May
May 23: WOOD DUCK mother leads a clutch of a dozen ducklings down an Acton forest stream several times…GREAT BLUE HERON wades, flies briefly, and continues walking downstream in N. Acton brook [Click links to see Rebecca Harvey’s spectacular videos].
May 24: BLUEBIRD eggs laid one per day fill a nest in N. Acton.
May 26: FIELD CRICKETS make first chirps at Elm Street Field.
May 27: The first TIGER SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY flits northward just above reach among the leaves of a West Acton SUGAR MAPLE tree.
May 28: A fledgling ROBIN hops out of its nest into a holly bush in North Acton.
May 30: A PAINTED TURTLE walks parallel to the Acton Water District driveway, its head pulled into its shell, while walking through the grass…BLACK CHERRY TREE blossoms wash onto driveways in heavy rain in W. Acton.
May 31: A WOODCHUCK emerges from underneath a garden shed in an Acton back yard.
June
June 2: WHITE PINE pollen dusts broadleaf tree leaves with yellow haze in West Acton.
June 4: A West Acton TULIP TREE drops its candy-corn colored petals onto the sidewalk.
June 5: A SNAPPING TURTLE’s walk over the grass runs into a stone wall near Concord Road in E. Acton.
June 6: The first MILKWEED blossoms waft their glorious fragrance onto Spruce Street in West Acton… POPLAR buds near Idylwilde Farm burst open like cotton bolls, dispersing fluffy wind-borne pappuses across Elm Street Field.
June 7: A cloudburst dislodges thousands of male WHITE PINE flowers onto Agawam Street in Indian Village.
June 8: A SNAPPING TURTLE lays eggs in sandy soil next to Bruce Freeman Rail Trail…Snappers also lay eggs in North and South Acton.
June 9: EUROPEAN LINDEN samaras cover Elm Street sidewalk, where the first MULBERRY fruits also start to fall.
June 10: RED PINE trees beside South Acton Station platform, still holding last year’s needles burnt brown from drought, send out bursts of green needles at branch tips, refreshed by over 17 cm of rain in May…Red pines also sprout young cones the size, color, and texture of red raspberries at some branch tips.
June 11: BUMBLEBEES feast on tiny STAGHORN SUMAC blossoms in quick staccato bursts, over three sips per second, near the site of the breached dam at 53 River St…FALSE INDIGO BUSHES host more bumbles on their spectacular purple and orange panicles on the steep banks by Fort Pond Brook, also at 53 River St.
June 13: A FOX crosses a South Acton back yard to access a wooded area and comes back shortly with a squirrel in its mouth. The fox makes more successful hunting trips in subsequent days.
June 14: AMERICAN LINDEN (basswood) trees shed their ornate blossoms on Central Street and Windsor Avenue.
June 15: In Pratts Brook Conservation Area, BULLFROGS sing their plucked-string call, making a collective sound like a chorus of banjos…VETCH flowers bloom blue, purple, yellow, and orange at the Boardwalk Campus.
June 19: For several years, the same pair of CAROLINA WRENS returns to a nesting spot under a N. Acton porch roof. In early June, the busy parents raise this year’s first clutch of chicks successfully. Then on this day in late June, the homeowner hears tiny squeaks of a second clutch emerging from the nest.
June 20: The first FIREFLY flashes on in a West Acton side yard.
June 21: WILD TURKEY mother takes a vigorous dust bath in North Acton Community Garden as its five chicks peck and forage nearby…A BOBCAT soaks up the sun in a North Acton back yard…An unknown predator raids a turtle nest, leaving an empty hole and dozens of sucked-dry broken shells by the Boardwalk Campus school.
June 23: SCARLET TANAGER leaves its usual haunts high in the tree canopy to forage on an Acton Center driveway.
THANKS to Acton Nature Watchers Frann Addison, Jeff Brown, Jim Conboy, Rebecca Harvey, Sarah Santoro Kerrigan, Miriam Lezak, Pam Minichiello, Solinka Molinero, Alissa Nicol, Shauna Seidenberg, Debra Simes, and Leah Whitehouse!
Please send us your observations and photos! [actonnaturewatch@gmail.com] Fishing enthusiasts, please tell us what you are catching, too! We have heard that the River Street dam removal last year has broadened the range of several fish varieties in the upstream range of Fort Pond Brook, but we need more evidence. We are always curious about any wild animals, plants, and fungi within our borders.
JOIN the Green Acton Biodiversity Committee at the upcoming Acton Boxborough Farmer’s Market Community Table on July 6. Learn how to control rodent pests safely without resorting to rodenticides, which kill precious rodent-controlling wildlife.
WATCH FOR more fledgling birds early in the upcoming Buck Moon next month; also more fireflies, young mammals out on their own, and maybe migrating monarch butterflies. Watch the milkweeds for eggs!
Rob Gogan is a West Acton resident, and compiles the Acton Nature Watch feature.