Site Discussions

Can you let me know where you found the quote by Thoreau? That is a beautiful image. I’d like to use it in a poem.

We used to find praying mantises as well as walking sticks every summer when I was a kid around 1980 in Nashua NH. I have not seen either one in my adult life.

Thank you for your article. It makes me want to get out on the ice—though with a great eye toward safety! Remarkable the role of water in the facts of life. I recommend Charles Cockell’s - THE EQUATIONS OF LIFE: HOW PHYSICS SHAPES EVOLUTION.

My husband and I just moved into a new home, and we’re not very happy with the amount of heat it uses, so we’re thinking of installing a fireplace to help with this. Your article had some great information about wood pallet stoves, and I liked how you said that if we do get a system like this, it needs to be checked and cleaned once per year. Thanks; we’ll keep this in mind when deciding if a wood pallet stove is right for us.

Once it falls below freezing, I keep a 1.5 gallon Dutch oven which I fill with HOT water; I call it our raccoon hot tub! Youngsters and adults adore the hottub—One Baby fit nose to butt was so excited it began chasing its tail, running in circles for minutes! Question: bathing in water in freezing winter, do they get frostbite? If not, why not?

Today while looking through census from 1880 in Franklin County, someone listed thier profession as “Bark dealer”. You answered my question and more, thank you!

Thanks for this helpful article summary. I was trying to figure this out, myself. Do you think the species of maple you’re tapping should factor into whether to start sooner or later?

What an engaging, informative piece of writing! I learned a lot about both of these fascinating creatures. Much appreciated.

Hi,
I really enjoyed reading your article. I have found myself with a 50 acre ex white pine tree farm and really want to replant with black walnut. I am 100% new to this tree farming venture. It is surprising how little information is out there on how to start up.
Would greatly appreciate any pointers or help you could pass along.

These days I’m in the city 7 days a week. I had forgotten the great nature watching I used to enjoy in Sullivan County, NY.  I remember how thrilled I was when I came upon my first weasel in his regal winter coat. Red squirrels will never stop berating anyone in their path, but they are laughable. I miss those wonderful winter surprises. I wonder if I’d ever spot a Virginia possum in Central Park? Thanks for the pix and the story.

This is an interesting article. But the first and last names need to be reversed—It should be Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley. Also it sounds as if you are describing “glints” which have no color. “Sparkles” have rainbow color which appear when the sun is low focusing on the crystals. This is according to “Color and Light in Nature” by Lynch and Livingston.

Elk would almost certainly not compete with white-tailed deer or moose—elk are primarily grazers, not browsers as are deer and moose. That elk do not out-compete deer is readily apparent in Pennsylvania’s elk range where there is an abundance of white-tails.

Chronic wasting disease seems to be a problem exacerbated by deer and elk farms. In any event, it is almost certainly coming to the northeast irrespective of whether elk are reintroduced.

Whether elk could/should be reintroduced to New England and New York is more a matter of potential issues with agricultural interests—it was a problem in Pennsylvania before intensive management of suitable elk forage was begun in remote areas of the elk range.

I saw a muskrat living on the banks of Lake Superior earlier this winter—now his home is totally ice covered.  What would a muskrat there survive on?

I saw one in Potsdam NY..Oct 2009. I was going slow over railroad tracks and had to brake as this big mnt lion crossed three feet in front of my car it paused looked at my daughter on the passenger side and continued into the reeds..in VT my same daughter and I saw a smaller mnt lion cross the road in Eden on RT.109, December 2017

Very interesting! According to the pictures, I wonder if the ‘burning bush’ could be the European spindletree (Euonymus europeus) instead of E. alatus. E. europeus is an invasive and it much taller. The overall silouhette is quite different than for the winged burning bush

I like them. They’re the ones who inspired me to start feeding birds and later attract native birds that weren’t around before…and I think their hop is cute. Blue jays have no trouble with them and the chickadees sneak in, saw all three chickadees today in fact. Then a nut hatch as well as as few cardinals, woodpecker, juncos, and gold finches have been around. What I like about them is that they’re raise orphan baby house sparrows and work together as a species rather than being territorial like other birds (although it’d be nice if they didn’t work against other birds either)...but I haven’t had any problems with them and other birds. I did notice one thing though, if the weather is cold,  they tend to become more aggressive. However, once I put more food, the aggression went down so maybe just having enough food is the key to being peaceful… they just want to survive…and before I put food out, they were more aggressive with eachother even,not just the other types of birds, so maybe it’s just the instinct to survive like any creatures would do.I respect that you are open minded enough to consider their declining population in their native land. Perhaps we should smuggle some chickadees and nut hatches to Europe. Kidding, I wouldn’t want any cheep cheep to be hurt or treated badly (from smuggling).

Very helpful analysis, thank you!

I thought that snake naturally shed skin so that his sensations can be reinstalled. I heard snakes cannot hear sounds and only feels with his skins and vibrating grounds and air. So nature may be providing him a new set of EARS every now and then for improved hearing.
Marty

I enjoyed your blog about winter waterfowl and the wonderful photos by your husband.  My wife and I went to Lake Champlain a couple of weeks ago, saw just 4 ducks but they were too far away to identify.

Also wanted to say that we saw a snowy owl at the Edward F. Knapp State Airport in Berlin, VT on Jan. 5th., 2019 I will email you a photo I took of it.

I love crows. I have a family of crows I feed daily, they love their in shell peanuts, they get some at my house then follow me to work ( I only work about 10 minutes away) then as I walk in to work they fly with me, I do have one crow who will coo at me or even with me with his/her head down when I give the peanuts it sounds like whoo whoo whoo and it a quiet high sound, you have to be close to hear it. It’s so cute. When the crow does it I do it back, drop the peanuts, and the crow does it again then comes and get its peanuts.