Hello everyone!
Thanks for reading the January 20 edition of the EwA highlights.
📸 Claire observed this beech woodwart (Hypoxylon fragiforme) on Monday. This fungus colonizes a variety of hardwoods, not just beech, but beech is its most frequent host. It is a saprophyte (getting its nutrients from decayed organic matter), and becomes much more evident in the stark winter landscape.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Claire O’Neill · Medford, MA · Jan. 15, 2023)
EwA Buggy may slow down in the winter, but our naturalists are still out in the field looking for bugs. Kat saw this very small harvestman (Order Opiliones, also referred to as as daddy long legs) last week, when it was a little bit warmer.
EwA Buggy (© @kathleenshea · Massachusetts, USA · Jan. 10, 2023)
EwA’s most observed species this week was the northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). Much like the beech woodwart, cardinals are year-round residents here in New England, but they become much more conspicuous when they’re surrounded by this season’s muted colors! BIll observed this female in Woburn last Saturday.
EwA iNaturalist Record (© Bill MacIndewar · Woburn, MA · Jan. 13, 2023)
Before I sign off this week, I want to issue a correction relating to last week’s highlights. The observation of a dead barred owl possibly poisoned by SGARs that I highlighted was said to be taken by Jim Joyce, but that was incorrect. The owl was in fact photographed and picked up by Laura Kiesel through Save Arlington Wildlife. You can view the corrected EwA SGARs Brigade observation here.
📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 176 observations of 94 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 172,367 observations of 10,547 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 Winter [ 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)
It’s a great time to join our monitoring programs. 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 all for this week—hope you have a good one!
-Mike
