Το Ημερολόγιο του Harris Center Big Year (2024)

September has come to an end and Harris Center Big Year iNatters have travelled near and far searching for signs of life! This month we made 1,911 observations of 883 species, bringing our totals to 29,175 observations of 3,411 species (summarized below). Though our number of observations is lower than previous months, nearly 200 of the 883 species we saw this month were species we had not observed previously!

Speaking of traveling in search of unique life, there are few habitats as unique from the Monadnock Region as being out on the ocean, and @tmomeyer documented this Black Guillemot and Great Cormorant from a boat during a pelagic trip out to Jeffreys Ledge.

@natemarchessault decided he was a landlubber and instead made a blitz out to the seacoast to do some iNatting, and added over 75 new species to our Big Year list. A few highlights from the outing were this woolly beachheather, a plant species of dunes along the coast, and this juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron, a species that breeds further south but occasionally takes post-breeding forays to northern New England.

Speaking of up north, @lbburford continued to be diligent about documenting the butterflies of Coos County, documenting this striking Milbert’s tortoiseshell (above) and this equally-striking green comma (below), but you may not know it by its cryptic underwings!

Closer to home, September also marked the month when the Harris Center’s Pack Monadnock Raptor Observatory began doing raptor surveys for the season. Every day from September 1 to mid-November we survey the skies, and are greeted by beautiful buteos such as this immature Red-shouldered Hawk documented by @tmomeyer. Besides raptors, we always have our eyes open for other critters, like this finned-willow prominent caterpillar documented by @groxby.

Working back towards our headquarters still, @brett-amy-thelen enjoyed some of the spectacular late-blooming wildflowers on our Hiroshi Lands such as this slender false foxglove, whose flowers persist for only about a day, which contrasted nicely with this flat-top white aster, whose blooms are extremely long-lasting.

Up on Skatutakee, @kcreynolds found this Virginia meadowbeauty, an uncommon species in this region, whose flowers have alread senesced but trumpet-shaped seed pods persist. @downtownpab was also up on Skatutakee during our SuperSanctuary BioBlitz, and documented this three-toothed cinquefoil, the only observation of this species that favors exposed balds during the BioBlitz.

Speaking of our SuperSanctuary BioBlitz, during the weekend of the BioBlitz we made 857 observations of nearly 500 species, over 150 of which were species that had not previously been documented on Harris Center Lands on iNaturalist. One of which was this Emerton’s bitercubled orbweaver documented by @slamonde during our insect walk, and these American yellow fly agaric mushrooms found by @gcaughey were a neat find during our hike along our West Side Trails.

It’s hard to believe it, but fall is officially here! Soon we will see peak foliage and the senescence of herbaceous annual plants, and the birds we enjoy seeing so much at our birdfeeders in winter will return. I look forward to seeing many observations containing the brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows that October brings (closing photo of a whimsical ragged-fringed bog orchid observation by @nmarchessault).

Hello Harris Center 2024 Big Year iNatters!

August is the beginning of the long goodbye of the summer season and with it cooler mornings, long sunsets, and seasonal highlights like abundant mushrooms after a good rain. In an odd coincidence, our number of observations made this month was nearly identical to last month, with over 6,000 observations of nearly 1,500 species. I guess that shows we’re going strong! This brings our totals to 27,143 observations of 3,213 species (through August 31), as summarized below!

Speaking of seasonal highlights, the number of fungi on our Big Year list skyrocketed in August! In August alone, we documented over 100 new species of Fungi for our big year list. The list is far too many to mention, but includes beautiful boletes like Frost’s bolete (above) and curry bolete (below), both photographed by @gcaughey .

In terms of nature-themed events for the month, On August 3 several of our Big Year participants traveled out to Chester, which is near the seacoast, for a town-wide BioBlitz. Here, participants took advantage of the proximity to the coastal plain to find species that are rare inland like this Atlantic white cedar and Virginia chainfern observed by @twelvespottedskimmer below.

