Last night, I walked outside in the pitch dark to watch the Perseid meteor shower, and I accidentally kicked a toad. I switched on my flashlight to watch it hop into the nearby flower bed, seemingly unharmed, its stout, warty body disappearing under an unruly cluster of bee balm.
I checked the rock steps in front of me for any other amphibian wanderers, then turned off my light and settled down to look at the stars. As my eyes adjusted, pinpricks of light emerged from the heavens by the thousands.
Then came a text message from a friend: “Northern lights are picking up! Take some north pics!”
Shooting stars and aurora borealis in the same night? Welcome to the magic of summer in Maine. Though just barely visible to the naked eye, my camera picked up dancing sheets of green, pink and red. I was in awe.
So, there you have it: two natural wonders not to miss in August.
One: The night sky, with the Milky Way stretching across it in a sparkling band, is beautiful all on its own. But this month, we get the extra treat of enjoying the Perseid meteor shower, which peaks mid-August. Plus we glimpse the northern lights — though it’s much more dramatic when amplified with a camera, even a phone camera.
Two: Toads are simply everywhere. Night or day, they hop around forest and field, slurping up beetles, slugs and spiders. They’re creatures that like heat and humidity, so August is the perfect time for them to roam.
I often see them crouching near the trail while I’m hiking. In fact, during several August hikes, I’ve entertained myself by counting toads. It’s not uncommon for me to spot more than a dozen in just a couple miles of walking.
At night, toads often pursue the insects that are attracted to garden lights. I suspect that’s exactly what the toad was doing in my yard last night when I rudely stumbled upon it.
But let’s keep going. Here are some other fascinating things you can find in nature during the month of August in Maine:
Purple mushrooms. Orange, red and yellow are out there too. But purple is fairly rare, so it’s a real treat. Just yesterday (it was a big day), I found two purple-capped mushrooms growing out of the duff at Snow’s Cove Preserve in Sedgwick. I used a mobile app, Seek, to tentatively identify it as viscid violet cort.
But that’s not all. Last August, I spotted a purple coral mushroom at Branch Lake Public Forest in Ellsworth. Shaped much like ocean coral, the mushroom was so vibrantly violet that it almost looked fake.
Next up? Loon parties. This time of year, loons are done being territorial over their nests. Instead, they often gather together and raise a racket. Look for these rowdy groups of loons on lakes and ponds. And be sure to keep a respectful distance away.
I recently watched a group of five loons diving and preening together while camped on Sysladobsis Lake in Down East Maine. I saw a similar group socializing on Lake Umbagog out west, on the border of Maine and New Hampshire.
Also on that trip, I was lucky enough to paddle past a loon and its baby — which was really more of a toddler. Covered in gray-brown, fluffy feathers, the young bird was sticking close to its parent and making short dives. I imagine it was learning how to fish.
For flora, the season’s stars are subjective, of course, but one of my favorite August bloomers is the cardinal flower, which can be found along waterways throughout Maine. I recently spotted these crimson, tubular flowers along the edge of several lakes and streams in the Grand Lake Stream area, and then again along a stream in Sunkhaze National Wildlife Refuge in Milford. I also know that they grow at Hirundo Wildlife Refuge in Old Town.
Providing nectar for hummingbirds and butterflies, the cardinal flower is native to Maine. It was named after the red robes worn by Roman Catholic cardinals, according to the National Audubon Society’s field guide “Wildflowers of North America” (2023).
My other favorite August flower is often mistaken as being a fungus. Growing in clusters in shady woods, the ghost pipe doesn’t really look like a plant, but it is. It just doesn’t contain any chlorophyll, the green pigment that’s essential for photosynthesis. Instead, this plant is stark white.
To obtain energy, ghost pipes sap nutrients from tree roots through an intermediate source: underground fungi in the genera Russula and Lactarius, according to an online profile of the plant provided by the U.S. Forest Service.
At the top of each waxy, scaly stem is a nodding, white flower. The stem bends, like a candy cane, and the flower faces the ground.
One other thing I look for in August is caterpillars. Moth and butterfly life cycles vary, depending on the species, which results in caterpillars being present throughout the spring, summer and fall. Yet some of the wackiest varieties emerge in late summer.
Last week, while walking along a trail, I came across the neon green caterpillar of a Polyphemus moth, one of Maine’s largest moths. Also on the hike, I spotted a white and black hickory tussock moth, its long hairs sticking out in every direction.
Today, while writing this column on my back deck, a fuzzy woolly bear caterpillar marched past on the railing. I snatched it up and carried it out to my garden. It’s one of the most well-known caterpillars that people see in late summer and fall because, according to folklore, it gives us a hint about the winter to come.
The woolly bear is black with a brown segment in the middle. It’s said that the wider that brown band, the milder the winter. On this particular caterpillar, the band wasn’t very wide, and I’m not too torn up about it. Let it snow, I say. Let it snow.
So there it is: a handful of natural wonders to keep an eye out for during August in Maine.
As always, I’d love it if you shared your favorite nature observations with me via email at [email protected] or in the comments section under this article. It’s fascinating what people can find right in their own backyards.
