October
Oct. 21: A FISHER pauses on a log to scan the North Acton woods [See this and other of Rebecca Harvey’s trail cam videos here].
Oct. 28: EVENING PRIMROSE continues to blossom despite frosty weather that has wiped away most other flowers in W. Acton.
Oct. 30: Hard frost dooms hydrangea and other late-lingering leaves and silences TREE CRICKETS. Until now, at least a few could be heard each night in the maple trees abutting a West Acton back yard.
November
Nov. 3: A GREAT HORNED OWL sings in the early morning hours near Arlington Street.
Nov. 7: Sluggish amphibians discovered in a North Acton backyard pool drained for winter include a SPOTTED SALAMANDER and unidentified frog.
Nov. 8: Invasive BURNING BUSH plants show their crimson leaves among denuded hardwood trees, running wild among the natives on Central Street near Pine Ridge Road.
Nov. 9: GREATER CELANDINE leaves remain healthy and green despite recent hard frosts in West Acton…GARLIC MUSTARD also keeps its green leaves on Lathrop Street while most other plants die back post-frost.
Nov. 10: A GRAY SQUIRREL, a husked BLACK WALNUT fruit barely contained in its jaws, pauses to cast a watchful eye on a human observer in West Acton yard.
Nov. 12: Aurora borealis illuminates the sky over Liberty Street in South Acton with spectacular colors.
Nov. 13: A flock of ROBINS feasts on crabapple fruits above a West Acton driveway, casting pink star-shaped droppings on parked cars below.
Nov. 14: Two adjacent pollinator gardens on Mohawk Street host scores of feasting birds: CARDINALS on HOLLY TREE, ROBINS on CRABAPPLE, GOLDFINCHES on dried GOLDENROD stalks, and JUNCOES on a mixed thicket of seed-bearing herbs.
Nov. 15: DARK-EYED JUNCOES arrive in South Acton yard [Are these “snowbirds” portending snow soon?].
Nov. 16: A patrolling FOX enchants residents of Audubon Hill in South Acton; a BOBCAT is also seen near the condominiums there.
Nov. 17: A MUSKRAT mouthing a meter-long reed crosses Fort Pond Brook to the edge of the cattails [winter nest material?] opposite the Boardwalk.
Nov. 18: Hard frost sends a sheet of thin ice completely across Fort Pond Brook at the Boardwalk Campus for the first time this year…A South Acton birdbath also freezes solid in the persistent cold snap.
Nov. 19: A BEAVER swims downstream from its dam by the Boardwalk. The rodents’ dam building, plugging up an autumn northeaster’s rainfall, swells Fort Pond Brook to the base of the concrete walkway supports…A beaver dam also raises Heath Hen Meadow Brook to the season’s highest level, nearly submerging the old walkway there…A male WHITE-TAILED DEER with a respectable rack of antlers turns a suspicious eye on a human visitor in a wooded area of Acton Transfer Station.
THANKS TO Nature Watchers Bettina Abe, Frann Addison, Carolyn Davis, Rebecca Harvey, John Horvath, Tom Matthews, Peter Mosbach, and Alissa Nicol.
GOT MICE? Learn how to exclude them before any more move in! The Massachusetts Department of Public Health toolkit shows building managers and homeowners how to implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM practice favors sealing up and excluding rodents from entry points around your house. See this 1-minute YouTube video for how to do this. For more information about making Acton less friendly to pests but safer for our raptors, attend Green Acton’s Biodiversity Committee meeting Thursday, December 18 at 8 PM. See details here. The main agenda item will be on progress related to how to reduce or prevent use of SGARs (second-generation antirodenticides) and other rodenticides in Acton. For information about the agenda and how to connect, email biodiversity-contact@greenacton.org.
In the coming month, watch for bird and mammal tracks in light snowfalls…Horned larks and snow buntings may arrive soon in corn fields abutting Route 2…Consider joining MassAudubon’s Christmas Bird Count, running from December 14-January 5, 2026. Register here.
Rob Gogan is a West Acton resident and compiles the Acton Nature Watch feature. He is one of the organizers of Green Acton’s Biodiversity Committee.
