Sky
Perseid meteor shower 2026: a dark peak night, August 12 to 13
A new moon keeps the Perseids' 2026 peak night of August 12-13 dark, and meteor rates climb steeply after midnight.
What to notice outside around Sudbury in August
Each one says when to look, how to notice it, and where the facts come from.
Sky
Sky
Partial solar eclipse from the Boston area on August 12, 2026
On August 12, 2026 the moon covers about a sixth of the sun as seen from the Boston area, and certified eclipse viewers are needed for every direct look.
Sky
Why you can see the moon in the daytime sky
The moon spends almost as much time up in daylight as at night, and on the right days it sits plainly in the blue sky.
Sky
Sundogs and sun halos: how ice crystals bend sunlight
Ice crystals high in the atmosphere can bend sunlight into a pale ring around the sun or bright patches on either side of it.
Sky
Crepuscular rays: sunbeams fanning out near sunrise and sunset
When broken clouds and haze meet a low sun, bright and dark bands can fan across the sky near sunrise or sunset.
Sky
How the sunset point moves along the horizon through the year
Where the sun sets on your skyline slides north through spring and south through autumn, fastest near the equinoxes and nearly still at each solstice.
Sky
The Big Dipper never sets from eastern Massachusetts
From eastern Massachusetts the Big Dipper is circumpolar, circling Polaris once a day, though the tip of its handle skims the horizon at its lowest.
Sky
Your own shadow by full moonlight
A clear full moon casts a sharp shadow. Moonlight is reflected sunlight, hundreds of thousands of times fainter than direct sun.
Sky
Northern lights on a strong geomagnetic storm night
On rare strong geomagnetic storm nights the northern lights may glow low in the north, and a phone camera can show color the eye misses.
Sky
The twinkle test: how to tell a planet from a star
Stars twinkle because they are single points of light; a bright point that shines steady is often a planet, a tiny disk instead.
Sky
The moon illusion: why the rising moon looks so big
A rising full moon looks huge but measures the same width as it does higher in the sky. Test it with your fingernail.
Sky
Earthshine: the faint glow on a crescent Moon's dark side
On a thin crescent Moon the dark part of the disk can glow faintly, lit by sunlight that bounced off Earth first.
Sky
How to spot satellites crossing the sky after dusk
Satellites, including the International Space Station, glide across the sky as steady points of light after sunset and before sunrise, lit by sunlight.
Sky
Sun pillars: a column of light above the low sun
A narrow shaft of light standing up from the sun at sunrise or sunset, made by glints from millions of nearly flat ice crystals drifting level.
Sky
Earth's shadow and the Belt of Venus after sunset
On a clear evening a dark blue-gray band rises low in the east after sunset. It is the shadow of the Earth, with the pink Belt of Venus above it.
Weather
Weather
Morning dew and the dew point: why grass is soaked without rain
When surfaces cool below the dew point, water vapor condenses into droplets on grass, cars and webs by morning.
Weather
Dew on spider webs: the morning every web in the yard shows
Fine dew droplets outline webs that are almost impossible to see in dry air, so one still, humid night can reveal every strand around the yard.
Weather
How to find low pressure with your back to the wind
Stand with your back to a steady wind and the center of low pressure lies off to your left, a little ahead.
Weather
What a jet contrail says about the air up high
A short-lived contrail means relatively dry air high up; one that lingers and spreads means the air up there holds a lot of moisture.
Birds
Birds
Chimney swifts swirling into old chimneys at dusk before migration
Before migrating, chimney swifts in eastern Massachusetts gather at dusk and pour into big old chimneys to roost, hundreds swirling in like water.
Birds
Common nighthawk migration over eastern Massachusetts at sunset
From mid-August into early September, common nighthawks drift south over eastern Massachusetts in loose evening flocks, catching insects as they go.
Birds
When ruby-throated hummingbirds leave Massachusetts
Ruby-throated hummingbirds leave Massachusetts between late August and late September, feeding hard at late-summer flowers and feeders until they go.
Birds
Why goldfinches turn patchy gray-brown in late August and September
After their late nesting season, American goldfinches molt in late August and September, trading lemon yellow for gray-brown and looking patchy between.
