November 1st

Lightning strike on a tall Pine on a hilltop in the Quabbin near Soapstone Hill.

November 2nd

As most early deciduous trees have dropped their leaves, the golden-colored leaves of Witch Hazel become more obvious in the understory. It is easier to see here that there is vertical stratification in the forest, several layers from the ground up, starting with the herb layer, to shrubs, to understory trees, to canopy trees. Each layer provides a micro-environment, different niches for different animals.

November 3rd

Maple-leaved Viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) berries and leaves.

November 4th

A uric acid streak from a Bald Eagle at the Quabbin.

November 5th

Chestnut (Castanea dentata) leaves and dead trunk. There was an Iroquois prophecy, "The time will come when you will see the trees dying from the top down."

November 6th

The Sunderland Sycamore, largest in the state, with a circumference of 22 feet 5 inches.

November 7th

Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis, leaf.

November 8th

Leaf of Silver Maple, Acer saccharinum. The syrup has only half the sugar content of Sugar Maple.

November 9th

Leaf of Cottonwood, Populus deltoides.

November 10th

One of nature's countless miracles, the turning of leaves in autumn continues to delight and amaze.

November 11th

A few Chipmunks are still out and about. They hibernate, awakening several times during the winter to feed on foods stored in their tunnels.

November 12th

A fairly "typical" Fox scat.

November 13th

Track of a Whitetail Deer. Deer epitomize the wild. Watch a Deer and you see all its senses engaged, every nerve lit, responding to the environment. We should hold it in awe.

November 14th

Tracks of an Eastern Coyote, in a "side-trot." Wolf-like in its behavior and its DNA, the Coyote lives in balance with its environment, adapting to the situation, living and dying as part of the forested landscape.

November 15th

Tracks of a Striped Skunk, Mephitis mephitis. Note the extremely long claws on the front foot, used for digging. This is a key indentifying feature. The front track is on the bottom, the hind is on the top. This is an overstep walk. All these factors, combined with the plantigrade nature, account for why we sometimes call the skunk "the little bear."

November 15th

Great Blue Heron tracks. Late stragglers may have finally migrated to the coast and farther south with the cold snap of the past few days. Today's rain will probably wash away the last of their tracks until their return in the Spring.

November 16th

Eastern Cottontail Rabbit tracks on the shores of Quabbin.

November 17th

This was a very fresh Eastern Coyote scat, comprised entirely of apples.

Another Eastern Coyote scat. This one was deposited on my trail, literally in my footsteps, within the two hours that I had first walked through.

For several weeks we have been remarking to each other that the leaves of deciduous leaves have stayed on trees longer than we can remember. Indeed, scientists at the Harvard Forest research center in Petersham verified that for certain species such as Sugar Maple it is the latest for as long as they have been keeping records.

November 18th

The track of a Quabbin Moose.

November 19th

A Goldenrod Ball Gall, the over-wintering home of a larva of a small fly like those in the genus Eurosta.

November 20th

A Speckled Alder (Alnus rugosa) cut by a Beaver. Note the stagger-steps. It took the Beaver 9 cuts to get through this one-inch diameter trunk 19 and one half inches off the ground. Alder is a common food for Beaver around the Quabbin.

We were surprised to see the resident Great Blue Heron at Lake Mattawa this morning. Perhaps he will stay as long as the shallows remain ice-free. (Note the red sky reflecting in the water, a precursor to today's late-morning snowfall).

"...what is important is not to learn but to see and to listen. Then out of this listening you will find that all separation between the observer and the observed comes to an end."

- J. Krishnamurti, The Art of Seeing

November 21st

We are blessed by the first snow of the season! Valerie and I were at the Quabbin before sunrise and spent the day tracking Eastern Coyotes. We think there is a good chance that this is the same pack we tracked several times last winter. They were in hunting mode this morning and through their tracks we witnessed their behavior interacting with Deer, Rabbits, and Mice.

November 22nd

Ilex verticillata, "Common Winterberry Holly," adorned with early snow.

November 23rd

Tracks of two moose heading into the water at Quabbin, with Mt. Russ and Prescott Peninsula in the background.

November 24rd

Landlocked Salmon are spawning at the Quabbin, and last week I took Christian and Wes to a pool where they congregate before starting an amazing journey upstream to lay their eggs in shallow gravel pools. We hunkered down low and watched for many minutes in anticipation of seeing one of the large fish make the first mighty leap up the waterfall. Suddenly we saw movement upstream - a large male Mink was fishing the brook! He came to the head of the pool, checking out the same fish we were looking at. We watched him for several minutes, but he detected our presence and eventually disappeared. A while later, we were about to leave when we saw movement in the other direction, a hundred yards downstream. Crossing the brook at the outlet to the Quabbin was a Bobcat, stepping across boulders! We dropped back down to the ground and lay waiting, knowing that if the cat had seen our movement it would disappear. Amazingly, it emerged from the trees directly across the stream from us, and began to check the fish in the pool! We watched breathlessly for several minutes as it walked up and down the high bank peering at fish below it, before it melted away into the forest. Later I back-tracked it and found tracks along the Quabbin shore, as seen here in this photo. (Christian has since been at the pool every day for over a week, filming the fish and the activities of other animals around the brook for a segment of the Wild View series that he and Wes are producing).