AiDan's nature blog

January 13th, 2021 Framingham, MA

This morning, at 6:30 AM, I went to nobscot. The first thing I did was make a B-line for Nupsee Pond (a vernal pool). I noticed it was almost completely full, with only maybe 6 inches to go before it reaches maximum depth. Nupsee Pond was also frozen over with only a half an inch of ice. Below are all the pictures in order I have taken of Nupsee Pond.

I then got bored and wandered up to the top of a tower. On each support beam was a part of the Scout Law( Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly...) Nobscot Scout Reservation is private land owned by BSA (Boy Scouts Of America), But anyone is allowed in, as if it was public land. I could hear common ravens from the top and 2 were squawking back and forth, Competing for territory.

(Wikipedia's Recording of the Common Raven)

I also found plenty of cool fungi today, as usual.

Winter is beginning to die. Everything is soaking wet and I am soon going to notice signs of spring. The ravens were probably fighting over nesting space today, as that is the purpose of birds territory. Everything is preparing to reproduce.

-Aidan Garrity

January 12th, 2021 Framingham, MA

Today I am going to talk about the newts. One of my male newts is at what I call it's annual peak, and it's not going well. This means that it is currently at it's maximum testosterone. It is also at it's maximum in how extreme it's courtship displays are. It is also using that testosterone in weird ways.

Exactly half of my newts died of the recent Red-Leg outbreak in my aquarium. This leaves the only fertile (currently courting) male with little options. The first is a female I am convinced is already pregnant due to her extreme weight, and unwillingness to mate. This is the first ever instance I have seen of a male actually listening to the female's rejection. The male will hop on, and then let go a few seconds later.

This makes evolutionary sense as he knows that there is no chance of impregnating an already pregnant female. He also has been using his testosterone one the other male "Alpha". he will sneak up, pounce on, and instantly swim off, realizing he is not a female. I see him constantly following the other newts around, and then remembering that they are not real options. I feel bad, as there were plenty of fertile, healthy females in the tank that were killed by Red-Leg Syndrome. This is only one year, though and next year and every single year until he dies, he will reach his peak again.

The features that grow in the peak include pads on toes and legs, and a much wider, impressive tail. A male in his annual peak is what makes keeping eastern newts worth it, as they are easily the coolest looking newt stage.

-Aidan Garrity

January 11th, 2021 Framingham, MA

It is now slowly warming up. The winter solstice was weeks ago. This mans that while it still feels and looks like winter, the days are getting longer, and the nights are getting shorter. on the winter solstice, Sunset time was about 4:15 but now it is at about 4:35. We still have to push it up FOUR hours though, before we get hot summer conditions. Summer solstice sunset is at 8:30. Sunset times change by roughly 1 minute every day.

This means that today's sunset is about one minute ahead of yesterday's. Sunset time is the exact second when no part of the sun is visible over the horizon (assuming there arent any hills, trees, buildings etc. in the way of the horizon) It will not be completely dark out until about an hour after official sunset.

Some other points that define when spring happens is last frost (average last point when it reaches freezing). The last frost of framingham is April 15th. This is significant because new plants and leaves will be killed by a frost, so most plants will try and time their growth to explode right after last frost. This also marks the day the food chain explodes into action after several plant-less months of starvation.

Everybody is waiting impatiently for spring, but we do not have to wait long

-Aidan Garrity

January 6th - January 10th