Almanac Excerpt

December The White-winged Crossbill is an occasional winter visitor to the Newton area. It uses its crossed mandibles to pry open cones of spruce and hemlock, extracting seeds with its

November Late fall is the best time to see this lively little freshwater duck. Along with other waterfowl, it migrates south through our region in November. It is most often

October Sassafras are trees that grow to be 30 to 60 feet tall and can live for more than a century. It is dioecious, meaning each tree is male or

September The Cedar Waxwing is a year-round bird in Massachusetts, often seen in September feeding on fruit left hanging on bare trees. It travels in flocks, moving from tree to

August Sweetfern is not a fern but a short round shrub. It grows to be two to four feet high and four to eight feet wide. It is called sweetfern

July A Monarch Butterfly is a spectacular frequent visitor to the gardens and conservation areas of Newton. It is hard to miss this large butterfly with its striking wing pattern

June A Green Heron is a slender, long-legged bird found standing upright at the water’s edge in ponds in the Newton Cemetery or at Dolan Pond. It may be partly

May A member of the buttercup family, this is one of the most colorful blossoms of the early spring woods, blooming sometime from late April to mid-June on ledges and

April Bloodroot, a true harbinger of spring, blooms in mid-April. The flower bud emerges with a single leaf wrapped around the stem. The leaf unfurls to reveal a pure white,

March Skunk Cabbage emerges in swampy areas. This plant generates enough heat to melt snow and ice around it. Look for its unusual flowers, which are maroon-striped, leaf-like spathes surrounding

February Who doesn’t rembember the pussy willow from childhood, with its irresistble, fuzzy catkin buds? As children, we put pussy willow twigs in the ground, and marveled as they took