📜 EwA Week Highlights: Pretty Painted Turtles and Some Ghostly Apparitions for Your Saturday
Mike McGlathery
Hello everyone!
Welcome back to the EwA weekly highlights, now hitting your inbox on Saturday! As we push into the height of summer, the observations continue to pour in, so let’s get right down to it.
📸 I continue to eagerly follow Jennifer’s observations from Canada, and she captured this nice photo of a group of three western painted turtles (Chrysemys picta ssp. bellii) this week. Her observation showcases the beautiful feature that distinguishes western painted turtles from other subspecies (such as our local eastern variety)—the ornate patterning of the plastron (the underside of the turtle). Click through to the iNat record for a closer look.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Jennifer Clifford · British Columbia, Canada · June 2022)
Back in Massachusetts, approaching the warmest months of the year means we’re beginning to see one of my favorite plants again: the ghost pipe (Monotropa uniflora). As you might know, this parasitic plant doesn’t photosynthesize, and instead leeches energy from the roots of trees (often beeches). Once July rolls around, it will be hard to take a walk in many of our local forests without seeing at least one patch of ghost pipes.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Bill Macindewar · Stoneham, MA · Jun. 11, 2022)
Speaking of ghostly white apparitions rising from the forest floor, Claire spotted this pretty convincing dead man’s fingers (Xylaria polymorpha) last Saturday. This fungus’s fruiting body can in fact take a wide variety of forms, and this picture shows off one of the more “fingerlike” ones.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Claire O’Neill · Middlesex Co., MA · Jun. 11, 2022)
Lastly, I’ve got an observation taken by Kate Estrop that brings me back to some fond memories of tide pooling as a child. They observed this mass of seashore springtails (Anurida maritima) in Gloucester on Thursday. These tiny arthropods, which used to be but are no longer considered insects, often can be found in aggregations like this on the surfaces of seaside pools.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Kate Estrop · Gloucester, MA · Jun. 16, 2022)
📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 1,201 observations of 532 distinct species. If you’re curious about the records from this week that have been validated by the iNat community so far, you can find them » here.
🏆 Running tally: To date, we have recorded 110,758 observations of 8,045 distinct species! Check out our EwA umbrella project, see the details per site/observer, and more » here.
📅 EwA Upcoming Public Events
Ewa Field Events » Check the EwA Spring Program [ Event details and registration » ] Don’t miss some great opportunities to follow the rhythm of the season in our local habitats and in the local wildlife! Space is limited for all our field events. Wildlife ethics is important to us and we seek to avoid putting the pressure on natural habitats which large gatherings unavoidably do. We are asking our audience to register-and-commit (or cancel when you know you can’t come) to avoid no-shows.
EwA Fieldwork (and Resources)
Peak schedule: Our monitoring programs are in full swing, and are occurring every week this time of year. Check EwA’s Volunteer Program Calendar 📅 to know when things happen. And if a session is of interest to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to get the rendezvous location.
📅 EwA Sites Map | 🌱 Site Protocols and Guides · Field Rosters · Field Notes » All here! | ℹ️ More about EwA’s Citizen Science Program » Here
❓ Do you have any questions? Don’t be shy. Just email me or reply to this thread.
That’s it for this week—until next time!
-Mike
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