📜 EwA Week Highlights: Southwest snowbirds, Forest Exploration this coming Sat & More...

[Claire O'Neill]

Here's the recap of another busy week at EwA and a few highlights of what's coming...

  So many sightings again this week, including birds from the Southwest! (Thanks, Jennifer for sharing your observations). This little junco below is a bit different from the ones we have right here in our area. Dark-eyed juncos (Junco Hyemalis) are nicknamed snowbirds, as they return to our region bringing winter weather on their wings. I just love seeing them hopping around on a blanket of snow foraging for seeds and whatnot on a crisp, and sunny winter day in the forest. They are often found in coniferous forests, but you can also see them in oak, maple, and hickory forests. This one is a subspecies and a cute one isn't it? I am not too familiar with the juncos of the other side of our country, but to me, it looks like a red-backed Junco-a subspecies that seems to be restricted to the desert southwest. What do you think? You can read more about the identification of dark-eyed juncos subspecies > here.

Pic: A dark-eyed junco subspecies | iNaturalist record © Jennifer Clifford

  Thanks to all for great biodiversity records this week! - totaling 211 observations of 151 distinct species. Curious about this week's records that have been validated by the iNat community so far? > here.

Running tally:   To date, we recorded 89,037 observations of 6,958 distinct species! Check our EwA umbrella project and see the details per site/observer & more... > here. 

EwA Coming Public Events

EwA Field Events » Check our public field events on the EwA Calendar, our next Introduction to Plant & Wildlife Monitoring is this Friday morning at the Fells and Saturday afternoon at the Growing Center (Somerville). Our December Forest Exploration is this Saturday morning with Kathy and Claire in the morning at the Fells [ See EwA events calendar to register » ] Don't miss great opportunities to follow the rhythm of the season in our local habitats and of its wildlife!. Space is limited for all our field events. Wildlife ethics is important to us and we seek to avoid putting pressure on natural habitats that large gatherings unavoidably do. We are asking our audience to register-and-commit to avoid no-shows (or cancel when you know you can't come)

■ EwA Fieldwork (& Resources)

Winter schedule: Horn Pond and the Fells, We switched to weekly biodiversity scouting sessions, at Horn Pond and the Fells - replacing the weeks where we would usually survey phenology. Pheno surveys are now on a monthly schedule at all sites. Check EwA's Volunteer Program Calendar 🗓️ to know when things happen. And if one 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! | More About EwA Citizen Science Program » here

Any questions Don't be shy. Just email me or reply to this thread.

Thanks and Have a great week!

Cheers! - Claire
Earthwise Aware | Executive Director
✉ claire...@earthwiseaware.org
✆ +1 781-883-5970 | LinkedIn Profile

 

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