Birds
Canada goose families merging into big flocks after the summer molt
Once the flightless summer molt ends in late July, Canada goose families in eastern Massachusetts pool into growing flocks that graze fields and use ponds.
Birds
Young eastern screech-owls calling after dark in late summer
In late summer the year's young eastern screech-owls leave their nests and call in the dark, a shivery whinny or a soft trill, while seeking territories.
Birds
Fall warbler migration through Massachusetts yards and trees
Warblers move south through Massachusetts from late August to late October, drab and silent in fall, and the way to find them is to follow the chickadees.
Birds
Barn swallows gathering on wires before fall migration
In late August, barn swallow families line up on roadside wires as the last chicks fledge; most leave for Central and South America by mid-September.
Birds
Why goldfinches nest in late summer, months after other songbirds
Goldfinches raise chicks after other songbirds are done, waiting for late summer, when seed fluff for nest lining and ripe seeds for chicks arrive at once.
Birds
Bald cardinals and blue jays at the feeder: molting, not sick
Late-summer feeders turn up cardinals and blue jays with bare black heads. Most are this year's young losing every head feather at once in a first molt.
Birds
Crow or raven: how to tell them apart by the tail
Crows and common ravens are both big black birds, and the tail settles it at a glance: a crow's opens like a fan, a raven's like a wedge.
Birds
Pileated woodpecker holes in dead trees
Pileated woodpeckers chisel large rectangular holes into dead trees, stumps and logs to reach carpenter ants, leaving big wood chips below.
Birds
Owl pellets and whitewash: signs of an owl roost
Owls cough up the fur and bones of prey as pellets, and under a roost tree they reuse, pellets and white droppings can pile up.
Birds
Carolina wren song: the tea-kettle bird that sings all year
A small rusty-brown wren with a white eyebrow that lives in Massachusetts all year and is one of the few birds that sings in every month.
Birds
White-breasted nuthatch: the bird that climbs down trees headfirst
The white-breasted nuthatch climbs down tree trunks headfirst and hangs under branches, which woodpeckers and brown creepers cannot do.
Birds
Downy or hairy woodpecker: how to tell them apart
The two look nearly identical. Compare the bill to the head: short and stubby on the downy, nearly as long as the head on the hairy.
Birds
Belted kingfishers rattle along rivers and ponds
A belted kingfisher announces itself with a dry rattle, hovers over water, and plunges headfirst for a fish. The female is the more colorful one.
Birds
Spotted sandpipers teeter along pond and river shores
The spotted sandpiper bobs the back half of its body as it walks the water's edge. In this species the female courts the males.
Birds
Green herons hide along shaded shores
The green heron is a small heron so good at hiding in cover that it often goes unseen until it flushes with a loud skeow.
Birds
Dogs and nesting plovers: why beaches limit dogs from April 1
Piping plovers nest on open sand and treat dogs as predators, so many Massachusetts beaches ban dogs or require leashes through summer.
Birds
Hummingbirds at North River's nectar garden
The nectar garden at the start of North River's All Persons Trail draws ruby-throated hummingbirds to trumpet vine and native honeysuckle.
Birds
The purple martin colony at Long Pasture's accessible trail
Purple martins nest in gourds and boxes people put up, and Long Pasture keeps gourd racks along its All Persons Trail.
Birds
Blue Jays that mimic hawk calls
Blue Jays often copy the screams of Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks, so a hawk call from a yard tree is worth a look before you name it.
Insects
Insects
Monarch migration: the late-summer generation that flies to Mexico
Monarchs emerging in eastern Massachusetts from about mid-August put breeding on hold, live for months, and fly all the way to mountain forests in Mexico.
Insects
Green darner dragonfly migration through the Northeast
From late August into fall, common green darners stream south through the Northeast, a dragonfly migration flown by the offspring of the spring arrivals.
Insects
The late-summer night chorus of crickets and katydids
As August settles in, eastern Massachusetts nights fill with fall field crickets, shimmering ground crickets, and true katydids up in the treetops.
Insects
Cicada shells on tree trunks: what the empty brown husks are
A brown husk on a tree trunk is the outgrown skin of a dog-day cicada nymph that climbed up after years underground and split open as a winged adult.
Insects
How orb weaver spiders spin a new web after dark
Many orb weavers eat their worn web and spin a whole new wheel in about an hour after dark, so the crisp web you find at breakfast is often brand new.