In addition to these species, @slamonde and @natemarchessault worked together for the bog clubmoss sweep (genus Lycopodiella). @slamonde photographed the inundated bog clubmoss first pictured and @natemarchessault the appressed bog clubmoss following. Among other things, the two can be differentiated by the presence of minute serrations only visible under significant magnification (and documented in these photos nicely). Appressed bog clubmoss is listed as endangered with less than five known locations in New Hampshire, and this observation of appressed bog clubmoss is the only observation on iNaturalist of this species in the state.

Additionally, on August 10 Distant Hill Gardens hosted a pop-up moth lighting event. The evening was great fun with several knowledgeable moth enthusiasts and lights set up in various places throughout the property. In addition to moths being attracted to the lights, @mnerrie documented this nut weevil that flew in for a closer look. Besides checking traps, eagle-eyed caterpillar hunters were searching leaves high and low and found several species like this silver-spotted skipper also documented by @mnerrie on ornamental wisteria.

Besides at the moth lighting event, iNatters were always keeping an eye out for caterpillars, and several species of my favorite group of caterpillars, slug moth caterpillars, were documented. @arianwenjones documented this hag moth a.k.a. monkey slug (above), and crowned slug moth (below).

In our gardens we also allowed many caterpillars to take a nibble, like these black swallowtail caterpillars documented by @brett-amy-thelen , which are always forgiven since they develop into showy adult butterflies like this individual documented by @swilsoninnelson .

Up in the north country, @lbburford documented bugs not seen in southern New Hampshire like this Laurentian skipper (above) and common claybank tiger beetle (below).

One last note on the bug beat, we also documented several species of uncommon lepidopterans this month. @twelvespottedskimmer documented this pink prominent caterpillar (above), the only individual documented on iNat of this species in New Hampshire, and @kcreynolds documented this penitent underwing (below), one of only two iNaturalist observations of this species made away from the coast.

It may be hard to believe based on this update, but we did have our eyes out for many critters other than bugs! @tmomeyer had a keen eye for live mammals like this American beaver, and also came across this moose jawbone (and other bones photographed in the observation).

While August begins the long goodbye of summer, September is the month when the baton officially gets passed from summer to fall. We have almost assuredly seen our last baby birds of the year (closing photo of a Cedar Waxwing fledgling by @gcaughey ), but many migrant and wintering species will appear in the coming months, and along with them surely more interesting nature observations.

Hello Harris Center 2024 Big Year iNatters!

July is the heat of summer as well as the heat of the growing season, where all manner of life are out and about. This also includes several Homo sapiens of the Harris Center Big Year variety, with over 6,000 observations of nearly 1,500 species made in July alone. This brings our totals (through July 30) of nearly 20,000 observations of 2,700 species, as summarized in the graphs below!

This month, the Harris Center hosted several events that made for great opportunities for iNatting. The first, and with iNat as its’ central focus, was a Mini BioBlitz hosted at our North Pond and Eastview Trails on July 14. During the three hour BioBlitz, we made 141 observations of 91 different species, and nearly doubled the number of iNat observations on these trails! @twelvespottedskimmer documented the parasitic ghost pipes below, and @natemarchessault made this observation of Canada mayflower as the group appreciated the patterns on developing berries.

The events held for the rest of the month mostly focused on insects, and butterflies in particular. On July 20, the Harris Center held our annual SuperSanctuary Butterfly Count, spending the day within a 15-mile radius of the center Hancock, identifying and counting all butterflies we encountered along the way. In total, we counted nearly 1,000 butterflies of 30 species, including “bigs” (slang for large butterflies) like this painted lady observed by @natemarchessault, and “littles” (you might guess what this means) like this gray hairstreak observed by @slamonde.

Shortly after our Butterfly Count, on the 26 the Harris Center also hosted a monarch count at the Peterborough Community Gardens. During this survey, we counted all monarch eggs, caterpillars, and butterflies we were able to find within these milkweed-rich fields. Unfortunately, the monarchs seemed to largely skip over these fields this year, but we did our due diligence in completing the survey and were treated with nice looks at this monarch chrysalis and pupating monarch caterpillar, both observed by @brett-amy-thelen.

