November
Nov. 2: A FISHER easily carries its GRAY SQUIRREL quarry across a log bridge in North Acton. (See this and other videos from the prolific trail cams curated by Rebecca Harvey.)
Nov. 20: At least 30 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS flash their cerulean wings under the deep blue autumn sky in the Heath Hen Meadow Conservation Area fields. Birds rise to low tree branches, then descend to feed on ground vegetation, then fly back up along the fields’ wooded edge…
The same day, yellow PRINCESS PINE sporophylls rise above a cluster in the forest near Heath Hen Meadow Brook, providing the only green among countless red and brown oak leaves.
Spores dust the air when the sporophylls are flicked. Early photographers used this dust as flash powder, leading to over-harvesting in the 19th century. The club moss is making a slow come-back in the 21st century…An EASTERN COYOTE crosses a log bridge over a stream in North Acton woods.
Nov. 23: A WITCH HAZEL bush unfurls crinkly yellow flowers among its marcescent leaves near Arlington Street.
Nov. 24: Fallen leaves uncover a large PAPER WASP nest in a deciduous tree on River Street… An OPOSSUM gathers leaves for its winter den with its prehensile tail and trudges into a crack in a stone wall in a North Acton yard.
Nov. 25: A WHITE-TAILED DEER buck, sporting a respectable rack of antlers, trots slowly around a house on Billings Street near Heath Hen Meadow Conservation Area. During this rutting season, bucks are also seen at the Acton Transfer Station, Heritage Road, Duggan Road, and Marian Road…
An OPOSSUM huddles close to a mature tree trunk in the Acton Arboretum, seeking shelter from hunting hawks…
A BLUEBIRD drinks from a birdbath in an Acton yard…
A VELVET SHANK mushroom colony feasts on a hardwood stump in Acton Arboretum.
Nov. 30: BARRED OWLS call to each other on a still night across a pond in West Acton.
December
Dec. 1: A GRAY SQUIRREL, its mouth stuffed with leaves, walks to the end of a horizontal hollow SUGAR MAPLE branch on Spruce Street and does an abrupt U-turn to climb inside.
Dec. 4: Two SHORT-TAILED SHREWS run vigorously out of a den among a Prospect Street rock garden. One dives into another hole and the other goes back to the original den.
Dec. 8: In lightly-falling snow with the temperature just below freezing, a hand-width pond star formation is born in Fort Pond Brook near the Boardwalk Campus. On succeeding days, it grows to at least three meters wide.
Dec. 15: Feral CAT prints in the snow in a West Acton back yard follow abundant tracks of SHREWS, RED SQUIRRELS, CHIPMUNKS, and GREY SQUIRRELS [denoting a rodent hunt?].
Dec. 16: SUNRISE in South Acton.
THANKS to Acton Nature Watchers Bettina Abe, Frann Addison, Jeffrey Donaldson, Stacey Scheingold Keller, Miriam Lezak, Jeanne Comeau Kingman, Tom Matthews, and Tony Robbertz!
GOT MICE? Learn how to exclude them before any more move in! The Massachusetts Department of Public Health toolkit shows building managers and homeowners how to implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM practice favors sealing up and excluding rodents from entry points around your house. See this 1-minute YouTube video for how to do this.
For more information about making Acton less friendly to pests but safer for our raptors, attend Green Acton’s Biodiversity Committee meeting Thursday, January 22 at 8 PM. The Committee is working on how to reduce or prevent SGARs and other rodenticides in Acton. For the agenda and how to connect, email: biodiversity-contact@greenacton.org.
In the coming month, watch for bald eagles fishing beside ice-free ponds… Horned larks and snow buntings may arrive soon in corn fields abutting Route 2… Weasel coats turn white for winter camouflage soon. Submit your observations and photos to actonnaturewatch@gmail.com
Consider joining MassAudubon’s Christmas Bird Count, running from December 14 – January 5, 2026. Register here.
Rob Gogan is a West Acton resident and compiles the Acton Nature Watch feature. He is one of the organizers of Green Acton’s Biodiversity Committee.
