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Trees drain their leaves of nutrients before they are shed – it is an active process; the trees are not really “losing” their leaves / Tiny spiders go ballooning on strands of gossamer and may remain aloft for two weeks. In the right light conditions you can see these spidery threads in the sky / Spring salamanders are mating. Eggs… (more)
Eastern wood-pewees are heading south. They sing well past the breeding season, right up until they depart / Timber rattlesnakes are returning to their hibernacula to lounge in the autumn sun before turning in for the winter / Shaggy manes will fruit if the weather is cool and wet / Mourning cloak butterflies emerge from their chrysalises. They overwinter as… (more)
Boneset (white) and Joe Pye weed (pink) begin blooming in masses / Mouse population is on the rise. Both deer mice and white-footed mice are omnivorous, eating insects and worms as well as all sorts of seeds. White-footed mice forage in the early part of the night. They call it quits around 1 am – just when deer mice become… (more)
Canada lilies are blooming / Look for otter latrines on stream banks and old beaver dams. Otter scat is often slimy and gelatinous looking, the result of copious amounts of digestive mucus that the animals use to break down vertebrae, chiton, and fish scales / As caddisfly larvae grow, they add new material to the front ends of their cases… (more)
Some warblers return again and again to the same territory to nest. Banding records show that both a redstart and a black-throated blue warbler returned to central New Hampshire nine years in a row. They each weigh in at 8 or 9 grams and winter in the Caribbean / Mother whitetails with twin fawns are keeping them in separate hiding… (more)
Baltimore orioles used to return to these parts in mid-May, but earlier sightings are becoming more common / Adult pear thrips emerge from the soil and fly to opening sugar maple buds / Dandelions may be pests, but a hayfield full of them is beautiful now / With aerial circling and a lot of chirping, tree swallows are claiming nest… (more)
Winter wrens are early risers. Their high-spirited song is one of the longest and most complex bird songs known / Hairy woodpeckers, with a hearing range close to that of a human, detect sounds from 34 to 18,400 cycles/second. They hear both the faint scratchings of bark beetles and the resonant drumming of potential mates / Coltsfoot is one of… (more)
Near ledges, ravens can be seen carrying sticks; they are getting a jump on the nesting season / Mating season for the gray fox extends from January to April; kits arrive about 53 days after mating / Red-breasted nuthatches nest in old woodpecker nests or natural cavities. They smear the entrance with pitch, which may deter red squirrels from enlarging… (more)
Hibernating woodchucks rarely celebrate groundhog day in northern New England / Breeding season for skunks / Barred owls are calling. They lay their eggs in mid winter and incubate eggs and chicks through many blizzards / Winter browning of evergreens can be caused by the combined effects of wind and sun. Trees lose water from needles if roots are in… (more)
Jan. 3-4: The Quadrantid meteor shower usually has a sharp peak, lasting only about an hour / Raccoons awake from semi-hibernation during thaws and wander the winter landscape / White-tailed deer will remain yarded up beneath hemlock boughs on south-facing slopes when snow is deep / Sunflower seeds are a relatively small part of a chickadee’s diet. When not at… (more)