Site Discussions

Been reading quite a few of the comments above and I’m amazed by how many people actually prefer using a regular axe as opposed to a maul axe for splitting wood.  But, as one poster wrote, it all depends on what suits you best as regards what type of axe you use.
Here in South Africa we don’t have those long cold winters as in Europe or North America, so many people - even in remote farming areas - are happy to heat their homes using gas or electricity. However, due to the spiralling cost of electricity here, more and more homeowners are installing wood burners in their homes.  Living in an urban area, I don’t have access to trees growing in my immediate vicinity, so whenever I hear the sound of a chainsaw, or see tree fellers in action, I will ask the person for wood which I then would load up and then when I get home, cut logs to size using my Stihl M390.  These logs would then weather for a year, then they would meet my 3kg maul axe.  At first I used an ordinary 1.5kg axe, but it was tough going, and it became a real chore to get anywhere, but then I discovered a maul axe, and , for me it was just great - made all the difference !  We have lots of Australian Bluegum here, which is great fire wood, but the best of all are some African hardwoods - mahogany is the best, and it burns forever with a great heat, but it’s really, really hard to split.  Ok, I’m 77, so maybe it would have been easier for me a few years ago. Who knows…
Good luck, All.

We have six young ones and Mom behind our house in Cumberland Maine and have been watching them with binoculars and a game cam

I was waiting for this, love seeing this numbers discussion. I just tap a few trees out back for hobby sugaring. Last year I tapped on March 10th and the buckets over flowing for 3 solid weeks, all done by April 1st. This year I tapped on March 11th and basically got nothing for 2 weeks, the first week of April they flowed nicely, the next week just average and was all done by the 13th. In the end both years ended up to be very similar in sap flow, the trees just went about it a bit differently.

Amazing to be able to witness fox family life through these photos - thank you!

Thanks for this discussion. I am fortunate to have Saco and Androscoggin River floodplains in my area, especially fun to explore by kayak this time of year! (since the flood water allows paddling through the trees!)              Rick H., Bethel, Maine.

I had a wren nest inside a silk flower arrangement at my backdoor. Yesterday we had a storm come through and a burst of wind blew the arrangement off the shelf it was on. To my horror, some of the eggs spilled out. Using gloves, I placed the eggs back in the nest and replaced the arrangement back on the shelf. This morning, I see that the nest is completely cleaned out. What happened to the eggs?

By the Glienicker Bridge in Berlin stands a huge, beautiful blood red Beech. Now I found an 8 ft high red Beech at a Garden Centre here in Tweed. The tree looks healthy (I have read up on it) and I covet it for my front garden, a southern exposure, the tree‘s label reads: full sun. I would like to print your article to help me care for my beech tree, how do I go about that?
Ingelore Dauphin

When I lived in an isolated area of my small town I fed the crows every day in my backyard. I also imitated their call every time I put out food.They eventually came for the food but never they never came close to me. After putting out food I returned to my deck or watched them from my window. I often wondered what they thought of my (of my possible pathetic crow calls)

Woow that was unusual. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear.
Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just
wanted to say superb blog!

I just killed a deer while driving my new red Subaru. I’ve always managed to dodge or brake but this one came right at me at noon. On a sunny day. I’m wondering if the red car is more dangerous for them?! Heartbroken

In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, North of Green Bay, I had a goshawk dive bomb me because I was too close to her nest.
After a couple of swooshes, I picked up a branch to protect myself and tried to get a picture of her attacking me.  Well, she came so close, that I ducked down while holding the branch up and she hit my branch and fell to the ground with a slightly bleeding beak.  I took a picture of her on the ground and because she looked alright, I left her her alone.  Later I checked back and she was gone.  I never did find her nest.
Ken

Having lived and worked as a wildlife biologist in the Adirondacks I strongly believe most of the Adirondacks especially in the central portion has a limited prey base. The coyote has taken the niche once held by the wolf and has continued to expand and thrive. The wolf taken in 2001 in the Adirondacks was not doubt of Alaskan atrain

Very well written. The last line says it all.  I am one of the people that does like to catch and eat trout as well as on occasion catch and release.  A lot of really good points have been brought to the front here.  Thank you for putting so much time, effort and personal experience comparison into this.

The locust tree makes one other distinct flavor item. HONEY!! Ask a beekeeper in the area to put a hive around a locus and the bees go crazy for it. I make 40-80lbs per hive in the 10 day flow. Best honey on the planet hands down!

Thanks to bird feeders (and people who feed birds) Coopers Hawks are hanging around a lot more in the winter.  Rather than the risky migration south with the songbirds they hang out near our feeders for a black oil seed fueled winter holiday.  Perhaps because of this safer and well fed bonanza their numbers are rising and they are nesting closer to humans in more suburban locations.

Nice writeup, thanks. I’m a big fan of forestry mimicking natural processes. With that in mind, as you said forest stands are still a practical way to understand forests, essentially giving us management units to monitor and work with. How do you think the concept of forest stands needs to change to facilitate more nature-based and nature-like forestry?

I can see how, in the context of ecological forestry, stands would likely be defined in smaller areas and delimited based on more complex variables. For example, rather than basing stands on *mostly-uniform* species or age-class, stands would need to be based on similar *distributions* of species, age-class, or other variables. This is already how I’ve seen forest management planning done in some areas that aim for mixed-age stands using natural regeneration.

Thank you for this article.
I have had the same experience and professed my sadness and immediate dislike of the predator to other bird-loving friends who are ,I guess,more scientific than me. I was told it is the way of nature…which is true…and I shouldn’t hate the hawk…but I still did.
We provided food to flocks of birds that helped them survive and one was not so lucky.
I do understand…would prefer not to witness it.

Thank you. We have had our hawk visitors. I so enjoy these postings as I work to sharpen my eye!

Does anyone know why some Skunk Cabbage spathes are very dark (purplish-black?), while others can be very light greenish-yellow…?

I just saw the Winter Fireflies last week (March 14-15). They were at the base of maple sap flow. I was very intrigued and coincidentally just came across your interesting article. I enjoy Adelaide Tyrol’s illustrations as well.

Thank you, Tony Faria