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Site Discussions

Ralph Betty
Feb 02, 2026

Day at a time for the trees!

From "Matthew Largess Speaks for the Trees" »

joseph
Feb 01, 2026

I am glad and entertained to hear your story, Julie. Thank you for sharing your story.

From "Fostering Forest Connections with Julie Davenport" »

David Lang
Feb 01, 2026

An outstanding article.  I just refinished a cherry table but even with stain was shocked at how light in color it was.  I had always thought of cherry as darker.  I had to find out why and this article explains it wonderfully.  Thank you for the education.

From "What Is the Difference Between Sapwood and Heartwood?" »

Angela W
Jan 31, 2026

I have a Polyphemus moth caterpillar that cocooned in a big box on my balcony this last fall. I saw a blue Jay TWICE land on my balcony near it and act as if he was looking for it and had smelled it. I have NEVER seen a blue Jay land on my balcony before or after this. I have had sparrows and robins on occasion .. but never a blue Jay. I’m pretty sure he smelled that caterpillar and was looking for a meal!

From "Bird Smell is Nothing to Sniff At" »

Péter Martin
Jan 31, 2026

Hi Matt, I loved reading the story of your life.  I know that you were always interested in saving trees vs blatantly cutting them down.  I will always remember your son coming to the door of my apartment house and asking for permission to drive your equipment onto my property to remove a tree from my back door neighbor’s yard.  The next thing I saw was a Largess Tree Company crane in my driveway lifting the cut tree over my house, your crew cutting it into pieces and loading them onto one of your your trucks. I gave permission because of my trust for your judgment. Now i know why!

From "Matthew Largess Speaks for the Trees" »

TICIANA ZWARG DIAS BIANCHI
Jan 30, 2026

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the book you wrote, which is full of information and rich in detail. I am a doctoral student investigating poxvirus in neotropical porcupines, and your work has been very helpful to me. Thank you!

From "The Forest Through the Eyes of the Porcupine with Uldis Roze" »

Richard Barsotti
Jan 30, 2026

Thank you for informing the probably little known left or right orientation of the their crossed bills.

From "January: Week Five" »

Mary Livingston
Jan 29, 2026

What a lovely article! Thank you for so frankly sharing your fascinating life and impressive experience, as well as the challenges you have courageously faced. Your passion for trees, especially the old growth, and the forest is infectious, we are all fortunate for the work that you do.  Thank you for helping to preserve and protect these special, priceless trees and environments.  Congratulations on your hard work and finding your path!  We are all better for it.

From "Matthew Largess Speaks for the Trees" »

Betsy
Jan 29, 2026

What a journey!

From "Matthew Largess Speaks for the Trees" »

Ned Houston
Jan 29, 2026

What a great story with some parallels in my own life. I love trees too and to read about his journey from cutting to saving is refreshing.

From "Matthew Largess Speaks for the Trees" »

Kevin M Rego
Jan 29, 2026

I have about 20 evening Grosbeak that visit my feeder’s daily. I can’t remember the last time I had them at my feeder’s like this year. They’ve been around since Xmas and I’m hoping they stay and breed this spring

From "The Quest to Save the Fastest-Declining Landbird in North America" »

Paul Atwood
Jan 29, 2026

I have seen adult painted turtles under thin ice in the shallows of my dug pond.  They scatter when I walk above them.  Where do they spend the rest of the winter?

From "Life Beneath the Ice and Snow: Turtles in Winter" »

Mary
Jan 27, 2026

A great and informative article on flickers. So much new and helpful information and so very well written. The information is presented in an very organized fashion and emphasizes all that is special about this fascinating bird.  Very well done!  Hope to see more writing by Colby Galliher.

From "A Rare Winter Flicker of Red and Yellow" »

Catherine Fury
Jan 26, 2026

Hi Colby,

Thank you for your informative and beautiful article. I smiled while reading your introduction, recalling the echoing notes of the Pileated woodpecker who graces the hedge row behind our home and greets our day with their resounding echoing call.

We’ve also been blessed to share our yard with a family of Northern Flickers—a male, a female, and a juvenile—all overwintering here in Southern Rhode Island taking turns under watchful eyes and flashes of bright yellow to swoop and peck eagerly at our suet feeder. They are beautiful and I love to sit and watch them along with the hairy, downy, red bellied woodpeckers,Carolina wrens, and sapsuckers that brighten our winter landscape and even just this morning a red bellied woodpecker appeared on our deck braving our bossy titmice and blue jays swooping in vying for unsalted peanuts in shells tossed onto the snow. Our bit of open space hedge row holds an abundance of decaying and dead trees and I feel extremely blessed. with their beauty and shelter for our feathered friends and raptors, newts, and woodland friends.

Thank you and I look forward to future articles.

Sincerely
Catherine Fury 02879

From "A Rare Winter Flicker of Red and Yellow" »

Scott Wallinger
Jan 26, 2026

I brought Soren Eiksson to South Carolina to train local personnel after seeing him train workers at our Brazilian subsidiary. We became close friends and I was sorry to learn of his death after he and Britt returned to Sweden. Soren became a fan of American football and that led to his Game of Logging. He noted that in football you had to have a Plan for each game.  You had to practice your role rigorously.  You had to be in excellent physical condition. You had to wear a full array of protective clothing. You had to “follow the rules.” Just as he taught his logging students. In Brazil, our chain saw felling/bucking crews had to train for a full month before they became members of a logging crew!

From "Woods Work: Learning Through the Game of Logging" »

Drew
Jan 26, 2026

Beautifully written article, Todd. Your imagery is striking. I appreciate that sense of stillness and life. I hope that someday, everyone will recognize how much we need each other and the environment for survival and joy, as you said.

From "Vanishing Winter" »

Dale FEOR
Jan 25, 2026

How can a person obtain some seeds to plant and further the cause?

From "A Chestnut Harvest" »

joseph
Jan 24, 2026

Good article. I also work for PA DCNR. Great job Jessica and N. Woodlands.

From "On The Frontline of Forest Questions with Jessica Pierce" »

Susan March
Jan 20, 2026

Thanks for an interesting article.

From "Life Beneath the Ice and Snow: Turtles in Winter" »

Christine Pryce
Jan 18, 2026

I live on the N Wales border. We have a nearby village called Wolf’s Head, meaning “outlaw territory” in the medieval period.
It’s long time since anyone here heard wolves howling. I’d give my eye teeth to hear song dogs yip-howling in my back garden!

From "Coyotes: Listening to Tricksters" »