~The Natural State~.......MASSACHUSETTS

[olena]

State Bird

Black-capped Chickadee
Poecile atricapilla


Description 4 3/4-5 3/4" (12-15 cm). Black cap and throat, white cheeks, gray back, dull white underparts. Wing feathers narrowly and indistinctly edged with white.
Voice A buzzy chick-a-dee-dee-dee or a clear, whistled fee-bee, the second note lower and often doubled.
Habitat Deciduous and mixed forests and open woodlands; suburban areas in winter.
Nesting 6-8 brown-speckled white eggs in a cup of grass, fur, plant down, feathers, and moss, placed in a hole in a rotten tree stub excavated by the birds, or in a natural cavity or bird box.
Range Largely resident from Alaska east across Canada to Newfoundland, south to northern California, northern New Mexico, Missouri, and northern New Jersey. Winters south to Maryland and Texas.
Discussion These birds are constantly active -- hopping, often feeding upside down, clinging to the underside of twigs and branches in their search for insect eggs and larvae. Flocks of this tame and inquisitive bird spend the winter making the rounds of feeders in a neighborhood, often appearing at each feeder with striking regularity. Chickadees form the nucleus of mixed flocks of woodpeckers, nuthatches, creepers, and kinglets that move through the winter woods. In spring, chickadees disband into the woods to nest. Black-capped Chickadees usually prepare their own nesting hole in soft, rotting tree stumps. Enticing them into breeding boxes is difficult unless the boxes are filled with sawdust, which deceives the chickadees; they carry the sawdust out bit by bit and accept the box for nesting.

 

[olena]

State Fish

Atlantic Cod
Gadus morhua

Description To 6' (1.8 m); 98 3/4 lbs (44.8 kg). Moderately elongate, slightly compressed, tapering to slender caudal peduncle; variably greenish, brownish, yellowish, whitish, or reddish; back and sides with numerous brownish spots; lateral line pale; no black blotch on shoulder. Eye large; maxilla reaches anterior margin of eye; chin barbel large; upper jaw projects beyond lower. Fins dark; pelvic fins not filamentous; 3 dorsal fins, 2 anal fins; caudal fin emarginate.
Habitat Usually on or near bottom of continental shelf at depths of 6-20 fathoms, sometimes deeper, over hard, irregular substrates.
Range From W. Greenland south to Cape Hatteras; most abundant from Labrador to New York.
Discussion Reported at over 200 lbs (90 kg) but considered large at one-third of that weight, Atlantic Cod average 6 to 12 lbs (2.7 to 5.4 kg). They feed on a variety of animals, mostly mollusks, sea squirts, and other fishes. The annual catch of this commercially important fish amounts to tens of thousands of tons. It is often caught on a handline by anglers in New England.

 

[olena]

State Berry

Large Cranberry
Vaccinium macrocarpon

Description
The ascending branches of this evergreen, trailing shrub have nodding, pinkish-white flowers with 4 backward- pointing petals in clusters arising in the leaf axils.
Flowers: about 1/2" (1.3 cm) long; stamens 8-10, with anthers united into a long, pointed cone projecting upward.
Leaves: 1/5-2/3" (5-16 mm) long; alternate, oval, blunt, shiny above but slightly whitish beneath.
Fruit: dark red, globose berry.
Height: creeper, with branches to 8" (20 cm) high.
Flowering: June-August.
Habitat
Open bogs, swamps, and lake shores.
Range
Ontario east to Newfoundland, south to North Carolina, west to Tennessee, and north to Illinois and Minnesota; also in British Columbia, Washington, and California.
Discussion
Cultivated cranberry varieties developed from this native species are grown extensively on Cape Cod and in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Small Cranberry (V. oxycoccus), a native of North America and Eurasia that occurs in mainland Canada and across the northern United States, has smaller leaves that are whiter beneath and have rolled edges. These two species were originally known as craneberries because of the resemblance of their petals and beaked anther to the head of those wading birds; they are sometimes placed in their own genus, Oxycoceus. Wild cranberries often form low dense masses over peaty, boggy areas. The berries are ready for picking in the fall.

 

[olena]

