A New Site to See

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Hillary T.

If you have been to our website in the last few days, you may have noticed a pretty significant change. On November 13, we flipped the switch on the new and improved massaudubon.org. And this wasn’t just a simple redesign.

To ensure that we provide the best experience possible for a very diverse group of users, we did a complete, top-to-bottom rebuild. Highlights of the new site include:

  • A brighter, bolder, mobile-friendly design with larger images, photo slideshows, and fun graphic elements
  • A smart search tool so you can easily find what you’re looking for
  • The option to find a wildlife sanctuary by location or zip code via Google maps
  • The ability to view upcoming programs in a calendar view
  • More intuitive and dynamic navigation
  • Bigger text that can be adjusted with the click of a button (look for the three As in the upper right corner)

So, go ahead and take a look around. And since we know that there’s always room for improvement, we’d love to hear what you think. Happy browsing!

Picture1

Seeing Spots?

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Stu

Have you noticed anything strange while raking leaves this fall? If you look closely at some of your maple leaves you might notice a different color than the usual yellows and reds.

Some maple leaves have black spots on them, as if they’ve been speckled with tar. Fear not, tar isn’t raining from the sky.

The black spots on maple leaves, often referred to as tar spot, are actually a fungi. The fungal disease is of the genus Rhytisma, and only affects the leaves of maple trees. Sugar maples, red maples, and Norway maples are susceptible among others in the genus Acer. Fortunately this disease is purely aesthetic and does not affect the overall health of the tree. However, some leaves that are heavily infected might drop off the tree early.

If you notice the fungi on a maple tree in your yard it is actually quite easy to manage. The fungi overwinter on fallen leaves, waiting for the warm spring weather to ripen the spores. When the spores are released they float up and blow in the wind hoping to land on a new maple leaf host. To reduce the number of spores floating around it is best to rake up infected leaves in the fall and destroy them. Maybe an extra bit of motivation to rake up those leaves!