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November 15th, 2020 Sudbury, MA
Today I was at Hopp Brook Wetlands. I found many plants that I debated taking, and bringing home, including Pitch Pine, Wild Blueberries, and Massive bunches of Eastern White Pine saplings (Penis Strobus).
I yanked one of them up, and after creating a huge mess of dirt, needles, and sap, I managed to get it's base into a pot. It actually looked pretty neat.
These are one of the few tree species I have already put into my Book ANB's Guide to The Forest. The Species is Iconic to Eastern North America, and is one of the tallest tree species in the US.
-Aidan Garrity
November 14th, 2020 Framingham, MA
Today, I was at the forest, behind Juniper Hill School. I was waiting for my friend to arrive, when I noticed two Wild Turkeys (Meleagris Gallapavo) walking down a small bike path.
one turkey fled up, off the trail
I take this picture exactly as they notice me and begin to run
I followed them into the woods, down a hill, across a parking lot, all the time trying to get close enough to shoot some photographs. It got to the point where I was chasing them, and one almost flew away, but decided to land again and stick with it's rafter. The entire rafter of about 5 was made soully out of hens.
another thing I noticed was that each one of them had a clump of long, black feathers at the base of their necks. Wikipedia says they are called beards.
-Aidan Garrity
November 13th, 2020 Framingham, MA
Tropical storm Eta is underway. It originated off the coast of Florida, and then rushed north overnight. Storm Eta is currently off the coast of Wilmington, NC. The storm is sending rain clouds through new England, Quebec, and the Great lakes. This morning, it rained until about 8:30, but even now, at 10, everything is dripping wet.
Tonight is also the first night in about a week when it will not reach freezing. This is because the storm uses heat energy from the tropical Florida oceans, and is still storing it. After a couple of days, it is expected to reach freezing again. If Storm Eta continues it's current path, it will go into the UK.
There has also been a thick overcast for a few days, and the entire sky is white. I can not here any birds, because, while the rain is not below freezing, it is still cold enough to keep them in their nests, with the exception of a desperate tufted titmouse that is searching our spruce trees for spruce cones.
-Aidan Garrity
November 12th, 2020 Framingham, MA
Today, for the first time this week, I fed my Eastern Newts. This may sound almost abusive, but any more food would just go uneaten. In the winter simulation setup, The temperatures touch freezing every night. Once, I checked in on the setup after a 29 degrees night, and the surface had a thin layer of ice. When an ectotherm's body gets cold enough, it's metabolic rate slows as it needs less food to keep it's cells alive. When temperatures drop, Cellular respiration slows proportionately because the cells have less kinetic energy to fuel it. I can also justify this infrequent feeding schedule because it is natural. During the winter, newts can find significantly less food (sometimes they do not find any and just live off of body fat)
However, they do not need as much food to fuel Cellular respiration. Even after a week without any food in their stomach, they were still much more slow and unperceptive to available food than if they had just eaten yesterday during summer months. During the summer, they are very opportunistic and aggressive eaters. There was a time when i put a three inch long dragonfly nymph into my tank. It was almost AS BIG AS THEY WERE, but they all teamed up on it, and ripped it to shreds.
There was also a day in august when I tried transplanting a piece of thick, aquatic plant into my tank that I had found rooted in a nearby stream. Leaches immediately began slithering out of it, and crowding my aquarium. It was scary. I was concerned for the newts health, but I was wrong. The newts Killed and Swallowed every last one.
Predators do not need to be coddled with pre-processed, Sterile food because if they did, how could newts POSSIBLY survive in nature?
It was ridiculous of me to expect them not to eat the leeches and the dragonfly larva because that mimics their natural diet almost exactly.
-Aidan Garrity
November 11th, 2020 Framingham, MA
Today, I came back from mountain biking at Blue hills, which I did this morning. I was hoping to find stuff there but I did not get the chance to photograph anything. After coming back, I was in my room when I saw what I thought was an assassin bug perched on top of a canister of fish flakes. I put it on a background and took some shots from different angles . . .
As it turns out, these are not assassin bugs, but Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis). Seed bugs are native to north america, Feeding on the insides of pine and spruce cones. I have actually been finding these often lately, and identifying them as assassin bugs.
Both Assassin bugs and Seed bugs are in the order Hemiptera, or "True Bugs". In order for an insect to be a True Bug, they need to have piercing, sucking mouth parts. Seed bugs have straw-like mouth parts folded under it's body.
I then released it onto a Eastern White Pine.
-Aidan Garrity
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