Effective September 1st, 2018, “Mainely Phenology” will become “The Nature of Phenology”. New features will be archived in this section each week.
Category: Mainely Phenology
Mainely Phenology 8/25/18
Producers/Hosts: Hazel Stark and Joe Horn
Migration
Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at mainelyphenology.wordpress.com
While Canada geese are the poster children of migration in this area due to their noisy honking and artistic flight patterns that catch the eye and ear of just about anyone who drives anywhere, walks to the mailbox, or has a window, we have many species in Maine that also migrate. Warblers, woodcocks, red-winged blackbirds, some bats, various sea-run fish, and even whales migrate to or through Maine at some point during the year and right now is one of those prime times of the year to observe migration in action.
Mainely Phenology 8/18/18
Producers/Hosts: Hazel Stark and Joe Horn
Leaf Change
Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at mainelyphenology.wordpress.com
Water is a thing that all plants need, but in excess, such as on the edge of a pond or swamp, that same life-giving water can rob a tree’s roots of essential oxygen. Trees on the edge of parking lots or roads can be under a similar oxygen-starved stress from soil compaction or salination due to heavy dosing of road salt in the winter. So the trees in these places begin to change color first. This change could be a single stressed leaf at the bottom of a crown, or perhaps even a single branch which is plumbed back to a single stressed root by a network of vessels, or sometimes it can be the whole tree showing its fall colors a full two months before the autumnal equinox and even longer still until ‘peak leaf.’
Mainely Phenology 8/11/18
Producers/Hosts: Hazel Stark and Joe Horn
Blackberries
Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at mainelyphenology.wordpress.com
Perhaps the best description I have heard of this obsidian berry’s taste comes from Maine folk singer Jud Caswell in his song “Blackberry Time” where he describes the flavor as “One part sweet, one part fruit, and two parts seed.” And that seedy reputation is for good reason! Upon closer inspection of the lumps and bumps of this berry, it becomes evident that each little lump is its own little orb of juicy completeness with a thin skin, succulent pulp and a hard little seed sitting at the very center. A bonafide botanist would be excited by this observation and declare with an air of authority that a blackberry is in fact an aggregate fruit—which is to say a lump of little fruits. In the case of a blackberry those little fruits have been given the all-too-adorable botanical name “drupelets.”
Mainely Phenology 8/4/18
Producers/Hosts: Hazel Stark and Joe Horn
Garter Snakes
Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at mainelyphenology.wordpress.com
Snakes are cold-blooded, meaning they rely on their surroundings to maintain their temperatures. They spend winters in dens with other snakes in brumation, a process similar to hibernation, when they would otherwise freeze from slithering across ice and snow regularly, and they bask in the sun to support their metabolism in the summer. Females give birth to live young between July and September, so to support and incubate the young snakes growing within them, they can more reliably be found basking in the sun this time of year.
Mainely Phenology 7/28/18
Producers/Hosts: Hazel Stark and Joe Horn
Cardinal Flowers
Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at mainelyphenology.wordpress.com
Red is such a fleeting color for plants in our Maine woodlands. Sure the red maples give an impressive show of the color in the fall, but upon closer inspection those fiery leaves are really specked with brown, dashed with gold, and cloaked in subtle greens. Yellow, white, and even purple flowers are common among our fields and forests, but a true red flower is a wild gift to behold. The cardinal flower, as the name rather vividly describes, cares not for the colors made popular by high fashion plant society. Once in bloom, their petals are so vivid, I find it hard to even equate their color with such a banal term as “red.”
Mainely Phenology 7/21/18
Producers/Hosts: Hazel Stark and Joe Horn
Birds Fledging
Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at mainelyphenology.wordpress.com
Fledgling birds are decidedly weird-looking. Having just started to explore the world on their own for the first time, their feathers may be a bit unkempt, their colors may seem muted compared to the adults of the species, and their actions are not accomplished confidently. Observing these young birds, I often wonder how they do not all get eaten up by the plethora of predators that are constantly on the hunt for such an easy meal, but this strategy of fledging before they are full-grown adults is actually much safer than staying in the nest long-term.
Mainely Phenology 7/14/18
Producers/Hosts: Hazel Stark and Joe Horn
Chestnut Flowers
Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at mainelyphenology.wordpress.com
Maine was once a boundless tract of old growth pines that were so magnificently large and straight the most perfect of the trees were reserved for masts on the King of England’s sailing fleet and Thoreau wrote that the trees were so large a team of oxen could stand two abreast on their stumps. There are even a few tree species that living generations can attest were once abundant but now must be categorized in the archives of “forests that once were.” One of these is the grand and much sought after American Chestnut, whose flowers can still be found in bloom this time of year in a couple of secluded and much guarded groves here in Maine.