Outside of these events, it was clear that Big Year iNatters were focusing on bugs as well! This month we were lucky to observe caterpillars of several giant silkmoths, the larvae just as flashy as their flying counterparts. @arianwenjones observed the polyphemus moth above, @sspikol the luna moth, and @natemarchessault the cecropia moth below.

We also observed many adult lepidopterans like this American lady observed by @tmomeyer and these mating great spangled frittilaries by @arianwenjones. Though moths might get a rap as being less flashy than butterflies, there are several examples of moths that are equally if not more flashy like this snowberry clearwing observed by @arianwenjones.

In terms of plants, we observed several species of misnomer “-weed”s! @swilsoninnelson observed this pineweed, which is actually a species of St. John’s wort and smells of citrus if you crush up the plants, having a tendency to grow in coarse soils and disturbed areas. @velomoose observed this close relative of our common milkweed, poke milkweed, which has more pointed leaves and flashy drooping umbels of flowers. Though there names both include weed, they are both native species and are welcome additions to the biodiversity on our landscape.

For herps, @emoline had a keen eye in spotting this diminutive gray treefrog which blended in with the hemlock needles it was adventuring on. @velomoose spotted this wood turtle which is a species of greatest conservation need in New Hampshire. iNaturalist is a great way to document sightings of species of conservation need since it captures a photo and stores the date and location, all of which are useful when submitting these observations to the state.

Finally, for fungi, our resident mycology enthusiast @gcaughey was out hunting for polypores and other mushrooms, like this green cheese polypopore (above) and brown funnel polypore (below).

That’s about it for this month! By this point, most observable species in the state have made appearances, whether through migration or coming out of dormancy. Over the next several months it will be interesting to see how our observations fill in some of the gaps we have for documenting biodiversity on the landscape! (Closing photo of two otters by @natemarchessault.)

Hello Harris Center 2024 Big Year iNatters!

If April and May are considered months of beginnings, then June would aptly be named a month of development; insects that do not overwinter as adults are molting from their larval stages, our second wave of flowers have emerged as other late-season blooms develop, birds are incubating eggs and raising chicks, and mammal and amphibian young are growing rapidly. Also rapidly growing are our iNaturalist observations which, amazingly, have nearly doubled from last month, ending the month with 13,378 observations of 2,157 species for our Big Year efforts. A summary of our observations (through June 30) can be found below.

Half of our observations of the month were of insects and arachnids, which showed we were focused on the little things! In total, we observed just shy of 800 species of bugs in June. @arianwenjones captured this observation of a flower crab spider successfully using its' camouflage to catch an oblique-banded pond fly, a two-for-one observation!

Catching our attention were large flying insects, like this Hallowen pennant and these Canadian tiger swallowtails collecting minerals in the mud, both observed by @slamonde . Swallowtail butterflies seemed to be really abundant this season, with several people notifying the Harris Center they were seeing dozens at a time.

Though they are often thought of as drab and unassuming there are many showy moths, both as adults and caterpillars, such as this hummingbird clearing, and eight-spotted forester caterpillar, also captured by @slamonde .

A close second to insects were plants, of which we made over 2,000 observations of nearly 500 species. Our eyes were captivated by showy flowers like this Canadian bunchberry observed by @emoline and meadow anemone observed by @brett-amy-thelen .

We also captured 8 species of orchids, including the blooms of rose pogonias and tuberous grasspinks observed by @natemarchessault .

We also captured both of our native holly species, with winterberry holly buds observed by @arianwenjones and developing mountain holly berries by @groxby . In a few months the fruits of both species will be ripe and beautiful in contrasting ways; winterberry holly will have bright red berries with short pedicels making the berries look stuck to the branches, and mountain holly berries a deep red with velvety texture drooping off of long pedicels.

