Cape Cod view at the end of Navigation Road, Banstable, MA, 4 October 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

11 October 2025

A week ago at Cape Cod I was birding with Bob Kroeger along Navigation Road in Barnstable when we popped out at this beautiful salt marsh scene at the end of the road.

I took the red foliage for granted until I got close. Glasswort’s succulent leaves provide the clue that it thrives in saline habitats. In spring and summer this plant is green so I probably didn’t notice it. In October it turns a beautiful red. I think this is Virginia glasswort (Salicornia virginica).

Virginia glasswort, Navigation Road, Cape Cod, 4 October 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Succulent leaves of Virginia glasswort, Cape Cod, 4 October 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

I’d been telling my sister-in-law about the crows that roost in Pittsburgh in the winter and she said, “You ought to see our cormorants.” As sunset approached we followed the bike trial to the Bass River in South Dennis and found 300 double-crested cormorants with more coming in all the time. I’ve heard that people aren’t happy that the birds roost on the wires over the river, but this is certainly a case of build-it-and-they-will-come.

Cormorants coming in to roost at the Bass Rover, South Dennis, MA, 4 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Cormorants coming in to roost at the Bass Rover, South Dennis, MA, 4 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Back home in Pittsburgh, 10 October: While walking in Schenley Park yesterday I saw something white in a splash of sunlight in the woods. Was it trash?

What’s that white thing in the woods? Schenley Park, 10 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

When I bushwhacked to examine it I found a large puffball mushroom with a corner broken off.

Puffball mushroom, Schenley Park, 10 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

I can’t tell you what species this is but there are many examples in this Wikipedia article on puffballs.