Burnet is in flower. I was even more surprised to learn while reading about burnet that it's in the Rose family. A less rose-like flower would be hard to imagine!

John

7-12

Today the Morning-glory-like flowers of Hedge Bindweed dotted the roadside thickets. The odd little flowers of Galinsoga hid in the sparcer weed patches. Pale Jewelweed, a flower I've wanted to find in my neighborhood, smiled out at me from a wet ditch, and False Dragonhead with its spotted-lipped tubular flowers were an unexpected bonus.

John

7-11

This morning started with a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker fledgling hammering on my aluminum snow belt. Along Camp Arden Road Agrimony pointed spikes of tiny 5 petaled yellow flowers skyward, and Square-stemmed Monkey flower turned its lavender and yellow faces up from the rain soaked field.

John

7-9

Common Tansy with its nearly rayless yellow buttons is opening floral constellations along the roadsides, and in the fields Pale-spike Lobelia, in colors from sky-blue to white, splashes exclamation points onto ranks of their sun faded predecessors.

John

A scarlet tanager pecking dirt in the driveway (on Partridge Road) for a minute or two. Although i hear their chick-burr every day, i haven't seen one in 31 years.

7-6

This morning several House Wren fledglings caromed around my yard approximating their parents' flight paths to the best of their meager abilities.

In the treetops the first Dog-day Harvest fly (our local Cicadas species) tuned up to announce the dog days.

John

On Thursday evening I watched a doe giving a lesson in crossing a blacktop road to a newborn fawn. They were posed on the center line of East-West Road, with the youngster teetering to stay upright. I was stopped observing the sight, when a car approached from the other direction and stopped. The fawn panicked and fell. Mother stood her ground, waited for the youngster to get up, and together they walked to the other side of the road. Once on familiar footing, they bounded into the woods.

On Saturday, June 26, Bill McKim was biking on Quarry Road. About 100 yards north of the iron bridge, he saw a bear walking across the West River (toward Route 30). Some people had stopped on Route 30 and were walking back toward the bear. This caused the bear to turn around and head back to Quarry Road.

7-3

The bold, bright, orange pattern on a Red Admiral butterfly blazed hotly like a ring of fire against its black wings - as it sailed over my field this afternoon.

John

7-1

The brush was full of birds this morning. A Chestnut Sided Warbler with its bright yellow cap and chestnut streaked sides sang loudly from a prominent perch. Soon a male Indigo Bunting moved to a tall weed stalk and posed coolly as several bunting fledglings gathered around. And finally, a male Rose-Breasted Grosbeak landed on a nearby twig.

A more colorful selection of birds would be hard to imagine!

John

6-30

For the past two weeks I've been watching some orchids which are growing in my field in hope of seeing them flower and - hopefully - identifying them. This morning the first flowers started to open, and it became obvious that they were fringed orchids. At first I thought White Fringed Orchid; next I thought Ragged Fringed Orchid; now I'm not certain ... but ... I'm leaning toward Ragged Fringed ...

I took this picture to post with this report. Opinions are welcome!

John

A baby girl red-breasted grosbeak sitting on our deck railing, shivering her wings and waiting to be fed by her brother (?) at the bird feeder. (We only put out a handful of seeds at a time.)

6-29

Today the butterfly called the Large Wood Nymph - a medium sized chocolate brown insect with a yellow band on its forewing containing two eye-spots - zig-zagged along the treeline. And turkey hens with poults started to form flocks; 6 hens and too many poults to easily count foraged in our field. Turkeys eat both plant material and insects and the field was a sun warmed feast.

John

6-27

Today a Monarch Butterfly powered from milkweed to milkweed, touching each with new life, a single egg - stitching the field of scattered milkweed into a monarch nursery.

John

A brief outing to the top of Black Mountain yielded many visual treats:the diminutive
cow wheat with yellow-tipped white trumpets; wintergreen with its dainty white bells; bristly sarsparilla still had a few flowers that hadn't morphed into one-inch balls of seeds (pictured);shinleaf pyrola; and one-flowered pyrola (or wintergreen, depending on which book I use). The tasty treat, of course, was a scant handful of sun-warm tiny blueberries. We left the rest to the birds whose scolding made us feel guilty about taking anything of theirs. Only two individual blooms of mountain laurel remained to be found on this last weekend of June when we have been accustomed to finding it at its peak. The day was capped by seeing a barred owl sitting on a snag just 10 feet into the woods nearly at dusk.

6-25

Today a roadside weed walk turned up such aptly named species as Rabbitsfoot Clover, Arrow-leaved Tearthumb and Blue Toadflax. Also to be seen were Blue Vervain, Wild Mint, Fringed Loosestrife and Pokeweed. Bassweed blossoms, the scent of which I find rather cloying, attracted a wide array of pollinators. And the showy pink of Musk Mallow splashed across the river bank.

It was one of those days too filled with life to ever really be reduced to an inventory.

John

6-24

Today the pale-lilac fuzzy flower head of Canada Thistle raised themselves above a roadside thicket - and the bees took note.

John

6-23

Today the first speckled orange flowers of spotted Touch-me-not could be found in wet shady ditches. Purple Loosestrife - rank alien invasive that it is - opened the first blossoms on what will be very showy purple flower spikes. And Canada Lily nodded, face earthward, a delicate orange wildling not yet trained to human fancies.

John

The cedar waxwings and scarlet tanagers were flitting in and out of the blueberries at Reed Miller'. Of the scores of blueberry bushes, four had ripe berries (It's only June).

6-22

In my field today Dogbane Leaf Beetles with their shiny green heads and thoraxes and their polished-copper toned elytra made sunlight dance on the Dogbane leaves.

