256 entries · page 5 of 11
Field Notes, page 5
How to identify the plants, animals, mushrooms, tracks and rocks you find outside, with the look-alikes and safety notes that matter.
Posts, page 5 of 11
EecherplazGinkgo06.jpg: Cayambe derivative work: Ginkgotree (talk) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)FN-0161 · Trees
What Is the Tree With Fan-Shaped Leaves — and Why Does Its Fruit Smell So Bad? Identifying the Ginkgo
A street tree with small fan-shaped leaves that turn uniform gold in fall is a ginkgo, a living fossil. Learn to recognize it and why only some stink.
Rhododendrites / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)FN-0160 · Birds
What Is the Little Bird Climbing Head-First Down the Tree Trunk? Identifying Nuthatches
A stubby bird working head-first down a tree trunk is a nuthatch. Tell the white-breasted from the smaller red-breasted, and learn why they climb that way.
Cephas / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)FN-0158 · Birds
What Is the Little Gray Bird That Showed Up When It Got Cold? Identifying the Dark-Eyed Junco
A small gray-and-white bird hopping under feeders in fall and flashing white tail feathers is a dark-eyed junco, the snowbird. Learn to identify it.
Rhododendrites / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)FN-0156 · Birds
What Are the Sleek, Crested Birds Stripping My Berry Tree? Identifying Cedar Waxwings
A tight flock of soft brown, crested birds that strips a berry tree in minutes, leaving thin, high whistles behind, is cedar waxwings.
voir ci-dessous / see below / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)FN-0157 · Mushrooms & Fungi
What Is the Cluster of Shelf Mushrooms Growing on the Dead Tree? Identifying the Oyster Mushroom
Overlapping shelf mushrooms with pale caps and deep gills on a dead log suggest oyster mushrooms. Learn the group and its dangerous imitators.
Membeth / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)FN-0154 · Mammals
What Is the Loud, Eerie Call Echoing Through the Hills in Fall? Identifying the Elk Bugle and the Autumn Rut
A high scream rising to a squeal and ending in grunts is a bull elk bugling in the fall rut, September into October. Learn how to watch safely.
Rhododendrites / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)FN-0153 · Birds
What Is the Little Yellowish Bird Passing Through in Fall? Identifying Confusing Fall Warblers
Small greenish-yellow birds in September treetops that match no picture are fall warblers, mostly drab young birds. A beginner-friendly guide.
USDA photo by Scott Bauer / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)FN-0155 · Tracks & Signs
What Stripped the Bark Off My Young Tree in Fall? Identifying Buck Rubs and the Deer Rut
A sapling with bark scraped off one side in fall is usually a buck rub from a deer marking territory. Tell it from other damage and protect young trees.
Becky Matsubara from El Sobrante, California / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)FN-0150 · Birds
What Is the Big Hawk on the Fence Post or Soaring Over the Highway? Identifying the Red-Tailed Hawk
A large, broad-winged hawk on a roadside pole or circling over fields is most often a red-tailed hawk. Learn to tell it from other autumn raptors.
Greg Hume / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)FN-0152 · Birds
What Is the Owl I Hear Hooting at Night? Identifying Common Owls by Their Calls
Owls get more vocal in fall as young birds disperse. Identify common backyard and woodland owls by call, from the classic hoot to a wavering whinny.
KENPEI / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)FN-0151 · Wild Berries & Fruit
What Is the Shrub With Silvery Leaves and Speckled Red Berries? Identifying Autumn Olive
A shrub with small red berries flecked with silver dots and leaves silvery-white underneath is likely autumn olive, an invasive. Learn how to identify it.
Cody Hough / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)FN-0149 · Insects & Bugs
What Is the Yellow-and-Black Beetle on My Goldenrod? Identifying the Locust Borer
That slim black beetle with bright yellow bands and long antennae on fall goldenrod is a locust borer, a longhorned beetle feeding on pollen, not a wasp.
Jean-Pol GRANDMONT / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)FN-0147 · Insects & Bugs
What Are the Clouds of Orange Butterflies? Identifying the Painted Lady
Thousands of fast, erratic orange butterflies streaming across roads are often painted ladies on a mass migration. Tell a painted lady from a monarch.
Cephas / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)FN-0148 · Birds
What Is the Sparrow With a White Throat and Yellow Spot? Identifying the White-Throated Sparrow
A sparrow with a crisp white throat, striped head, and yellow spot before each eye is a white-throated sparrow. Tell it from other backyard sparrows.
Cephas / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)FN-0144 · Birds
Downy or Hairy Woodpecker? How to Tell the Two Look-Alike Feeder Birds Apart
Downy or hairy woodpecker? These black-and-white feeder birds look nearly identical in two sizes. Learn the marks that reliably tell them apart.
Randy Everette / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)FN-0146 · Trees
What Is the Tree With Mitten-Shaped Leaves? Identifying Sassafras
A tree with mitten-shaped, oval, and two-thumbed leaves on the same branches is sassafras. Learn to identify this native tree and its fall color.
Beatriz Moisset / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)FN-0145 · Insects & Bugs
What Is the Round Ball on My Goldenrod Stem? Identifying the Goldenrod Gall Fly
A smooth, round swelling in the middle of a goldenrod stem is a ball gall, a nursery built by the goldenrod gall fly. Learn how to recognize them.
Scott Bauer, USDA / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)FN-0143 · Wild Berries & Fruit
What Is the Tropical-Tasting Fruit Growing Wild in the Woods? Pawpaw
Fat, green, mango-shaped fruits on slender trees with big drooping leaves are pawpaws. Identify the tree by leaves, habit, and fruit, plus safety notes.
Peterwchen / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)FN-0141 · Wild Berries & Fruit
What Is the Small Orange Fruit on the Tree in Fall? American Persimmon
Small, round orange fruits clinging to bare twigs in fall point to American persimmon. Identify it by blocky bark, leaves, and fruit, plus safety notes.
Luc Viatour / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)FN-0142 · Insects & Bugs
What Is the Tan Foam Lump on a Plant Stem? Praying Mantis Egg Case
A hard, tan, foam-like lump on a woody stem is a praying mantis egg case, laid in fall to hatch in spring. Learn to identify it and what to do.
Rhododendrites / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)FN-0138 · Birds
What Are the Neat Rows of Holes in My Tree Bark? Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Tidy horizontal rows of small holes in tree bark are sap wells drilled by a yellow-bellied sapsucker. Learn the signs and if your tree is in trouble.
Famartin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)FN-0139 · Trees
What Are the Nuts Falling From the Shaggy-Barked Tree? Shagbark Hickory
A tall tree with gray bark peeling in long curling plates and nuts in four-part husks is a shagbark hickory. Tell it from walnuts and lookalikes.
Sage Ross / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)FN-0140 · Wildflowers
What Is the White, Ghostly Plant With No Leaves? Indian Pipe (Ghost Plant)
Waxy, pure-white stems nodding single flowers on the forest floor are Indian pipe, a plant with no chlorophyll. Learn to identify it.
HappiestFish / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)FN-0135 · Birds
What Are the Tall Gray Birds Flying High and Rattling Overhead? Sandhill Crane Migration
A rolling rattle from high overhead and a line of long-necked gray birds with legs outstretched means sandhill cranes are migrating.
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