June week 4


The relatively short wingspan of the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus, increases their maneuverability, enabling them to forage in forests. They are more easily seen hunting over open areas and ponds, catching a wide variety of flying insects. American bullfrogs, Lithobates catesbeianus, mate in June and July. Most tadpoles will not transform into adults until next summer. The leaders of eastern white pine, pinus strobus that are infested with the white pine weevil, Pissodes strobi, will soon be easy to see. Corrective pruning can be done at any time


Those annoying no-see-ums (various members of the Ceratopogonidae family) that are plaguing us now don’t limit their feeding to human blood. They also take blood from the wing veins of moths and dragonflies. From now through August, leopard frogs, Lithobates pipiens, will live away from ponds in meadows or damp woodlands. A 47-foot maple tree, Acer saccharum, has 177,000 leaves and 675 sq meters of surface area. Two hundred and twenty liters of water move through the tree every hour on a sunny day

Earliest wood frog tadpoles, Lithobates sylvaticus, transform into half-inch-long subadults and take to the woods. Some will go to different ponds to breed when they mature, ensuring genetic diversity. Old fields may now be bright yellow if they have been invaded by common buttercup, Ranunculus acris, a plant that most domestic animals find to be unpalatable. Gray fox pups, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, that were born in March or April are learning to hunt. They might be climbing trees to escape predators or to catch squirrels.