Insects
How water striders stand on a pond's surface without sinking
Water striders stand on the surface film of eastern Massachusetts ponds on water-repellent, hairy legs, denting it into dimples without breaking through.
Insects
Cricket chirps and temperature: why the chorus slows as nights cool
Crickets are cold-blooded, so the tempo of their chirping tracks the evening air: brisk at dusk and slower as a late-summer night cools off.
Insects
Moths at street lamps and lit shop fronts on warm summer nights
A light that is already burning on a warm, still night, a street lamp or a lit shop front, draws a small sample of the many moths out in the dark.
Insects
Luna moths at the porch light, most likely in June
Adult luna moths never feed and live only about a week, so one resting at a porch light is a brief, lucky sight, most likely in June.
Insects
Large milkweed bugs crowding milkweed seed pods in late summer
Late-summer milkweed pods draw crowds of large milkweed bugs, adults and nymphs together, in orange warning colors borrowed from the plant's toxins.
Insects
Fall webworm tents on branch tips: the silk nests explained
The gauzy silk bags wrapping whole branch ends on cherries and other hardwoods are fall webworm nests, with the caterpillars feeding safely inside.
Insects
Tomato hornworms covered in white wasp cocoons
A green tomato hornworm studded with white capsules has been farmed from the inside by a tiny braconid wasp, and the capsules are its next generation.
Insects
Hickory tussock caterpillars: look, but do not touch
The white caterpillar with black tufts crossing the trail is a hickory tussock seeking a spot for its cocoon, and its barbed hairs give many people a rash.
Insects
Flying ant day: winged ants swarming after rain in late August
On a warm late-August day after rain, ant colonies send out winged queens and males for one mating flight; around Boston it is called the Labor Day ant.
Insects
Milkweed tussock caterpillars eating milkweed leaves in gangs
Flip a ragged milkweed leaf and you may find a gang of fuzzy black, orange and white milkweed tussock caterpillars eating it down to lace.
Insects
Daddy longlegs, or harvestmen: not spiders, and not venomous
The daddy longlegs on the shed wall is a harvestman, not a spider: one body piece, no silk, no fangs, no venom. The most venomous spider story is a myth.
Insects
Hummingbird moths: clearwing sphinx moths hovering at bee balm
That tiny hummingbird at the phlox may be a clearwing sphinx moth, hovering in daylight on blurred wings and sipping nectar through a long tongue.
Insects
Bald-faced hornet nests: paper globes in the trees, seen from afar
The gray, teardrop-shaped paper globe in a tree has grown all summer and can hold 100 to 400 hornets; admire the chewed-wood architecture from a distance.
Insects
Which way a snail shell coils
Held tip up with the opening facing you, a northeastern land-snail shell almost always opens on the right. Physa pond snails coil left.
Plants
Plants
Jewelweed seed pods that burst open at a touch
Along wet, shady edges in eastern Massachusetts, ripe jewelweed pods are coiled springs that burst at the slightest touch and fling their seeds away.
Plants
Acorn crops, and why a heavy year draws wildlife under the oaks
Oak acorn crops swing widely from year to year and tree to tree, and a heavy year concentrates squirrels, deer, turkeys and more wherever acorns fall.
Plants
Oak galls: the bumps and balls on oak leaves, and what makes them
The bumps and balls on eastern Massachusetts oak leaves are galls, tissue the tree grew around a tiny wasp or other insect, and most do the tree no harm.
Plants
Goldenrod in late summer: a crowded table for bees and butterflies
Late-summer goldenrod patches in Massachusetts gather bees, butterflies and dozens of other insects onto a few bright yellow plumes as other flowers fade.
Plants
Ghost pipe: the white forest plant with no green, June to September
Ghost pipe rises in shaded Massachusetts woods from June through September, a waxy white plant with no chlorophyll that feeds through fungi on tree roots.
Plants
Next spring's tree buds, already formed at the twig tips by fall
Trees in eastern Massachusetts build next spring's buds near the end of the growing season, so by fall every twig tip already carries next year.
Plants
Milkweed pods splitting open to release silky seeds
Common milkweed pods on Massachusetts roadsides and meadow edges split in late summer and early fall, each sending off a hundred or more seeds on silk.
