AiDan's nature blog

January 5th, 2021 Framingham, MA

Today, I went to juniper hill. I was exited as I had left the Trail Camera there the day before. My bait included an apple and a slice of bread that had been used to wipe up bacon grease in the frying pan.

Kill 2 birds with one stone? This makes a great Segway into this next part.

While biking across wickford bridge, I noticed a female downy woodpecker picking at a tree. The above video tells it all, basically. I figured out just yesterday how to upload videos to the site. (For more information on woodpeckers, See Dec. 22nd)

I got very exited as there were raccoon tracks as seen above on the way down.

I went down to check on the camera. Today's footage is the best ive taken so far. Enjoy.

A pack member swings by at around 11 in the morning to see if there is any more food. There clearly Isn't.

I find the idea that there is a pack of Canines living in such close proximity to where i go everyday to be kind of scary. I was standing EXACTLY where the coyote in the above picture is standing.

This makes me curious about two things. Where is the Alpha pair's den? and: What do coyotes sound like?

-Aidan Garrity

January 4th, 2021 Framingham, MA

Today, I'm giving an update on the 1st Sterilite Box. The Physarum is growing, first of all, and ive been taking a picture every day for the past 4 days of the Physarum in it. I will set them up like a time lapse below.

The Physarum is not growing like a plant, instead, it just kind of explores around. It has a few "Roads" that it sends into tiny cracks in bark. There is a layer at the bottom of the container with just wet clay and decaying moss. Im sure there is more creeping around out of sight than up above. I would have to take the entire environment apart to see all of those hidden places, though and i dont want to do that.

For those of you who have been paying attention recently, yes, Maple is still doing fine. he pokes his head out sometimes, but spends the vast majority of his time burrowed, underground.

I have also been noticing several other fungus and mold besides Physarum.

I am going to record every fungi, mold, lichen, or algae that grows in the container. Soon, I will start building up a collection of pictures.

-Aidan Garrity

January 3rd, 2021 Framingham, MA

I put the Physarum in one of my clip boxes. All 3 of my clip boxes have mini-ecosystems in them, including rotting wood, mold, and invertebrates. I put two separate Physarum samples onto the wood and placed a few oats on top, as food. I was also re-arranging some things when I saw a little face, poking out from the bottom of one of them.

A red-backed salamander (Plethodon Cinereus). I left a young red back in the box about three months ago. Wow. I had assumed it was dead because I could not find it, probably because it is a burrowing salamander.

Im gonna call it Maple for now: the color of it's back (a warning of it's mild poison to birds, and other predators)

I had not given it any attention in 3 months. I had not fed it, I had not seen it, I had not known it was alive. It is also extremely skittish like a wild salamander. I can't touch it without it disappearing instantly.

Maybe that is better, because in the wild, they do not get any attention, they just lurk around a few inches underground, searching for sow bugs, small spiders, millipedes and worms. I have a breeding population of Common Woodlice in all my clipper boxes, including this one. The baby woodlice are small, soft, helpless, and white. Perfect Salamander Food.

This makes me happy because it means I have a small food chain in my clipper box. All I have to do is supply wood and the ecosystem will do the rest.

Rotting wood > Common Woodlice > Salamander. >Slime Mold

My Physarum Slime Mold is doing well, and after only hours of being in a clipper box, it started spreading, looking for food.

As you can see on the above image, the Physarum is swollen, and looks really cool. This means it is searching for food. It also means it is hydrated, as a de-hydrated Physarum will become crusty, and dry.

The Physarum is also growing much thicker on the white Mycelium strands underneath it. This is either because it is eating the mycelium, eating the bacteria and fungi on it, or both.

If you are wondering why it is bright yellow, it is due to the yellow Fuligorubin A protein which is involved in light detection. This is how the Physarum knows to only grow when it is in darkness.

The Physarums growing in the first petri dish are doing something amazing. Not only have they joined forces, becoming one, larger slime mold, but they have done something else cool.

The Physarum is making- what do i call them? Roads? The Physarum is making little "Roads" out of itself to connect each oat it finds, and each oat has it's own "Drive-Way" connecting itself to the road. see the picture above. You can see below the change that happened when it began finding the oats.

I am amazed by this behavior, created through millions of years of evolution: Slime molds that use this behavior are more likely to survive than ones that don't.

I will give an update when I get more information.

-Aidan Garrity

January 2nd, 2021 Framingham, MA

Last night had short snowfall, and ended with a few minutes of rain. I was worried I would not be able to recover the camera because it was way out, across a beaver dam. It was a challenge placing it, let alone with 3 added inches of water level. I walked in...

It was one of those days when It takes 452 pictures of clouds moving, leaves blowing, or a rope swinging back and forth. In this case, It was an Alder Buckthorn sapling bending back and forth in the breeze. 452 Pictures. I got nothing. The hike today was worth it though, because I saw plenty other cool things. (some of the things below are from yesterday's hike to mount the camera)

Back to the beaver dam...

I found the beaver dam interesting today, because the water on the right side of the dam is maybe 6" higher than on the left side. You can see in the picture too, that some trees are dead and half underwater. They used to be white pines, but they drowned when water levels rose as a result of the dam.

Beavers have evolved to make dams to make the water rise, allowing the beavers to make an under water entrance to their lodges, so that they can get to their Kits, but Coyotes, Foxes, Hawks, Owls, Herons and Bobcats can't. The risen water also acts as a moat, further protecting them from predators.

People usually use lodge and dam interchangeably, but the beaver has a small mound as it's house called a lodge, and a wide, water stopping dam to raise water in order to protect itself from predators.

I want to set up my Trail Camera in the spring, to try and photograph the beavers that built the lodge and dam. Beavers only build lodges and dams when they find a mate, and then both beavers will mate for life, maintaining and utilizing the dam.

-Aidan Garrity

January 1st, 2021 Framingham, MA

This morning, I was looking into my aquarium, and noticed my freshwater mussels. I cannot believe that I have not already made a post about them.

Mussels are bivalves which includes clams, mussels, oysters, cockles, and scallops. My mussels in particular were collected at Lake Cochituate.

There are probably thousands of them in the lake, as I remember it being easy to find them. I collected them in early august.

They eat floating algae and photosynthetic bacteria like diatoms and cyanobacteria. In their feeding process, they process a lot of dirt, sand, clay, and detritus, acting as a natural filtration system. I can thank them for my almost perfectly clear tank water.

Their method of reproduction is really neat. The male releases sperm into the water, causing nearby females to be fertilized. Weeks later, the female releases thousands of larvae into the water. A small percentage of the larvae will end up stuck in the gills of fish, where they grow up. This ensures the mussel population does not disappear out to sea via river currents.

At a certain age, they detach themselves, to be exhaled by the fish out into the water, where it falls to the bottom and restarts the life cycle.

-Aidan Garrity

December 26th - December 31st