this morning, after a breakfast of cereal and dropping off some mongolian barbecue sauce at the cafe, i headed out west around noon to the nashoba brook wildlife sanctuary (mass audubon, westford). when i got there, it was just a small gravel covered empty parking lot by the side of the road, a bulletin board with some notices, and then a path leading into the woods. i covered myself with bug spray as i read the notices then i loaded up all my gear and went into the forest. although the sanctuary only covered 43 acres (with another 150 acres located at another location, whether marked with trails or not i don't know, but the directions told me to come here), it's more than adequate for the things i'm hunting for: insects, wildflowers, mushrooms, birds and other wildlife. the trail is only 1/3 of a mile, but i could make that last for hours, stopping every few minutes to take photos, or listening to bird calls, or following the flights of dragonflies. i've been reading my peterson field guide to eastern forests, so i paid more attention to the environment as a whole. the place is a mixture of pines and red maples and occasionally oaks. the shady parts of the forest floor were covered in pine needles and ferns, while the exposed areas saw more grasses and open dirt paths. the first interesting thing i spotted right when i embarked on the trail was a 12-sided die on the forest floor. how it got there is probably an interesting story. i imagined a group of weekend fantasy game afficionados congregating in the preserve, role playing a key battle on their imaginary quest. "oh no, i lost my 12-sided die!" the party organizer might've said once he discovered what happened, but fortunately somebody else has a spare.

the thing to see at nashoba brook happens to be dragonflies and damselflies. they were everywhere, if not sunning themselves, then they were feeding on some hapless insect or caterpillar. the river provides a breeding ground, the forest provides all the food they can eat. since they were in the woods and not on the edge of a pond or a stream, they were easier to photograph too (for the most part). most were preoccupied with the task of feeding anyway to notice any approaching camera lenses. the first one i saw was the ebony jewelwing, and i followed it for several minutes until it rested on a fern leaf, sunning itself. i managed to take some photos. my last encounter with these jewelwings was last spring, when i saw some by a stream on the minuteman bike trail (i wasn't able to get a good photo at that time even though i trampled through some jewelweeds to get close enough).

ebony jewelwing (female)	stream cruiser	stream cruiser
spreadwing (male)	dot-tailed whiteface (female)	lancet clubtail (male)

at the junction of the woodpath, a chipmunk was resting on a small piece of broken branch poking out from the trunk high overhead. it watched from above, not scared at all, as i circled the pine tree it was on, taking photos. i decided to go left, and soon came across the familiar lady's slippers of these new england forests. only a few, not as abundant as the fells. a little hidden path came out from the main trail and i followed it into a flat clearing covered in mostly yellow hawkweed. on the ground grew wild strawberry plants and british soldiers. there were dragonflies here, battling each other for territory. here is where i saw the dot-tailed whitefaces, a species i've seen before, easy to identify. i left the clearing and went back onto the main trail, following it eventually to another crossroad. one led to some residential area, the other was the continuation of the tree. i went down the residential path and saw some bluets (there were a lot of bluets in oxbow), before getting back onto the main trail again.

yellow hawkweed	british soldiers	bluets

a gallery of some of the more insects i spotted:

shield bug	unknown black beetle	size comparison
gall wasp	unknown green insect	treehopper

and some random plant/fungus photos:

red maple disease

funnel shaped mushroom

funnel shaped mushroom

coming around on the return loop, there was a wooded path that led downwards to some unknown area of the forest. i decided to follow it, which lead me to the nashoba brook, which up to that point i thought was only a myth since i hadn't seen it yet (although the abundance of dragonflies were a clue that a source of water was nearby). hidden away under a canopy of trees, the brook is quite picturesque. it'd be a nice place to just sit by the edge of the water and relax, were it not for the millions of hungry mosquitoes. walking through the ferns to get a closer look at the water, i unleashed a cloud of hungry insects. at times i thought i'd choke on mosquitoes. they were hungry and apparently find areas on my body where i either missed with the bug spray or perhaps the DEET was wearing off, because they started biting on hands and the top of my head. i got out of there when it became unbearable, reapplying bug spray when i got back onto the main trail.

the final straw were the ticks. while squatting over some vegetation trying to get a good photo of a red slime mold, i noticed something crawling on my jeans. i already knew what it was but examined it anyway, just to confirm my suspicion: it was a tick. i'm fine with mosquitoes, they bite and then leave, and for the most part you can see them. but ticks stick around, they're parasites, and they're so tiny that if you don't pay attention you won't see them until it's too late and they've embedded themselves into your skin, sucking your blood. i flicked off the tick. i got up and checked myself for any more. i saw another one, and flicked that one off as well. i took that as my cue to leave and nearly ran out of the forest, having had enough of naturing for one day.

after i drove home, the first thing i did was to strip out of my clothes and check my body for ticks. then i took a hot shower, washing off all that insect repellent. close to 6pm i drove to belmont, for a family barbecue. everyone from yesterday was there, as well as my sister and one of jack's friends. it was essentially a food orgy, and equation of food for love. there was so much food, later, after i looked at the photos i've taken, i realized there were things i didn't even get a chance to eat, lost in the vast selection. as the daylight disappeared, i went back inside the warm comfort of the house, while the three sisters were still out singing spanish songs on the swingset. later, my father drove me back to cambridge. i finally heard from alex (my godmother's son) regarding going to the peabody essex museum tomorrow (my last day to get free admission with my fleet card), we both decided to raincheck it.