Category: Nature

Out in The Woods With… Oak Galls

Oak apple galls on a browsed oak sapling. By Kevin McKeon, Maine Master Naturalist Often found under oak trees, and growing on oak tree leaves and twigs, oak galls are made by an oak tree, but the Oak Gall Wasp makes the tree do it! This is the story about the Oak Apple Gall, one of over seventy kinds of oak galls. The wasp injects her egg into the oak. The egg contains certain chemicals and hormones that make the…
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Moist Soils Sprout Toxic Mushrooms

Destroying Angel colony at McKeon Reserve By Kevin McKeon, Maine Natural Naturalist The recent rains have made the forest soils a welcome space for mushrooms to flourish. Mushrooms are the spore-spreading reproductive parts of the mycorrhizal networks of creatures living in the forest soils. You’ll see these mycorrhizae all the time—just dig a bit into the soil and you’ll notice tiny white threads called hyphae everywhere. Under your foot is over 300 miles of the stuff! This is the body…
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Photo of the Week: July 29, 2023

From Shaw's Ridge Photo Credit: Terry Jellerson
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Lucky Few Snapping Turtles Become Apex Predators

by Kevin McKeon, Maine Master Naturalist Ranging from southeastern Canada to northeastern South America, the 40-million-year-old snapping turtle is one four species of snapping turtles, all of which live only in the Americas, and one of nine turtle species living in Maine; two of those species are marine, or sea, turtles. Ashes from ancient Wabanaki fires indicate that turtles were an important source of food, but their longevity and ability to live in poor habitats now make them prone to mercury…
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Photo of the Week

Geese on Number One Pond Photo: Terry Jellerson
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