On our trees we also observed fungi, like these violet-toothed polypores on American beech, and Fomitopsis (shelf fungi) on hemlock observed by @gcaughey

Also on (or in!) our trees were birds, many of which are nesting during this time of year. @tmomeyer captured this Veery, as well as these Wood Duck chicks. It may come as a surprise, but Wood Ducks nest in tree cavities! This spring, the Harris Center along with Ducks Unlimited built and installed artificial nest boxes in several wetlands around the Monadnock Region to help support their populations.

On the mammal front, @tmomeyer spotted this groundhog munching on some clover and other wildflowers in Keene, and @natemarchessault , @brett-amy-thelen , and @twelvespottedskimmer observed these young striped skunks during an evening of surveying for Common Nighthawks as part of the Harris Center supporting New Hampshire Audubon's Project Nighthawk program.

Last, but never least, are reptiles and amphibians, of which we observed 16 different species in June! Having amphibians like this American toad in the hand are a great way to learn about them, but the same strategy might not hold true for this northern watersnake, both of which were observed by @sspikol .

The participation in our Big Year has been amazing, and thanks everyone for contributing! I look forward to seeing what we find as the growing season continues! (Closing photo of a gray treefrog by @brett-amy-thelen .)

Hello Harris Center 2024 Big Year iNatters!

What more exciting than the month of May? Flowers are blooming, bugs are buzzing, fungi are fruiting, and all manner of other critters are emerging from dormancy. It’s clear by the numbers that many of us were out there with our cameras and smartphones documenting biodiversity on the landscape! In the month of May we tripled our total number of observations and doubled our total number of species, ending the month with a whopping 7,509 observations of 1,361 species. A summary of our observations (as of June 14th) can be found below. You can see that this month we’ve already put some serious work in, too!

We are starting to see a shift in the distribution of taxa which makes it clear that we are observing and recording a broader spectrum of life, which is great! On the fungal front, @gcaughey observed these cup mushrooms near Manchester.

And @brett-amy-thelen Observed these shelf fungi in Greenfield.

@natemarchessault documented this orange rock hair algae which looks more like a moss than an algae, right here in Harrisville along our Jaquith Rail Trail property. This is the first observation of this species in southern New Hampshire!

The next successional cohort of blooms presented themselves this month like these ladies' slippers observed by @brett-amy-thelen began in Harrisville.

And along with them, ferns began to produce the first spores of the year like this interrupted fern by @iheartrees in Keene.

Early May saw the last notable nocturnal amphibian movements, and @brett-amy-thelen caught this spring peeper mid-sentence in Roxbury.

And during one of our SPARCnet surveys, @sspikol uncovered this young spotted salamander taking refuge beneath one of our survey boards.

For insects, some of our showiest butterflies become abundant like this Canadian tiger swallowtail observed by @tmomeyer at our Hiroshi Loop Trail.

At first glance, @slamonde ’s photo may look like a bumble bee, but this is in fact a bee mimic robber fly which he observed in Jaffrey. Robber flies predate other flying insects, often grabbing them from mid-air.

Along with our forays from afar, we did a lot of iNatting close to home, where both welcome and unwelcome visitors presented themselves. On the bird front, @groxby observed this beautiful Rose-breasted Grosbeak in Henniker.

@natemarchessault enjoyed watching this Tufted Titmouse in a blooming apple tree, hunting for pollinator prey.

@kcreynolds caught this red squirrel snacking out on the porch.

While @arianwenjones was kind enough to share her lunch with a tan jumping spider.

And @emoline caught this black bear, with an expression like it would not have minded if it was let in for a meal, either.

That’s all for this month! June has a new subset of blooms, bugs, and other life to see, and I’m looking forward to what everyone finds! (closing photo of a sleepy Eastern Kingbird by @tmomeyer.)

Hello Harris Center 2024 Big Year iNatters!