Plants
Goldenrod or ragweed: which one causes fall allergies
Goldenrod gets blamed for fall allergies, but its pollen is too heavy and sticky to fly. The real culprit is drab green ragweed, blooming at the same time.
Plants
Red maples in New England swamps: the first trees to turn in fall
New England fall color starts in wet spots: red maples, the swamp maples, turn in low ground weeks before the hillsides, sometimes before Labor Day.
Plants
Queen Anne's lace curling into bird's nests as it goes to seed
As its seeds ripen, each flat white Queen Anne's lace flower curls into a brown cup like a little bird's nest, and fields hold both stages side by side.
Plants
Pokeweed berries and purple stems: a look-only plant
Along wood edges and fences, pokeweed grows reddish-purple stems taller than a person, with drooping grape-like clusters ripening green to purple-black.
Plants
Why poison ivy turns red so early in fall, and what the red is for
Roadside and stone-wall poison ivy goes brilliant red before any maple starts while its berries turn white. The color signals birds that the fruit is ripe.
Plants
Counting a young white pine's age by its branch whorls
A young white pine grows one ring of branches, a whorl, for each year of upward growth, so counting the rings estimates its age.
Plants
How to read tree rings on a cut stump
A light spring band and a dark late band make one ring. Wide rings often mean good years; narrow ones can mean drought or crowding.
Plants
Tar spot: the black blotches on maple leaves
Tar spot is a fungus that leaves raised black blotches, like drips of tar, on maple leaves, largest on Norway maples, and it winters on the fallen leaves.
Plants
Tell pines apart by counting needles in a bundle
Eastern white pine has 5 needles to a bundle, pitch pine 3, and red pine 2 that snap when bent, though some planted pines have 2 as well.
Plants
Keep dogs out of water that looks like pea soup or paint
Some blue-green algae blooms make toxins that can sicken dogs. The state says blooms are most common in summer and early fall.
Mammals
Mammals
Fawns out exploring with their mothers in July and August
Most Massachusetts fawns are born in May and June, and by July they are strong enough to run and are exploring yards and field edges with their mothers.
Mammals
Big brown bats hunting over yards at dusk in eastern Massachusetts
The most common bat in Massachusetts suburbs, the big brown bat, leaves its roost in the evening to hunt insects over yards, ponds and field edges.
Mammals
Beaver signs: chewed stumps and pale wood chips along pond edges
Beavers work mostly at night, so pointed stumps, pale wood chips and paired tooth grooves along a pond edge are often easier to find than the animal.
Mammals
Woodchucks fattening up for hibernation in late summer and fall
A woodchuck grazing a field edge is building the fat it lives on all winter: it is one of Massachusetts' few true hibernators and eats nothing till spring.
Mammals
Red squirrel cone piles under the pines
Red squirrels strip pine, spruce and hemlock cones at a favorite stump or log, and the scales pile up there over years, up to two feet high.
Mammals
Porcupines cannot throw quills, but a nosy dog can get quilled
Mass Audubon says porcupines raise their quills rather than shoot them. If a dog is quilled, Cornell says see a veterinarian; do not pull them yourself.
Mammals
Fishers: not cats, and not the night scream
The fisher is a large member of the weasel family, not a cat. It lives throughout Massachusetts except on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
Fungi
Fungi
Why mushrooms pop up after rain in Massachusetts
Each mushroom that appears after a Massachusetts rain is the short-lived fruiting body of a fungus whose threadlike main body stays hidden in soil or wood.
Fungi
Why lichen turns bright green after rain
Rain turns a lichen's gray outer layer see-through so the green algal partner shows, while lichens with cyanobacteria go dark green, brown or black.
Fungi
Giant puffballs in lawns and fields from August to October
A white ball the size of a soccer ball in the grass is a giant puffball, one of the largest fungi, and a ripe one holds an estimated seven trillion spores.
Fungi
Slime mold on the mulch after rain: the yellow blob explained
A yellow blob that appears on mulch overnight is a slime mold: not a fungus but a giant single cell that creeps, eats, then dries into a brown spore mass.
Fungi
Black knot on cherry trees: the black lumps are a fungus
Hard black swellings on a roadside cherry's twigs are black knot, a native fungus, not fire damage or an insect gall, and it can keep growing for decades.
