AiDan's nature blog

December 20th, 2020 Framingham, MA

It's already snowing again. Today, though, the snow is coming down in larger snow clumps.

I am going outside to photograph footprints, Icicles, and any other cool stuff. There is a weird clump of icicles growing on our Kousa Dogwood(Cornus kousa).

The clump originally was growing vertically but as the branch it was clinging to bent over, so did the ice-thing.

-Aidan Garrity

December 19th, 2020 Framingham, MA

Yesterday, i was re-arranging some plants in my aquarium, when i noticed one of my female newts laying lifeless at the bottom of my tank, Though she was still barely squirming and kicking. I pulled her out with a net, and saw something strange...

I think this is the result of "Red Leg Syndrome". she has red blisters and sores around her cloaca and has a red-tinted tail and torso. Also called Aeromonas Hydrophila, this is a parasite to any amphibian and also affects fish, and possibly dogs.

If it is due to this desiese, I am worried for the health of the other newts, as the water column could be contaminated. The desiese is linked statistically with an unclean environment and poor husbandry, to help the newts, I am going to do more frequent water changes from now on.

December 18th, 2020 Framingham, MA

The Storm is gone now, or at least retreated north. You can only now see snow remaining near St. John's Island. It is really surprising that it disappeared northward so fast, A Thousand miles of snow storm Disappearing overnight.

There is also a little puff of blue (Snow) hovering over the cape.

The storms seem to disintegrate as they go onto land. You can see below, that the parts that make landfall disappear instantly. Storms die when they leave the ocean because they are absorbing heat energy when over an ocean, I know, It sounds counter intuitive that heat helps a snowstorm but it's true.

Also, Yesterday's storm begun as rain over the Atlantic Ocean but cooled into snow as it moved north.

So... Yeah.

-Aidan Garrity

December 17th, 2020 Framingham, MA

Today is so far the snowiest day of the year. It begun snowing yesterday night at around 10. Now, The street and all cars, and all houses are covered with a blanket of snow. Look below.

Even the white pines in the background are suffering. Crows are loading their beaks with snow as a source of water. My feeder is more popular than ever now, as birds are blowing through their energy by shivering, and need to maintain a ton of fat to stay alive.

Snow is layering onto the ground in gusts. check out the visibility of the picture above. Tonight is probably going to kill more birds than any other night of the year, as the snow makes it near to impossible to forage, and it is only 4 days away from the LONGEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR.

Even the cardinal resorts to my feeder, as it becomes the only possible way to feed. As birds compete for a chance to eat, my front yard turns into a silent battleground.

Another major difference between today and the October storm is that now, there are no green deciduous leaves on any tree. In fact, There are no leaves at all on any trees besides cedars, cypresses, junipers, pines, hemlocks and spruces. Looks like the weather pushes all the way up to Quebec, and all the way down to New York City.

It has now been snowing for about Thirteen hours and there is about a foot and a half of snow. It is also a snow day but unfortunately, I have remote learning so that does not apply.

-Aidan Garrity

December 16th, 2020 Framingham, MA

Today, I was having a doctor checkup and the lady on the phone said we needed to wait in our car, in the parking lot. There was a Red-Tailed Hawk perched on a limb of an oak tree. This was the first time since making the blog that I took a picture of a diurnal bird of prey.

It was not the first time i had seen a hawk on Burr Street. Two yrs ago, I had seen a Red-Tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Mcauliffe Charter School has a massive turf which provides minimal cover for squirrels, rabbits, and doves.

After about ten minutes of sitting there, It noticed a small group of mourning doves flying past it's perch and dove off of the limb, then all the birds including the hawk disappeared into a point past a few fences and trees. I do not know if the hawk was successful, but it was definitely chasing the birds like kids chasing an ice cream truck.

-Aidan Garrity

December 11th - December 15th