This is a photo blog of Lexington's Biodiversity, run by Aman Saiju
Thanks for joining me!
I am a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and in this blog, I want to explore the life around us. I will be posting photos of organisms that I see in and around my town of Lexington, along with some info about them! Through this, I hope we all can learn a little bit more about nature and the living creatures around us.
This is again an exceedingly common organism in and around Lexington. I found this American Robin (Turdus migratorius) on Worthen Road, across from the Captain Parker Arms area. They are gray in color, with a bright orange underside, black heads, and a white patch on the tail. Robins, along with many other prey animals, have monocular vision, which is when the animal has eyes on the sides of its head. This gives the animal a large field of vision, with which they can more easily spot approaching predators. These birds are found everywhere on the continent, from residential areas to more natural woodland habitats. In the wild, they generally build their nests in the lower half of trees, in or just under dense leaf growth. However, they also often nest in gutters, eaves, and other man-made structures. American Robins eat earthworms and insects, as well as a massive variety of fruits. They sometimes fight over earthworms that they have caught, in a natural game of tug-of-war.
Fun Fact: Robins eat an incredible amount and range of fruits, but if they exclusively eat honeysuckle berries, they can become intoxicated!
American Robin Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/id
American Robin Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/lifehistoryAmerican
Robin Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/overview
Holley, D. (2015). General Zoology: Investigating the Animal World. Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Publishing, LL.
This organism is one that we see almost everywhere–I found this one under my deck. Just like the Eastern Gray Squirrel, Eastern Chipmunks (Tamias striatus) are so common we barely notice them. These chipmunks have grayish to reddish colored fur, with five dark stripes along their body. Lighter stripes occur on their face and around their eyes. Chipmunk species are very similar, and their patterning and coloration can help to identify them. Eastern Chipmunks are found in forests throughout the Eastern United States and southeastern Canada, and subsist on the fruits, nuts, seeds, insects, mushrooms, and bird eggs that they find in this habitat. They are generally larder hoarders, and form a few number large hoards of food that are well protected. This behavior does not help seedling formation and does not help in plant dispersal. However, they also practice scatter hoarding, where they create several small hoards that are spread throughout their territory. This behavior does allow for seedlings to form and grow.
Fun Fact: Chipmunks are quite easily tamed, and can make wonderful friends or pets (where legal and safe)!
Kroll, M. (n.d.). Tamias striatus (eastern chipmunk). Retrieved from https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Tamias_striatus/
Again an oft-ignored bit of biodiversity, I saw this Catherine’s moss, aka Common Smoothcap Moss (Atrichum undulatum), while near the Valleyfield play area. Had I not been looking down at the ground for signs of life, I probably would have missed it, despite its bright green color. This moss is a little larger than most, with its stems reaching 5-7 cm and its pointed leaves reaching up to 1 cm. I was able to identify this moss because of its seta (the brown stalks) with the distinctive brown capsules at their tips. These capsules are its spore bearing structures, and in Catherine’s moss are are cylindrical and nearly at right angles to the seta, with a distinctive beaked shape.
Fun Fact: This moss has been named and renamed many times! The name ‘Catherine’s moss’ was given to the moss in honor of the Russian Tsarina Catherine II! This name is still used today, even in academia.
Atrichum undulatum • Common Smoothcap moss. (2017, March 3). Retrieved from https://sjgmoss.wordpress.com/2017/02/15/atrichum-undulatum-•-common-smoothcap-moss/
This time, I want to spotlight a kind of organism that no one ever really pays attention to. I photographed these Common Greenshield Lichen (Flavoparmelia caperata) around the Lexington Reservoir. These lichen are one of the most common lichen in North America, and are actually composed of two organisms–the fungus Flavoparmelia caperata and green algae–living symbiotically (the fungus is the dominant organism in their relationship, which is what give the lichen its name). These around found on trees everywhere, with a pale green surface that deepens in color when wet. It forms lobes at its edges, which wrinkle with age, and has rough patches at its center. These rough patches are its reproductive structures, and form algal cells that are enveloped in fungal hyphae (long, filaments that make up a fungus), and are distributed by the wind, allowing fungi to reproduce asexually.
Fun Fact: These usually occur on the north-facing side of trees, where they are not directly in the suns light and don’t risk dehydration.
Roehl, T. (2016, September 19). #080: Flavoparmelia caperata, The Common Greenshield Lichen. Retrieved from http://www.fungusfactfriday.com/080-flavoparmelia-caperata/
I saw this Red Maple (Acer rubrum) while photographing some of the wildlife around Worthen Road, around the Captain Parker Arms Area. This is one of the most common native trees in Eastern North America, and is the maple tree that produces a famous bright red fall coloration. These trees are tall, and grow to around 90 feet. These are some of the first trees to flower at the end of winter, which is when I photographed them. Red Maples produces many small bunches of red flowers that darken over time, until they reach a more burgundy color. Their leaves have 3-5 lobes, and along with the shoots of the tree, provide food for mammals like rabbits and deer. Their fruits have paired wings, and are often seen spinning through the air in the fall. These seeds provide food for squirrels.