Fungi
Honey mushrooms: golden clusters at the base of trees in fall
Honey mushrooms are golden-tan to brown clusters at the base of trunks and stumps from late summer into fall, the fruiting stage of Armillaria.
Fungi
British soldier lichen and its bright red caps
A pale green lichen with tiny stalks tipped in bright red, found on old stumps, rotting logs, mossy ground and weathered fence posts.
Fungi
Old man's beard lichen and its stretchy inner cord
A pale gray-green, hair-like lichen on twigs and branches; it is sensitive to air pollution, and a stretched strand has an elastic cord inside.
Fungi
Tinder conk: the gray hoof fungus on birch and beech
A hard, gray, hoof-shaped fungus on birch and beech trunks that lives for years and can be seen in every season.
Fungi
Lichens on gravestones and old stone walls
The gray, yellow-green and orange crusts on old stone are lichens, a fungus living with an alga, slow growing and differing from one stone type to another.
Fungi
Split gill fungus, the fan that shrivels and revives
A small fuzzy gray-white fan on dead hardwood whose gills are split down the middle. It shrivels in dry spells and starts working again after rain.
Fungi
Chaga: the black, burnt-looking fungus lump on birch trunks
The black, deeply cracked lump on a living birch trunk is chaga, a fungus, not a burn scar or a woody burl. It can sit on the tree for many years.
Fungi
Blue-green stained wood from the Chlorociboria fungus
Fallen sticks and logs stained bright blue-green are colored by a cup fungus called Chlorociboria. Its tiny turquoise cups appear far less often.
Amphibians
Amphibians
Red efts: the orange young newts that walk the woods after rain
After a soaking summer rain in eastern Massachusetts woods, red efts, the young land stage of the eastern newt, walk the wet leaf litter in daylight.
Amphibians
Snapping turtle hatchlings crossing lawns and roads toward water
Snapping turtle eggs laid in early summer hatch from late August through October, and quarter-sized hatchlings walk overland toward ponds and rivers.
Landscape
Landscape
Why vernal pools dry up in summer, and why that matters
By midsummer most Massachusetts vernal pools are shrinking toward a dry bed of dark leaves, and that regular drying is what keeps fish from settling in.
Landscape
Stone walls in New England woods and the farms they once edged
Almost every stone wall in New England woods was a field or pasture edge, built of glacial stones farmers cleared between the Revolution and the Civil War.
Landscape
Kettle holes: ponds and hollows left by melting glacial ice
Some round ponds and deep hollows in eastern Massachusetts mark where a block of ice, stranded and buried as the last glacier retreated, slowly melted.
Landscape
Glacial erratics: lone boulders the ice sheet left behind
A huge lone boulder in the woods or a field is often not local rock: the last ice sheet carried it from elsewhere and dropped it as it melted.
Landscape
Pits and mounds: how uprooted trees shape the forest floor
A mound beside a hollow marks a tree blown over long ago, its roots lifting soil and stone that stayed behind after they rotted.
Landscape
Eskers: winding ridges left by glacial meltwater rivers
An esker is a long, winding ridge of sand and gravel laid down by a meltwater river in a channel within or beneath the last ice sheet.
Landscape
Drumlins: smooth oval hills shaped by glacial ice
Drumlins are smooth, oval hills of glacial till streamlined by moving ice, and eastern Massachusetts has many of them.
Landscape
Wolf trees: old open-grown giants inside young woods
A wolf tree is a huge, wide-crowned tree with low thick limbs among straighter younger trees, a likely sign the spot was once a pasture or field edge.
Landscape
Mass Audubon sanctuaries ban dogs while many state parks welcome them
Dog rules on Massachusetts trails come from the landowner: DCR, state wildlife lands, Mass Audubon and The Trustees each have their own.
Landscape
Glacial striations on Massachusetts bedrock ledges
Fine parallel scratches and grooves on bare ledges were cut by stones in the base of an ice sheet, and they record which way the ice moved.
Landscape
Roxbury Puddingstone, the Massachusetts state rock
Roxbury Puddingstone is old gravel of rounded pebbles and cobbles cemented into hard rock. It crops out in ledges and cliffs in and around Boston.