September 2011

NATURE THINGS TO OBSERVE:  1. Fruiting wild grapes  along stone walls and woodland edges. 2. Watch the moon at night for migrant wild birds silhouetted against it.  3. Berries of dogwood, cherry  and elderberry ripen  4. woolly bear caterpillars  are on the move  5. peak of the fall warbler migration-watch for them in backyard shrubbery and rooftops  6. after rains watch for mushrooms on lawns and in the forest  7. asters and goldenrods  bloom in old fields and along roadsides  8. blackpoll warblers move south en masse around this date  9. if the night is clear watch for the star system Cygnus “the swan” overhead and the Milky Way  10. green darner dragonflies begin migration-watch for them over fields and meadows 11. jack in the pulpit berries are ripe in wooded areas- look also for the doll’s eye berries of baneberry  12. hawk migration begins.

Nature group meeting:  Held at Peter B’s Site. In 2012 we plan to work on trails with Ed and Pat and help Peter B. finish a map of camp with GPS locations. We plan to tap some of our red maples for syrup this spring with Pat C. Our plant folks including Charlo M. will locate the natural plants on our acres so they can be entered in the Solar Plant Atlas and marked by Tom H. Next group meet and greet July 2012.