Site Discussions

I have been told that skunks hang around or return to the place where they were born. So, if that was under your porch, you have a problem. But after reading this piece, I am not sure that is true. They seem singular and nomadic.

This article proved to be quite helpful. I have heard of black birch trees, but they aren’t that abundant where I come from. I recently visited Irvington, New York and, while walking on the recently finished Tree Trail, I saw a sign for Black Birch. I sniffed its bark and I loved the smell so much that I started an essential oil company! Thanks for your inspiration.

Todd, great article about skunks, and very timely! I am a beekeeper in Vt. and skunks are more than a nuisance to bees, and have been to mine, this past few weeks. They scratch at the front entrance to the hives (at night) and as the bees come to defend the hive, the skunk scoops them up and eats them. In the course of one night they can eat hundreds, in the course of a week, many. In a weak colony this can be devastating, but more importantly it puts the hive on high defense, making it difficult for a beekeeper to work them. I have electric fencing around all my apiaries, to keep both bear and skunks at bay,and do my best to keep one strand low enough to keep them out. Every so often I’ll smell skunk near the fence and chuckle when I think of that wet nose touching the wire that is putting out a minimum of 6,000 volts! One other funny story.  When I lived in Ct., a friend of mine loved to play horse shoes on Tuesday nights, during the summer. After horseshoes there was always a bit of imbibing, and on one particular night, more than usual.  As he drove up the dirt road towards his house, he saw a skunk in the road in front of him. As he got closer, it flew up off the road, and kept flying right in front of his truck as he chased it. He swore off ever drinking again, just as the skunk dropped back down to the road. What he had experienced was a Great Horned Owl trying to fly off with the live skunk, but when it couldn’t get up high enough, the owl dropped it!  He laughed and laughed, and was relieved he’d never have to stop drinking! Thanks for a great article. Gib the beekeeper

I was recently given some 1920’s photos that I believe are of the Townshend fire tower.  They don’ look quite like the Marlboro one.  Are there any photos of the original Townsend tower?  Carol N. lives just up the street from me.

In making choices for cutting firewood, leaving the dead standing trees most suitable for wildlife (ie maple) is very important to me.  At this moment I am concerned about a very large yellow birch and a similarly large ash.  Please advise.  Thank you very much, Melvin Osborne

Just returned from a retreat at Oakwood Retreat Center in Selma, Indiana. Was very content to be amongst stands of Shagbark.  Selma, IN is 7 Miles East of Muncie Indiana.

I have several mature butternut here in Waterford. Contact me if anyone is interested in determining the health of the trees here.

Hello.  Listening to VPR 3/24/16 on this topic.  My home in Hartford was built in 1941 from wood salvaged from 1938.  Of more interest, my dad, age 90, grew up in Northampton, MA, where the eye passed over.  He’s told the story many times, it might be of interest?  We’ll see him this weekend…

I think Robert and Collin are both part right. Here’s a column written by Tim Wilmot of the Proctor Maple Research center which explains the sap flow mechanics of a tree fairly well. If after reading it you pretty much understand what’s going on, then you’re doing better than most. http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/wilmot_underpressure.pdf

Robert, the sap comes from the roots. It gets collected by the leaves and stored in the roots for the winter. Releases the sugars and amino acids in the spring which is sap.

Lynn, the short answer is that we haven’t heard of weasels attacking hibernating woodchucks or seen references describing this, but of course that doesn’t mean it has never happened. I’d be interested to know your source.

I actually wanted to plant 1000 trees each year starting with this year but am rethinking the idea. 10 years? Holy smokes. I thought 8 and that included buying a 3yo tree.

In a recent conversation I was told that weasels feed on hibernating woodchucks.  Is there any truth to this?

Great article - laughed…really happy that I never squeaked at one of the weasels that ended up in our traps on a small mammal trapping project. Did always think that they looked at us with the cold gaze of a predator, deciding if we were worth taking on as prey…..

I noticed this whole phenomenon from a Sufi point of view, “not one leaf falls off without God’s order” and having lost my husband recently, was wondering why some dead leaves cling into their branches way passed the time of shedding. I found many insight. Some souls may cling around lower frequencies because of their attachments instead of letting go. These clinging leaves made me pray harder for his soul. Thank you for the article.

The early (and not so early) settlers eradicated wolves and mountain lions for a reason. Their fears were not unsubstantiated. All current reports point toward black bears throughout the U.S. and Canada greatly increasing in number and seemingly losing their fear of people. It is probable that the incidence of attacks and predation by bears is going to increase. Attacks by coy-dogs? Who knows.? The point is that the re-wilding of our woods and forests with the return of wolves, cougars, more bear and coy-wolves is great as a concept and nice to think about, especially for urban dwellers. But for those of us who live in or near the wild it is not a comforting thought.

I just had an interesting encounter with a weasel. A friend brought in your article from the Valley News and I thought you might like to hear it. I was driving to work one morning, I have to slow down to go through a small town. Suddenly a small white head popped up by my driver’s side wipers.  he popped in and out a few times, each time sniffing the breeze with it ruffling his coat. As I increased my speed, he ducked back down. I opened my hood later in the day and I could see him running back and forth under the wipers. I left the hood open most of the day, but when I left work I did see him pop out again on the drive home. I have not seen him since, but my dogs have been very interested in my car. I did find a fluff of hair in my glove compartment and some manure on the floor. I was kind of glad he made it home. I do have a not very good picture of him under the hood of my car.

One of the theories I’ve heard on why weasels (and other wild predators) kill more than they can take is that during the act of killing, their brains are hardwired to respond to motion. A bird flaps and tries to get away and the weasel responds. As long as there’s a stimulus, there’s a response. If true, this could mean that building partitions into a henhouse where the birds could get out of the line of sight could help limit the mass carnage. Of course you don’t want to lose any birds and the ideal solution is to keep the coop weasel-proof, but simple partitions might be a good idea as a fallback plan.

Hi Gloria, thanks for your note. I didn’t get into this topic because it required more space than word limits permitted, but here’s a quick explanation. Weasels not only risk starvation on an ongoing basis, they also have tiny stomachs - they can only consume a little at a time. So their instinct is to kill what they can now, and cache the extra food (For example, a nest of young mice). If you think about it, this kill now, eat later approach isn’t so different from a person stocking up at the grocery store.

The trouble comes when weasels encounter the unnatural situation of a poultry yard - a greater concentration of prey than they would ever normally encounter and that prey doesn’t even run away. Their predatory instinct is triggered, and continues to be triggered. Worse, there’s not much opportunity to cache any of the extra food.

This article, while interesting, does not even mention the destruction one weasel can do in a henhouse or a duckhouse. One even killed a full grown goose. They kill more than they can take. They are beautiful, but not around my birds.