September
September 26: A BALD EAGLE perches atop a dead tree on the shore of Nagog Pond by Great Road.
September 27: A FOX (mated pair?) investigates a stream bank in North Acton as TREE CRICKETS sing their September song. Before moving on, they touch noses and one licks the other’s face. This and all videos are by Rebecca Harvey on her “Wildlife of Acton” YouTube channel.
October
October 1: A PRAYING MANTIS rests on a West Acton door.
October 4: WHITE HEATH ASTER attracts swarms of pollinators in the Wilde Garden along the sunny south side of Acton Memorial Library.
October 6: Glossy MILKWEED silk bursts its pod and glows brilliant white in a West Acton yard in the afternoon sun.
October 7: A SKUNK fails to cross Mass. Ave. by RJ Grey Jr High School and a vehicle kills her. The skunk’s mercaptan scent wafts into northbound cars all the way to West Acton.
October 8: A curious OPOSSUM expands its wide jaws to bite the expanding mouse-excluding foam that a North Acton homeowner had applied to a hole on her house. The rigid foam stays in place.
October 11: A frisky gang of OTTERS scrambles over a beaver dam in North Acton.
October 12: A sluggish BICOLOR SALLOW MOTH rests under a poly tarp in a West Acton back yard.
October 15: On a dewy SENNA BUSH leaf, an ASIAN LADY BEETLE forages in a W. Acton yard.
October 17: Despite recent frost, a blooming GOLDENROD patch attracts a cloud of pollinators in a North Acton yard.
October 20: WHITE PINE needles dry like hay in stacks perpendicular to Agawam Road after fall nor’easter brings them down.
THANKS to Acton Nature Watchers Frann Addison, Jude Aronstein, Rebecca Harvey, Kim Kastens, Karen Root Watkins, and Leah Whitehouse.
Green Acton’s Biodiversity Committee will meet Thursday, November 20 at 8 p.m.here. The main agenda item will be on progress related to how to reduce or prevent SGARs and other rodenticides in Acton. For information about the agenda and how to connect, contact biodiversity-contact@greenacton.org.
In the coming month, watch for late fall leaf colors, migrating geese, and the first hard frost. Submit your wildlife observations to actonnaturewatch@gmail.com.
