M is for Moose

Spent the weekend at a computer training on Friday, spent Friday night at Jessie's, moose workshop at Harvard Forest on Saturday and Sunday - now I'm finally home!

On the way to the computer training, I passed the Old Stone Church on the Wachusett Reservoir. Since I had about 10 minutes to kill, I took a walk and got some pictures.


Then I headed to Orange where Thea proceeded to put on her helmet and show me that she can ride her big-girl bike! This girl is amazing!

Thea has eight new ponies, so we had to go take them for a walk and groom them. She taught her Auntie Amy how to pick out their hooves! It was scary, but I did it. I figured if a 2 1/2 year old could pick hooves, I should be able to do it!

Miss Thea with her pony, Honey! Two of them are pregnant and I cannot wait to see the little baby ponies when they are born.

On Saturday, I took to the woods to look for signs of moose. Did you know that Massachusetts has a population of about 1,000 moose? I had no idea! We didn't see any moose, but tons of signs and scat.

Here's a deer rub - not moose, but o-well...

And this is moose poop (or scat). It is much, much bigger than deer scat.

Dave, a moose biologist, is showing us where a moose bedded down. You can see a big pile of poop near his boots and the depressed area where the moose layed down. Also, all around this area a lot of plants were browsed (the buds were eaten off).

Look! I found a moose hair clinging to a plant he was browsing! Moose hairs are thick and can be really long. This one was probably from his face, so it's not too long. It's hollow to help insulate the moose from the cold.

Also found some cool stuff on our walk. Here's some funky fungi!

And a witch hazel flower - the last flower of the year as it blooms in late fall.

I found this red eft in the leaf litter and we couldn't believe what we saw...it had TWO TAILS?!?!?!?! C-c-c-c-crazy!