Lichens: Fresh-Air Fiends
Another graveyard, if you don’t mind. After all, ’tis the season–the Halloween season. This one is the Old Burying Ground in Rockport, Massachusetts. I feel like I’m on a first-name basis with some of the folk resting here, because I made them into characters in my novel The Invasion of Sandy Bay. The burying ground is right near the sea. You could literally throw a rock into the water from here. The salt air is fresh and cold. It’s fresh air, all right, as testified by the presence of one of the world’s weirdest organisms—lichens. What are lichens anyway?...
Read MoreDinnertime: Guest Photographer Zach Baldwin
Thanks to Zach Baldwin for this photograph! My resident birder tells me it’s most likely a ruby crowned kinglet, and I can tell from the bright pink stems and the clusters of berries that the bird is sitting on a pokeweed stem. Ruby crowned kinglets are acrobatic feeders, climbing around plants, hanging upside down and even hovering to glean small insects from the foliage. They love insect and spider eggs that are often attached to the undersides of leaves. In winter, they’ll occasionally feed on berries. The more I look for the hot-pink stems of pokeweed, the more I notice them. There seems...
Read MoreMouse-Eared Chickweed: Furry Ears
An unlikely habitat for plants, this metal guardrail stuck into concrete embedded in blacktop. But where there’s a crack, there’s a leaf. Hm. Small, dainty leaves, arranged opposite each other in pairs. Looks like Chickweed. But which one? There are dozens of types of Chickweed. Further research reveals it to be Mouse-Eared Chickweed. An apt name—the furry little leaves look exactly like mouse ears. And like a resourceful mouse, it can find a hole or a crack anywhere, and exploit it to its own advantage. When the plant flowers, it has tiny white heart-shaped...
Read MoreStarry Night: Guest Photographer Wells Horton
Thanks to Wells Horton for this amazing shot. It summarizes why I love the season of Halloween so much: the beauty of the dying year, the darkness that flows out from under the trees. Too often, Halloween is a time of chainsaw massacre movies and fake blood. I like Halloween to be a little scary, sure. But not so frightening that people (kids) are terrified to go out at night lest a ghoul in a hockey mask eat them. “I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” –Sarah Williams Check out more of Wells Horton’s photos on http://wells-horton.smugmug.com/ and...
Read MoreNew England Aster: Energy Drink
Running on empty! Pull into Stewart’s Quik-Stop—gotta refuel. Gas up, and go inside for a fast coffee and doughnut or candy bar—anything sweet. Energy for the long trip. Got a lot of miles to go. At least I don’t have to make it all the way to Mexico. We’ve all heard the story of the Incredible Journey—the migration of the monarch butterflies, more than 2,000 miles to their overwintering spot in Mexico. It’s easy to say—2,000 miles—but when you’re talking about a wingspan of about four inches, it’s just really unbelievable. How many wing-flaps is it to Mexico? And of course what fuels all...
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