April was a month hallmarked by the return of many deciduous plants and an increase in the abundance and diversity of animals and insects and, boy, do our iNat observations reflect that! Between the combination of many of us spending more time outdoors and the field season starting for many of our big year participants, collective iNaturalist numbers have skyrocketed. For the month of April alone, we made 1,687 observations of 533 unique species. Prior to April, we had made 860 observations of 364 species, and so our total number of observations has nearly tripled, and the number of species we have seen has nearly doubled to 686! Below is a summary of our observation progress as of May 4th:

April is a huge month for birds, with many returning from breeding grounds toward the latter end of the month. Many of our bird observations are captured on eBird (ask me about joining that if you’re interested!), but iNatters took advantage of mostly-leafless trees to spot and snap photos of birds! @tmomeyer got these spectacular photos of a male Eastern Towhee and female Rose-breasted Grosbeak in Wilton.

@tmomeyer also observed this Broad-winged Hawk in Peterborough. Broad-wings have just returned to the region, and the Harris Center is continuing to track their movements and monitor nests.

In addition to avian migrants, we also saw the arrival of other winged migrants in the form of butterflies! This spring has seen a good flight of red admirals, such as this individual @kcreynolds spotted in Henniker!

Butterflies and other bugs have been attracted to early blooms, such as this red-necked false blister beetle visiting a trout lily spotted by @brett-amy-thelen in Westmoreland.

Speaking of blooms, late April is prime time for many of our spring ephemeral flowers. These plants take advantage of the open canopy when most deciduous trees have yet to leaf out, and the flowers come and go very quickly! @arianwenjones observed this flowering round-lobed hepatica in Gilsum.

While these ephemeral flowers were in bloom many of our deciduous-leaved plants were still in bud, like this tamarack observed by @emoline, with green buds getting ready to bear leaves.

Plants can have buds, but snakes can have buds, too! @slamonde observed these two garter snakes in Peterborough:

Conversely, @slamonde also captured this bobcat in Chester, who was not buds with a meadow vole, and decided to make it a meal!

As much as April is a time for beginnings, it is also a time when things end, such as the Harris Center’s Salamander Brigades seeing some of our final amphibian migration nights. Some of the late-season amphibians mark the beginning of the end, like this American toad spotted by @brett-amy-thelen during an amphibian crossing night at North Lincoln Street in Keene.

That’s all for now! The huge influx of iNat observations is amazing and I’m excited to see what everyone finds next! (Final observation of the moon rising behind a stand of eastern white pines by @natemarchessault in Swanzey.)

Hello Harris Center 2024 iNatters!

We are officially a quarter of the way through our Big Year! Collectively on iNat we made 349 observations of 205 species in the month of March, increasing our totals to 804 observations of 356 species. That’s over 100 new species since our last update, and nearly twice as many observations!

With these warmer days, insects and arachnids started becoming more prolific on the landscape, with a whopping 53 species observed and 16 species of spiders alone. Other bugs observed include treehoppers, grasshoppers, midges, craneflies, many moths, one eastern comma butterfly and several observations of everyone’s favorite, the eastern black-legged tick! Look closely, and you might find the geometer moth caterpillar observed by @slamonde below.

On the bird front, with the way paved by blackbirds in February spring migrants like waterfowl and raptors made appearances. 13 species of waterfowl were documented throughout the state with species like Bufflehead, Ring-necked Duck, Northern Pintail, and American Wigeon making appearances. Raptors included Red-tailed Hawks, Bald Eagles, a Northern Harrier, and several Red-shouldered Hawks. In addition to these taxa, other avian migrants included American Woodcocks, Killdeer, Fox Sparrows, and Eastern Phoebe. All in all, participants were sharp-eyed for spotting birds, like @groxby ‘s observation of a cryptic Brown Creeper pictured below. Can you find it?

Amphibians continued their trend of early movements this year, with several evenings of productive evenings throughout the Monadnock Region. As such, the Salamander Brigades were out counting and carrying amphibians to safety, and throughout the month observed wood frogs, red-backed salamanders, spring peepers, eastern newts, a Jefferson salamander, and at the very end of the month our first spotted salamanders! Are those yellow spots on the road paint, or could it be @brett-amy-thelen ‘s observation of a spotted salamander?