Fun Fact: The sap that Red Maple trees produce can be used to make syrup! They are among the most common species of Maple tree used to make Maple Syrup!
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2018). Red maple. In Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopæddia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/plant/red-maple
I noticed several of these trees planted along the sidewalk in the Lexington town center. They were quite large, and were in full bloom, with beautiful white 5-petal flowers. The Callery Pear (Pyrus calleryana) is a species of pear tree that is native to China and Vietnam, but is often artificially planted as a decoration. Its most common cultivar (a term for a group of plants of a species that have been specifically bred or cultivated to select for certain characteristics) is known as the “Bradford”. They have long dark green leaves, which turn fiery red, pink, or purple in the late autumn. However, as this color change occurs late in the year, the leaves can be killed by frost before changing in color. Callery Pear trees produce a wood, inedible fruit that stays very hard until the first frost, at which point they soften and are eaten by birds that disperse the seeds in their droppings.
Fun Fact: The Callery Pear is actually considered invasive, as it outcompetes many native trees and plants!
Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/119793-Pyrus-calleryana
Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) are probably animals that you see every day when you go outside or look out the window. I saw this one by the Lexington Reservoir, sitting on a little branch and nibbling on some food. Eastern Gray Squirrels are found all over the eastern United States, usually in continuous woodlands, and prefer areas with trees that produce food in quantities last though the winter. These squirrels feed mostly on nuts, flowers, and flower buds of many species of oaks, hickory, pecan, walnut, and beech trees. Their seed-eating acts as an important way for the seeds of these trees to disperse. Although these squirrels have a wonderful gray coat of fur, with white and brown tones, their newborns are devoid of fur, save for their vibrissae, which are the small hairs around the nose and mouth that they can use to to sense things by touch.
Fun Fact: These squirrels are considered highly destructive to property in Great Britain!
Lawniczak, M. 2002. “Sciurus carolinensis” (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 20, 2020 at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Sciurus_carolinensis/
I noticed this Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) in the water of the small pond to the east of the Lexington Town Reservoir. It stayed motionless the entire time, but I was able to recognize it by its distinctive long, spiked tail and its flat shell. With its sharp claws and reptilian appearance, it almost looked like some kind of prehistoric dinosaur that had clawed its way up from the depths of the pond. Common Snapping Turtles are found mainly throughout North America, although their distribution ranges from Canada to the western coast of northern South America. This species of Snapping turtle averages 8-12 inches in length and 10-35 pounds in weight. When young, these turtles have three ridges lengthwise along their shell, but these fade over time as they wear down. This species is omnivorous, but prefers animal prey.
Fun fact: These species of snapping turtle is usually unaggressive in water, but is aggressive on land, and may snap and lunge.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2018). Snapping turtle. In Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopæddia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/animal/snapping-turtle.
I came across these two large Cracked Cap Polypore (Phellinus robiniae) in the woods around the Valleyfield Play area. They were growing on the side of a rotted tree stump, and were both easily the size of my open hand. They were a dark brown in color with a flat underside (the spore producing region of the fungus), and had significant ‘cracks’ on their pileus (the upper surface of a mushroom), which occurs as these fungi age. Cracked Cap Polypores are primarily found infesting black locust trees, but they can also grow on acacias, chestnuts, walnuts, mesquites, and oaks. These mushrooms are parasitic to these trees, and attack these trees while they are alive, but are also saprobes, which means that they also decompose the trees when they are dead!
Fun Fact: The pore surfaces (undersides) of these fungi look different shades of brown depending on the viewing angle! They also shimmer when tilted, indicating the presence of pores!
Kuo, Michael. “Phellinus robiniae (MushroomExpert.com)”. https://www.mushroomexpert.com/phellinus_robiniae.html. MushroomExpert.com. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
Roehl, Thomas (13 April 2018). “#081: Phellinus robiniae, the Cracked Cap Polypore”. http://www.fungusfactfriday.com/081-phellinus-robiniae/. Fungus Fact Friday. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
I found these Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) at the Lexington Reservoir, where they had been swimming on the water in both the large reservoir and the small pond next to it. I found them originally at the shoreline, but as I approached, the ducks swam away from me and towards the middle of the water. Mallards are a common wild duck found in North America, Europe, and Asia. This duck is a dabbling duck, which is a group of ducks that feed by tipping (or occasionally diving) to feed on water plants. The male (a drake) is easily recognizable by its green hooded head, while the female (a hen) has a brownish plumage.
Fun fact: Only hens can quack! Drakes can whistle or make nasal sounds as a sign of disturbance or aggression.
Montgomery, S. (2019). Mallard. In Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopæddia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/animal/mallard.
A Tour of Lexington's Biodiversity 