State Tree

American Elm
Ulmus americana


Description Large, handsome, graceful tree, often with enlarged buttresses at base, usually forked into many spreading branches, drooping at ends, forming a very broad, rounded, flat-topped or vaselike crown, often wider than high.
Height: 100' (30 m).
Diameter: 4' (1.2 m), sometimes much larger.
Leaves: in 2 rows; 3-6" (7.5-15 cm) long, 1-3" (2.5-7.5 cm) wide. Elliptical, abruptly long-pointed, base rounded with sides unequal; doubly saw-toothed; with many straight parallel side veins; thin. Dark green and usually hairless or slightly rough above, paler and usually with soft hairs beneath; turning bright yellow in autumn.
Bark: light gray; deeply furrowed into broad, forking, scaly ridges.
Twigs: brownish, slender, hairless.
Flowers: 1/8" (3 mm) wide; greenish; clustered along twigs in early spring.
Fruit: 3/8-1/2" (10-12 mm) long; elliptical flat 1-seeded keys (samaras), with wing hairy on edges, deeply notched with points curved inward; long-stalked; maturing in early spring.
Habitat Moist soils, especially valleys and flood plains; in mixed hardwood forests.
Range SE. Saskatchewan east to Cape Breton Island, south to central Florida, and west to central Texas; to 2500' (762 m).
Discussion This well-known, once abundant species, familiar on lawns and city streets, has been ravaged by the Dutch Elm disease, caused by a fungus introduced accidentally about 1930 and spread by European and native elm bark beetles. The wood is used for containers, furniture, and paneling.

 

[olena]

State Insect

Convergent Lady Beetle
Hippodamia convergens


Description 1/4-3/8" (6-8 mm). Oval, convex above. Pronotum black with white border and 2 converging white stripes. Elytra are red or orange with 13 black spots (1 spot at scutellum and 6 on each elytron); sometimes spots are enlarged to form 3 transverse bands. Larva is velvety black with 8 orange spots. Pupa is black with red spots.
Food Aphids and other small insects.
Life Cycle Female may lay up to 500 eggs during a lifespan of a few months; clusters of 5-30 eggs are attached on leaves and twigs. Larvae feed, then pupate attached by the back end to some support. Many generations a year, if food supply is good.
Habitat Woods, meadows, and gardens.
Range Throughout North America.
Discussion Large numbers of ladybugs occasionally find their way into houses in autumn looking for places to spend the winter. In the West huge swarms fly into mountain canyons, overwinter under leaves, and return to valleys in the spring. Overwintering beetles are sometimes purchased by mail and freed near crops that are vulnerable to aphids.

 

[olena]

State Flower

Trailing Arbutus
Epigaea repens
Mayflower

Description A trailing, evergreen plant with sweet-scented pink or white flowers in terminal and axillary clusters on hairy stems.
Flowers: about 1/2" (1.3 cm) wide; corolla tubular, hairy within, flaring into 5 lobes, each as long as the corolla tube.
Leaves: 3/4-3" (2-7.5 cm) long; leathery, oval, with hairy margins.
Fruit: capsule splitting open into 5 parts, exposing whitish pulp covered with tiny seeds.
Height: creeper.
Flower February-May.
Habitat Sandy or rocky woods, especially on acid soil.
Range Quebec and Nova Scotia; south from New England and New York to Florida; west to Mississippi and Ohio.
Discussion For this favorite wildflower with an exquisite fragrance, one must search among the fallen leaves in early spring. It favors exposed sites where the plants are not smothered by leaf litter. It appears to be sensitive to abrupt environmental disturbances, such as lumbering and grazing, which may account for its present scarcity. It is difficult to cultivate.

 

[olena]

State Animal

The Morgan Horse

In 1791 Justin Morgan, a singing school master in Randolph, walked home from Springfield, Ma. with a bay 2 year old colt taken as payment of a debt. That colt he called Figure, soon created a legend for his ability to outwork, outrun, outtrot, and outwalk any horse in the area. As his saga grew over the 30 years he lived in Vermont, countless sons and daughters were produced in his image. For Morgan's horse, now better known by his master's name, was one of the greatest breeding stallions of any time - the only one to establish a breed by himself.
From Vermont the popularity of Morgan blood spread across a growing nation. Every generation added to its luster: Black Hawk, epitome of equine symmetry and perfection at the trot, Ethan Allen, champion trotter of the world, renowned in the Racing Hall of Fame and familiar from Currier and Ives prints, and Green Mountain Morgan, winner of premiums and championships as a blood stallion as far away as Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan.
Throughout the 19th century wherever the need for a horse, the Morgan seemed to serve best. He earned his keep as a general purpose frontier horse, in teams hauling freight or passengers, trotting races, pulling doctor's buggies, delivering rural mail, drawing carriages of Presidents and financiers, and being cavalry horses.
In the Civil War the 1st Vermont Cavalry was mounted exclusively on Morgans. Only 200 of the 1,000 returned home having surved the 75 major conflicts. They won a reputation for being the best cavalry and artillery horses in either army.
The Morgan is the only breed ever fostered by the U.S. Government to meet America's needs. From 1907 to 1951 what is now the University of Vermont Morgan Horse Farm in Middlebury was operating by the U.S.D.A. to perpetuate the breed and provide breeding stallions for Remount stations across the country. Some of the most famous endurances horses were foaled there.
The contribution of Morgan blood to all later American breeds is extensive and well documented; including the Saddlebred, the Standardbred, the Tennessee Walker and the Quarter horse.
200 years of change from frontier Vermont to the space age has meant differing uses for Morgans but they have always adapted to every need. The Morgans innate desire to please and to give his best has remained a constant. So has his versatility - his ability to do many things well.
In harness or under saddle, his marvelous disposition and willing attitude make him an ideal family horse. An amatuer can raise and train him with minimal help. An easy keeper, he remains healthy and sound over a life span 10 years longer than most breeds. On a noisy, busy road or a mountain trail, working cattle or accepting the discipline of dressage, teaching children the basics of horsemanship or showing off his brilliant and animated gaits in a Horse Show Park class - Morgans do it all, with beauty and enjoyment.