Mammals also increased in abundance over the course of March, with 17 observations made from a total of 12 species. This included observations of critters of all sizes, from bear to beaver to deer mouse! @tmomeyer made this observation of a fox searching for lunch, but coming up unsuccessful!

And finally, our first signs of deciduous and annual plant growth began to appear this month. Buds began swelling, American Hazelnuts were blooming, and we saw our first signs of spring ephemeral plants. @natemarchessault made this observation of Carolina spring beauty, in which most of the plant was hidden beneath the leaf litter prior to exposing it.

In the upcoming month, the will pendulum shift even further toward spring weather. Look forward to seeing what everyone finds!

Hello Harris Center 2024 iNatters!

Our second month of our iNat Big Year has concluded, and in total 13 participants made 228 observations of 144 species in the month of February, increasing our totals (as of March 4) to 474 observations of 239 species, as shown below:

February is typically a month of cold weather and only minor phenologic changes, a good time to study up on tree bark and bud ID or do some tracking, but this year we saw spring poke its head out early and with it critters that might typically be observed in March.

On the bird front, blackbirds, grackles, and a few species of ducks showed up several weeks earlier than usual, and though not unusual for the time of year observing Bald Eagles paired up on breeding territory is always a treat, like this pair in Hinsdale observed by @natemarchessault :

Insects and arachnids began poking their heads out with, of course, the most commonly discussed being the infamous deer tick, and a few others finding themselves in precarious positions on the snow like this white-striped running crab spider observed by @slamonde in Hanock:

And this green-striped grasshopper observed by @downtownpab , also in Hancock:

Lastly, we would be remiss not to mention that we saw some early amphibian movement and our Salamander Crossing Brigades spent the night of February 28th in Keene helping amphibians cross the road (you can read a summary for that night here), where @brett-amy-thelen observed this wood frog, undeterred by the early date and ready to breed!

The warm weather has gotten us (and apparently the fauna around us) excited for the changing of seasons, and we are looking forward to what everyone finds as we start seeing more signs of spring!

Hello Harris Center 2024 iNatters!

The first month of the year has come to a close, and as such I wanted to provide a brief summary of our observations this month. In total, 12 project participants made a whopping 215 observations comprised of 131 species in January throughout the state of New Hampshire! A breakdown of our observations (as of February 6) can be found below:

Despite the lack of green vegetation, observers still had their eyes on plants, accounting for roughly 50% of our species observed thus far, like the distinctive pink, fingernail-like buds and hard fruits of he-huckleberry documented by @audreylouise on our Hiroshi Lands.

As well as the droopy tan racemes of the samaras of boxelder documented by @groxby in Concord.

Winter conditions made for some dramatic scenery this month, such as this ice-covered northern highbush blueberry at Pitcher Mountain in Stoddard by @natemarchessault.

Animals were our second-most observed organisms in January, accounting for roughly one-third of all observations. The recent snow has made for great tracking conditions, and several iNatters took advantage of the opportunity. @sspikol documented this bobcat track right at the Harris Center’s pollinator garden, also sporting the handy NH Pocket Guide to Tracks!

And @slamonde observed tracks of songbird wings in the snow on the West Side Trails.

The final one-sixth of our observations were from all other taxa, split nearly evenly between insects/arachnids and fungi. While many mushroom fruiting bodies are ephemeral, lichen can be found throughout the year, like this common script lichen found by @slamonde on our West Side Trails.

In contrast, most insects and arachnids are difficult to come by in cold conditions, but occasionally a wayward bug will make an appearance, like this leafcurling sac spider observed by @natemarchessault in Stoddard.

And finally, a note about the value of submitting observations to iNaturalist; there are many data gaps and a significant amount that we do not know about the distribution of many organisms in our area, so every observation is valuable! For example, despite how common they are, @natemarchessault ’s observation of snow fleas represents one of less than fifty observations in the entire state! Thanks to everyone sending in their observations to the project. We’re looking forward to seeing what you find next month!

P.S. If you have joined the project and are not seeing your observations, please send me a message and I will add your username to the list for the filter for this project!