Calling tree lovers age 10 and up! It’s Science Sunday at CT Forest & Park Association this weekend. Naturalist Lucy Meigs offers a presentation and guided walk : The Ecology & Identification of CT Native Trees, from 2 to 4 p.m. at CFPA headquarters (16 Meriden Road in Rockfall, CT). Learn more and register here.
Pumpkinfest runs this Saturday from 12-4 p.m. at Wesleyan University’s Long Lane Farm! Come enjoy student and faculty bands, a farmer’s market, farm tours, crafts, pumpkins, apples & baked goods to buy — and complimentary veggie burgers and cider, as well. This year, Wesleyan student and letterboxing veteran Matthew Stein has created four new letterboxes at the farm for people to find. He and Professor Elise Springer will be on hand to help participants carve stamps and learn about this great outdoor activity for all ages. Come and bring friends!
Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton, CT is offering an election-day program about owls! Watch owls on video, meet the center’s resident owls, make an owl craft, go on an owl scavenger hunt, dissect an owl pellet, and more. The program is free with admission with to the Nature Center ($6 for adults, $4 for kids, free for members). Scavenger hunt maps are $2 each.
Wesleyan Professor Elise Springer likes to takes long walks in the woods with her camera — check out this wild-looking caterpillar that she spotted near Wadsworth State Park! Elise writes, “The rear end of the saddleback (Acharia stimulea) looks like the head of an alien. The head, meanwhile, looks like a porcupine crossed with the back of a retro bus. This one was a bit downstream of Wadsworth, munching on the leaves of the fast-spreading autumn olive.” You can see more photos of the saddleback here, and much more about Middletown’s plants and creatures on Elise’s blog, Outwalking.
