What’s going on out on the land?
Necrophila americana
Necrophila americana. This phrase isn’t a comment on the extinction culture of the North American colonial project, but instead it is the scientific name of a species within my favorite crew of insects : Carrion Beetles! The simple and concise common name of the particular species highlighted in this post is the American Carrion Beetle. Pretty easy to remember and pronounce. I love these little dudes.
Exploring Some Staghorn Sumac Galls
A few years ago my partner and I were leading a walk at a nearby nature reserve when one of the participants looked up at a Staghorn Sumac and asked “what is this?”. I answered, Staghorn Sumac, but they clarified that they didn’t mean the shrub, but instead globular fleshy piece which sort of half dangled from the bottom of the long leaf stalk. As we looked at the soft roundish growth I realized that I had never noticed this before.
Sure, it has taken a few years of passive wonder, but this Summer I finally looked it up.
Tracking the Smith Loop, 2022.09.05
hello,
i'd like to go tracking today. I'm going to head out this afternoon, maybe to smith trail because i just need to wander. want to come? i know it's last minute, so no pressure, but it would be fun to track with you.
carolyn
I was just thinking that I wanted to get out for a little and see what I could find, but I couldn’t decide where to go and I was in the midst of researching. I needed a push and when Carolyn’s email arrived, I was stoked. I was most definitely down to go.
Oak Apple Galls at Lake of Bays
Someone in our tracking crew had found a small, pale brown, hollow papery orb with spots on the surface with a couple of holes in it. I recognized it as an Oak Apple Gall, which my partner and I had found last year at Backus Woods. It wasn’t a green one, but it must be the same thing, right?
Last year, I may have looked up a bit on the Oak Apple Gall, but I no longer remember much. It’s like meeting someone again, but not remembering much of the details of your previous conversation. I had to ask some questions again, and here is some of what I have learned.
A mystery while tracking in Lake of Bays, 2022.08.13
The skill set of identifying a fresh trail with certainty in the jumbled quilt of the Summer forest floor is definitely an art and science with which I have little purchase… but a skill set that I do feel a growing confidence about is bone identification, and while making our way up the hill in the leaf little there was a small mandible laying fairly exposed with the lingual surface (the side which would be closest to the tongue in the living animal) facing the canopy.
Some scat from Point Grondine
During one of our daily drifts down the Mahzenazing River where we would occasionally have to paddle a little to be sure we didn’t hit an island and wreck out friends canoe, we decided we should stop on one of the islands so we could have lunch and investigate some of the plants a little better. While out of the canoe getting a better look at some Harebell flowers I noticed some scat atop a bed of Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen and White Pine needles
Carrion Beetles pt. 2 : Elytra in the Pellet
While out with the Wildlife Tracking Apprenticeship crew I came across some Owl pellets with some interesting finds. One of which caught my eye and pushed me to learn more about the Nicrophorinae subfamily of Carrion Beetles.
Carrion Beetles pt. 1 : Nicrophorus tomentosus
After taking a bunch of photos of the dead Robin I flipped the carcass over to see if I could see any visible signs of trauma. I noticed a wound on the back of the neck, but I got totally distracted when a small orangey-yellow thing crawled deep into the grass…