On Black Mountain Indian Pipes looking too fragile to face the sun pushed up through last years leaves. In the mud of an abandoned Beaver pond, St. Johnswort crowded its 5 petaled yellow flowers into every available space. As a bonus, on the summit, the first blueberries were ripe; a sun-warmed taste of the wild which I sampled, while taking care to leave plenty for the bears.

John

6-21

In the woods today, the slender pale-green spikes of Northern Green Orchid glowed in shady seeps, and a Partridge blasted darkly from beneath a tangle of wind-thrown yellow birch. Meanwhile in the field a Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterfly bounced erratically from weed to shrub to tree, and along the brook the greenish-white flowers of Thimbleweed opened and Buckwheat hung its clusters of tiny white flowers on its nearest vertical neighbors.

John

I watched a robin fledge for the first time The momma robin stuck close by and continued to feed her baby even when it was out of the nest. That was a surprise.

6-19

Dawn broke today to the raucous whoops of several begging Raven fledglings in the woods behind my house. The young ravens have probably been off the nest for three or more weeks, but they still expect to be fed.

In the afternoon, the first Horse Nettle flowers I've seen this season opened in my field.

And just over the town line at Sunset Lake a pair of Loon chicks left the nest. They swam near the adult loons, made short dives, and, when tired, nestled on the back of one or the other parent loon where they rode and perhaps napped!

John

6-18

The tiny purple flowers of American Brooklime dusted the rank growth in a nearby marshy area. And on a wet rock one of the Thallose Liverworts, Conocephalum Conicum, that looks like snakeskin and is said to smell like grapefruit, glistened wetly. Liverworts are thought to be the first plants that made the transition from sea to land, 400 million years ago!

John

Yesterday afternoon my attention was attracted by the flash of yellow ribbon in the deep shade of a shrubby area: a pair of sleek cedar waxwings were berry picking on (invasive) honeysuckle plants - alas.

Under the maple and ash, I found where an animal had been digging. Looking closer I realized that in every scratching there was a stem of a jack-in-the-pulpit. The bear had eaten each corm. The leaves of the plant were fresh. I wish I had seen the bear.

6-17

The first Black-eyed Susans I've seen this year brightened my field today.

John

6-17

Today the ditches along Route 30 were spangled with the first bright blue blossoms of Chickory, while in my field the low, dangling, brown-centered yellow flowers of Strawberry-Tomato opened deep in the grasses and weeds.

John

6-14

In the ditches and fields Common Mullein with its flannel-soft fuzzy leaves and its tall spike of showy yellow flowers is in bloom. And in the woods and along the field edges the brown, eye-spot patterned butterfly known as the Little Wood Satyr is darting and dashing boldly around limbs and grass stems and weeds.

John

6-12

Today the small waxy-white low growing flowers of Pyrola started to open as did the showy yellow head-high flowers of Common Evening Primrose.

John

6-10

Partridgeberry is starting to flower as is Meadowsweet. Bright yellow Bullhead-Lilies rest like multiple solar discs on the watery horizon of nearby ponds.

John

I left my house at 7:30 AM in the mist and was greeted by a cacophony of sounds from the wood thrush, hermit thrush, to the veery. I was grateful to live in Dummerston, and I felt that way at last night's selectboard's meeting.

6-9

Cedar Waxwings were feeding on half ripe Shad berries this morning. Moneywort and Whorled Loosestrife both started to flower. And in the fields one of the Fritillary butterflies - perhaps the one named Aphrodite - sampled a grand array of wildflowers.

John

Right outside my front door I have a small wood shed that lies alongside the outside of the building. Two months ago I noticed that a bird was building a nest on a beam in the shed, four feet from my front door. I thought she'd decide to move when she realized how close she was, but no.

There are now four little babies growing fast in that nest! Anyone want to tell me what kind of birds they are?

6-6

This morning, adult Red-bellied Woodpeckers fed begging fledglings in a tree outside my kitchen window. Red-bellied fledglings have brown heads for a few weeks before slowly molting into bright red adult head colors.

I'm also reporting a plant oddity I stumbled upon recently. An albino Common Milkweed - a plant lacking chlorophyl. I would guess this plant to be a genetic dead end, but for it's brief season it has its own odd beauty.

Research indicates that albino plants may live as parasites on other plants, stealing nutrients through their root system.

This picture gives a better idea of the oddness of this plant than wolrds could ever convey.

John

6-4

In a wet meadow, Creeping Buttercup, identifiable by the pale blotches on its leaves, is starting to flower. Maiden Pink has taken over a swath of my back lawn. And every ditch and swale is filled to water level with Forget-Me-Nots.

Summer is here.

John

6-2

In my field the pale pink , bell-like, fragrant little flower of the Spreading Dogbane were opening today. Dogbane is a great insect attractant; butterlies, moths, bees and flies swarm to it. Along the road, Bladder Campion with its odd melon-like calyx sacs and its deeply divided white petals was putting on a show. And what I tentatively identified as Spring Forget-Me-Not - a white variety of the familiar sky blue forget-me-nots cast me an hour of research, as I had never before heard of white forget-me-nots.

After lunch, I wandered the fields with the tart sweet juice of tiny sun warmed strawberries on my tongue; a fine undomesticated tonic, one that can't be purchased.

John

Go to my blog and read about a dragonfly being born (May 31).

Also the search for a rare violet in Vernon. (June 2).

www.themeditativegardener.blogspot.com

6-1

It is the time of year for woodpeckers to fledge young. This morning, just up the road from my house, Hairy Woodpecker nestlings begged vociferously but invisibly from deep within their nest cavity. An anxious adult Hairy Woodpecker hitching around the trunk of a nearby tree confirmed the identity of these unseen and very unmusical chorusers.

John