Thank Goodness its not November

I was driving up to my spot this week when I noticed a rustling of bushes outside my driver-side window. Upon further inspection I saw it was a turkey! This was at 12:30 on a Monday afternoon, next to a main road in Saugus aptly named main St.  I attributed my sighting to deforestation. However it did make me wonder where turkeys live?

 

 

 I found out that turkeys actually sleep in trees. Even though they cannot fly, they use the tops of hills to glide into trees. Chickens will actually do the same thing. The birds do this as protection from prey. I hope to one day see a turkey in a tree, I think it would make for a great photo opportunity.

As i sit outside this week I'm looking around and my eyes were drawn upward towards the beautiful sky(plus i was dozing off). as i looked up at the newly budded trees i saw a bunch of these:



I know they are squirrel nests but after hearing about how some birds build their nests with their own saliva i was interested in finding out how squirrels build theirs.

thanks to West Virginia Wildlife magazine i now know.

I was informed that most tree squirrels build leaf nests. The more fortunate ones find a hollow in a tree someplace high up to call home. i was surprised to find out that most leaf nests will be found at least 20 feet off the ground. they do this mostly for protection.

The squirrels will loosely weave sticks in a round formation and pack the outer part of it with wet leaves and moss. they will allow that to harden, then they pack the inside with dry leaves and grass. the need the inside to be soft and supple so when they give birth the babies are comfortable. one would think that the nests would be flimsy but they are not. people who have evicted squirls have noted the sturdiness of there nests.

Taking it all in

I don't have much time to relax due to the busy nature of my life. However I did have a half hour this week in complete reflection.

I chose to hang out outside on Monday and Tuesday of this week and the weather was fantastic!

I was sitting against a tree contemplating what to write about when I had an epiphany. This blog is not all about writing about sciencey stuff and connecting lecture with real life, it's about getting outside.

Most of my days consist of traveling from one building to another so I don't get to appreciate things like birds chirping, or the rustling of dead leaves in the breeze. However for a few minutes this week I afforded myself the opportunity to relax, forget about work, or research papers and actually relax.

I apologize for not taking any snapshots this week, but this half hour outside was all about me.

So.. The verdict is in

So, the past few posts have been about a supposed lichen that i found while wandering around outside of my local YMCA. the major question has been, is this a sweet blue lichen or paint?

Roughly twenty four hours ago i posted a picture of the substance in question on inaturalist.org. within an hour there was a response from "rockerboo".  Rockerboo gave an opinion that differs from mine, but I'm not an expert, he/she had many posts and was kind enough to try and help me, so we will go with it. Rockerboo said "The lichen looks like a green shield, and the blue looks like paint". At this time no other comments have been posted.

I wont deny being disappointed, i really wanted to find some new species that i could give some funky name too. Oh well maybe next time.