Naturalist Beginnings

1. I retired in October 2015 and spent the autumn days watching the leaves fall.

And looking at fungi in the woodpile.

And I saw some white stuff on an alder twig at the Great Pond Mountain Conservation trust greens gathering in the Wildlands. WTF is it? After some investigation, I find out. - wooly alder aphids (Paraprociphilus tessellatus).  Really?? Aphids?

 It is November 29, 2016 and I also see Cladonia cristatella, which is commonly known as the British soldiers lichen, 

And there is a stunning foliose lichen on a tree.

And February came and I was looking at catkins.

But I don't really understand what they do. They are purple and might be hanging on alders.

I have been accepted  into the Maine Master Naturalist Program. So now real learning will begin.