📜 EwA Week Highlights: Beautiful Shrooms, Late-Summer Insects, and Goldenrod Season
Mike McGlathery
Hello everyone!
Here’s the September 10th edition of EwA’s weekly highlights.
📸First, we have this observation of the beautiful Frost’s bolete (Exsudoporus frostii) on Sunday. I love the vivid contrast between the deep red of the stalk and its raised yellow webbing. This mushroom forms mycorrhizal associations with tree roots and its fruiting bodies are most often found near oaks.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Deana Thomas · Colchester CT · Sep. 4, 2022)
Next, we have this picture of a jagged ambush bug (Phymata americana) with some ill-fated prey in Somerville on Wednesday. Observing insects has always been comforting for me as summer winds to a close and begins to turn to fall. It’s a reminder that while the seasons are indeed changing, they do so at a slow, deliberate pace, and there’s still lots of activity to see in the months ahead.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Kate Estrop. · Somerville, MA · Sep. 7, 2022)
And speaking of late-summer insect activity, Claire took this observation of a locust borer (Megacyllene robiniae) on a goldenrod (genus Solidago) on Sunday. You could spend hours watching the many different visitors to a good goldenrod patch, and I’m looking forward to the rest of goldenrod season. There will surely be more goldenrod visitor observations to come in these highlights as fall approaches!
EwA iNaturalist Record (Claire O’Neill · Cambridge, MA · Sep. 4, 2022)
That’s all for this week—enjoy your weekend!
-Mike
📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 440 observations of 253 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 123,785 observations of 8,605 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 Summer 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.