Site Discussions

I saw one in 1983 in Trescott, Maine! It came inside under the screen door and curled up in a patch of sunlight on the floor. Was such a pretty green color. I encouraged it to go back outside with the broom and never saw it again. I remember it fondly. I wonder how the one you saw got onto an island.

Thank you so much to special volunteers that have contributed to providing nesting sites and banding for data info. Is anyone aware of any programs or group of volunteers out this way that might need support? Thank you.

Very impressive article.  Kathy you should be very proud of what you have accomplished.
So glad I got to know you and your family when I lived in Vermont.

What an informative and thoughtful article. Way to go Kathy Beland and her peers for striving to improve our forests for generations to come!

Your story sounded very familiar indeed, since I grew up fishing in NW Pa in Lake LeBoeuf. I swear I fished so much one year that I could smell bass in the water if they were near!
  Keep writing!

What a well researched and written essay. The adult dragonfly is a formidable aerial predator. The dragonfly nymph is also an aggressive aquatic predator. A terrifying horror film in the tradition of Alien could be made based on the lifecycle of the dragonfly. I thoroughly enjoy The Outside Story essays. Keep up the good work.

Are there any lake sturgeon or short-nose sturgeon found anywhere in New Hampshire?

Please do everything you can to protect the Adirondacks. This beautiful Park is important environmentally, as a place of recreation, and for the local people who are year round residents.

Hi, I just wanted to share that i saw a Brown Thrasher in my backyard today. Never have before. I live in Midland Ontario Canada

I have had gold digger wasps nest near one of my flower beds. These wasps are huge and admittedly can be a little intimidating if you’re not a lover of insects. However, I decided to read up on them and I’m glad I did. I have found them to be very non-threatening when I’m working in my yard I have never been stung or attacked by one. I have problems with cicadas and knowing these wasps will help reduce the amount of cicadas is very beneficial. The digger wasps and I live happily together. Understanding their presence and behavior in my environment has reduced my fear of wasps.

Thank you for talking with Rocci. I think a lot of people make assumptions about individuals and entities that do work around the environment and land access. Rocci is a great example that they love the land and the advocacy they do is not to deny access, it is to safeguard the future of the land and all it offers to the people.

Thank you for this lovely little article.  It’s reached me almost ten years after original publication as I’m doing some internet research in hopes of identifying a salamander I met while watering in my backyard - outside of Seattle, WA.

I know what the author meant, but “fish and birds have high rates of admixture and hybridization” gave me pause for a second.

I recall writing a report on the Eastern coyote when I was a Freshman in high school - way back in the 80’s. When I interviewed Fish and Wildlife staff then, I was told there was no such thing as a coy dog, and that coyotes and dogs did not and could not interbreed! Ah, how knowledge changes things! I’m glad DNA testing proved these amazing animals are truly a hybrid.

I think this article plays into the concept that open grasslands are a new thing in the Eastern USA. In fact, the dense forest cover encountered by European settlers and explorers was something of a historical anomaly. Before contact and epidemics decimated the population, Native Americans managed a lot the land with fire, and it seems likely that cowbirds were a part of that landscape. So their recent range expansion may be a return to their historic haunts rather than something new.

We were thrilled to find a population of these crustaceans in our very small pond on our property.  We do think, however, that they are non-native rusty crayfish.  The raccoon population seems not to mind, however!

We were thrilled to find a population of these crustaceans in our very small pond on our property.  We do think, however, that they are non-native rusty crayfish.  The raccoon population seems not to mind, however!

Thank you for this wonderful story. So much great natural and human history in the woods down your way.

Thank you for this wonderful story. So much great natural and human history in the woods down your way.

Doug is one of my favorite heroes, in the garden, or our painting outdoors.  I’ve seen and heard his many masterful talks.  Thank you for bringing Doug to the attention for his profound contributions to our society at large and for those who do not know him, he is a tremendous educational and conservation gift.