The Wrack

Spanning over the subtidal zone, harbor docks make convenient places to see fish in their natural setting. And fussing with fishing gear isnt even necessary.

The shadbush bloom can be a natural signal that shad are running in local rivers.

Wells Harbor is a fantastic place to see local species of fish. Its wooden piers and docks provide human access above a subtidal zone (a place that never fully drains during low tide) and often 'harbors' schools of juvenile and adult fishes. The pilings and docks provide structure for many species of plants and animals that attach themselves to the substrate and provide habitat for many invertebrate species, amphipods and copepods in particular, which find shelter within this "fouling" community

The Wells Reserve Visitor Center has kept a wildlife sightings log for at least a decade. While updating the form today (it's now labeled Nature Observations), I pulled out the stack of sheets that have accumulated since May 1996. Birds dominate visitors' sightings, though deer, weasel, garter snake, otter, praying mantis, mosquito, and other animals found their way in, too. How reliable are those bi…

Quantity over quality?

What's a teleost? Let's see what Wikipedia has to offer...

Teleostei is one of three infraclasses in class Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes. This diverse group, which arose in the Triassic period, includes 20,000 extant species in about 40 orders. The other two infraclasses, Holostei and Chondrostei, are paraphyletic.

I've made checkmarks on a copy of "99 Common Birds," our brochure listing the most expected species at the Wells Reserve, and although my Reserve bird list for 2006 contains 106 species, I only got 80 of the 99 "common" ones. While I saw some tricky species? Snow Goose, Tricolored Heron, Laughing Gull, Fish Crow, Field Sparrow  I missed some that point to holes in my coverage and make me wonder if I simpl…

In an effort to increase habitat for the New England cottontail rabbit, today the Reserve brought in a hydro-ax supplied by the USFWS Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. The machine felled some 10 acres of young alder stands in one day, forcing the areas to an early stage of succession. As …

The Atlantic tomcod is a hardy, year-round inhabitant that never abandons its home for the promise of warmer water.

Hundreds of swallows coursed over Laudholm Beach today, swarming to the dunes and back in a mass oblivious to an onlooker. They were mostly Tree Swallows, with a few Barns and fewer Banks/Rough-wingeds mixed in. …