Almanac Excerpt

December In some years during early morning hours of the Christmas Bird Count, the owl team has located as many as three or four great horned owls within the city

November Winterberry grows to be six to 10 feet high. You will find winterberry in both wet and dry soils in woodlands, swamps, bogs and along the edges of ponds.

October Sugar maple is the classic New England maple tree. Its five-lobed dark green leaves turn a brilliant yellow, crimson and scarlet color in the fall. Sugar maple grows to

September ASTERS have star-shaped flower heads. There are many different kinds of aster and most of them bloom in late summer or early fall. A common aster of woods and

August Cardinal flower is a striking plant standing two to five feet tall. It has scarlet petals the color of a cardinal’s robe. The flower is a long tube with

July Spotted Wintergreen, also known as striped prince’s-pine or pipsissewa, is an attractive sub-shrub of the forest floor conspicuous by its waxy, dark green leaves, which have a white stripe

June At the woodland edge, near meadows and fields, look for the little wood satyr, which is a member of the brushfoot family of butterflies. Its brown wings span about

May Jack-in-the-Pulpit is a spectacular plant common in moist woods. It grows one to three feet high. The flower consists of a green- and purple-striped canopy over a spathe or

April Spicebush is a fairly common large shrub in the understory near streams and in lowlands. Spicebush grows slowly, reaching up to 10 feet high and two to eight feet

March This handsome diving-duck appears in small groups soon after the ice has cleared on bodies of fresh water such as Bullough’s Pond or Crystal Lake. Both the male and

February The northern shrike is an occasional winter visitor in the Newton area. Look for it in an open area, perched on a fence post or exposed tree limb watching

January A winter visitor in our area, less common and smaller than the white-breasted nuthatch. It prefers coniferous woods but comes to feeders occasionally. It moves headfirst down tree trunks,

December River Birch is most commonly found in moist areas. It is a fast-growing, medium-sized tree with a single or multiple stems that grows to be 50 to 70 feet

November Witch-Hazel is a multi-stemmed shrub with a bowing, graceful form that grows eight to 15 feet high and wide. “Hamamelis” means the flower and fruit mature at the same

October The Eastern Screech Owl is a year-round inhabitant of Newton. It comes in two colors, red or gray. You’ll rarely see it during daylight hours unless you’re lucky enough

September The Great Spangled Fritillary is the most common fritillary butterfly in the northeastern U.S. It is relatively large, up to four inches, with orange to tawny brown wings that