Site Discussions

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.

I was wondering why I seem to have a group of blue jays visit my feeders in the winter versus just one at a time other seasons. Your article explains it, thank you!

I love my sweetfern. I have it here, encourage it and use it in conjunction with several other local plants to create salve that we call our Anishinaabe Anti-Ow. If its poison ivy, bug bites, a scratch that seems irritated, diaper rash, fungal skin infection, acne we hit it with this first, it’s our go-to. I love this plant in tea, a bath, and will be trying it for keeping mosquitoes away this summer. If you have lots on your property it means you have poor soil. But it’s so pretty, does such good and smells so good, I would never ask it to leave.

Hi, Mark,
  I love your article about black walnut trees. I’m planning to start an acre or more this summer, but my one concern is, yellow bellied sapsuckers.Did you find anything that would help, should they attack our trees?
  Also, I live in Lancaster Co, PA.. The thousand canker disease is in nearby Bucks Co.. Is there any help for that, or should I plant a different kind of tree? Thanx for any information!

Interesting to learn about Claude Dern, Jr. My grandparents bought Claude Dern, Sr.‘s house in Dorset, which must have been where Claude G. Dern (Jr.) was raised. I feel like I was partly raised in that house too. Claude Dern Sr. was also a character, and I got to know him as a kid, as he often stopped by the house to tell stories.

I have seen a marten only once, when I was living in Boulder, Colorado. Hiking in the Indian Peaks Wilderness west of Boulder I caught something out of the corner of my eye and stopped to watch. A pine marten was crossing the trail in front of me. He/she stopped just off the trail, and we watched each other for a good minute, before the marten turned and quietly moved further back into the woods. It was an unforgettable experience.

Pest Control company just left the house as we have a bat problem. He also located a Flying Squirrel entry. They are cute right up to the point where they invade the house. Looking at some big money to resolve these two issues so, cute? Nope, not so much.

Thank you for explaining this. A kind of paradox isn’t it?

...I count Northern Woodlands as a blessing indeed. Thank you and the staff for all you do and share with us. I consider you all “good company”  on this planet. Happy New Year everyone!

I am 88 years old and have never seen such a gigantic a skunk walk through my garden this year . It was as big (but not as high) as a St Bernard dog. My daughter in Amherst says they see gigantic skunks constantly, one looked as big as one of her daughters. What is going on? We have always had skunks and their babies walk through our yard but they were normal size. This is beyond belief to explain.

Fantastic read, and I thank you for it. I am a writer, mostly about my solo hikes in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.
Have only once sighted a Marten. Many years back in the Allagash region of Northern Maine. Was deer hunting. Sitting with my back against the root ball of an enormously long downed tree. The marten hopped into the other end and began a full on jog right toward me. Just when I thought it would be in my lap, it stopped at my boots and stared me down. Then jumped off and continued on its way. What a memory!

Thanks for this very interesting article; it helps connect some dots that were created for me through a conversation I had with one of Vermont’s wildlife biologists at a local town fair this autumn. As we discussed a couple of other members of the mustelid family, he mentioned that he’d recently gotten a call from a trapper he knows. The trapper told him he was sure he’d accidentally trapped a marten in the southern GMNF and asked the biologist to come take a look at the animal for confirmation.

This was interesting to me in two ways. I was very happy to hear about the previously unknown, albeit still not scientifically confirmed marten population living not to far from us and I was thrilled to hear that a trapper, a group who are much maligned by some as detriments to our natural systems, had volunteered this information to a state biologist. I think it’s important for more folks to understand that hunters and trappers are often the first line in the defense of our natural systems, providing important information about the state of habitats and the animals living there. The information was positively exciting in this case but know that flagging field observations when there are indications of problems also comes from these groups, who spend much time outdoors and understand the balance of nature better than most.

The rodent you saw is almost certainly an ermine, Deborah. See the cover of our winter 2016 issue.

Trees bring us closer to God without the burden of religion and its guilt. Harvesting trees and wildlife is God’s way,  if done with respect and intelligence.Without both, nature can become deadly.