The skunk spray clinging to your foolish pooch contains sulfur-based compounds called thiols, which are also found in garlic and onions. A dozen mammals worldwide use strong odor for defense; ours, the Mephis Mephis nigra, or eastern skunk, seems to have the strongest scent of all. Researchers have discovered that skunk spray is highly flammable. Northern ring-necked snakes, Diadophis punctatus edwardsii, are laying eggs in or under rotten logs or under stones. Several females may use the same nest. The cedar waxwing, Bombycilla cedrorum, nests being built now typically incorporate green moss, as well as many other plant materials
Mother common mergansers, Mergus merganser, are teaching their downy chicks to fish. Sometimes young great horned owls, Bubo virginianus, tumble from the nest before they can fly and are fed on the ground by both parents. White admirals, Limenitis arthemis, the dark butterflies with a white band across their wings, are out. The larvae feed on yellow birch, aspens, and basswood, among other trees. Gray treefrog tadpoles, Dryophytes versicolor, are eating attached algae and minute floating organisms during their two months in the water.
The larvae of Bruce spanworms, Operophtera bruceata, are dropping to the soil to pupate. The adult “hunter moths” will emerge in October and November, huge fall moths that mate, lay eggs and die. Red efts, or eastern newts, Notophthalmus viridescens, have round tails and rough skin this time of year. When they return to water, the tail becomes keeled and the skin smooth. The turkey vultures, Cathartes aura, that are now hatching will spend the next three months as nestlings, a long time for any bird. Cedar waxwings, Bombycilla cedrorum, are nesting – later than most birds, perhaps because they depend on fruits and berries to feed their chicks
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