 

[olena]

State Marine Mammal

Northern Right Whale
Balaena glacialis
Black Right Whale

Description To 53' (16.2 m). Large, rotund; brown to almost black, mottled overall, with some white on chin and belly, baleen plates dark brownish to dark gray or black, may appear pale yellowish gray further offshore. Jaw highly arched, curves upward along side of head; callosities, or bumps, on head light yellowish, largest, or "bonnet," in front of large, paired blowholes. No dorsal fin or ridge. Flukes broad, tips pointed, greatly concave toward deep notch, dark below. Blow characteristic, V-shaped.
Endangered Status The Northern Right Whale is on the U.S. Endangered Species List. It is classified as endangered in its entire range along the eastern coast of the U.S. (Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia). This whale was hunted nearly to extinction, and commercial hunting of right whales has been banned for nearly 100 years. Collecting Northern Right Whales for scientific research has taken a toll in the last century, and the species does not appear to be recovering. With probably fewer than 1,000 individuals world-wide, the species is considered to be very close to extinction.
Similar Species Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus) lacks light-colored callosities on head. Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) has obvious mottling.
Habitat Often near shore in shallow water; sometimes in large bays.
Range In Atlantic from Iceland to E. Florida, occasionally into SE. and SW. Gulf of Mexico, rarely to West Indies. In Pacific from Gulf of Alaska and SE. Bering Sea to central Baja California.
Discussion Also called the Black Right Whale, this species was named the Right Whale by early whalers who believed it to be the "right" or "correct" whale to take, since it swims slowly, is easy to approach and kill, and does not sink when dead. One animal measuring 51' (15.4 m) weighed 46.2 ton (42,000 kg). Once killed, the Right Whale yielded an abundance of valuable oil and baleen to be used for corset stays and other decorative or utilitarian objects. There is growing evidence that calves are born when the whales are at the southern end of their migration - in the Atlantic off northeastern Florida, Georgia, and possibly the Carolinas. They may come very close to shore in northeastern Florida. Only newborn whales lack the callosities, which may be useful in identifying individual whales.

 

[olena]

State Game Bird

Wild Turkey
Meleagris gallopavo


Description Male, 48" (1.2 m); female, 36" (91 cm). Unmistakable. Dusky brown, barred with black, with iridescent bronze sheen; head and neck naked, with bluish and reddish wattles; tail fan-shaped, with chestnut, buff, or white tail tips. Male has spurs and long "beard" on breast. Female smaller, lacks spurs and usually "beard." Domestic turkeys similar, but usually tamer and stockier.
Voice Gobbling calls similar to those of domestic turkey.
Habitat Oak woodlands, pine-oak forests.
Nesting 8-15 buff-colored eggs, spotted with brown, in a shallow depression lined with grass and leaves.
Range Resident in much of southern United States from Arizona east, as far north as New England. Introduced to many western states, including California.
Discussion Although the Wild Turkey was well known to American Indians and widely used by them as food, certain tribes considered these birds stupid and cowardly and did not eat them for fear of acquiring these characteristics. By the end of the 19th century, the Wild Turkey had been hunted almost to extinction in much of its original range. Now, with protection, restocking programs, and the return of the mature forests favored by turkeys, this species is making a marked comeback. It is now common in areas where it was totally absent a few decades ago. Turkeys are swift runners and quite wary. They often roost over water because of the added protection that this location offers. They are polygamous, and the male gobbles and struts with tail fanned to attract and hold his harem.

Previous Natural States
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Maine
Michigan
Rhode Island
Utah
Vermont
Washington
West Virginia


Previous Natural Provinces
Manitoba
Prince Edward Island

 

[Teejay32]

I didn't know any of this. Thanks!

 

[Snowwark]

They share the same state animal as Vermont, the Morgan horse, right?

I knew cranberries were big business in Ma., I even have a cranberry candle that I bought when I was done there. They have cranberry everything!

The Mayflower, eh? Big surprise there..lol.

Thank you Heather, very interesting!

Teejay, it's great to see you here!

 

[SeaSpray]

Very nice, thank you!!

 

[amid chaos]

Very nice Olena...it's amazing what you can learn abotu your own state...love the chickadee picture.

and yes...we have cranberry everything, especially on the cape.

 

[olena]

I had to do MA this month. You've got turkey, cranberries and mayflowers.....

Then there's the cod! All are very representative....