Site Discussions

We have had flying squirrels in our attic probably for the last 2 years.  We would even hear them in the walls of the 2nd floor. If I knocked on the wall while they were asleep during the day they would make a scurrying sound then calm down again. When I went up to see how they were getting in, it was pretty obvious as there was a hole in the thin roof vent screen at the end of the gable.  These guys weren’t scared of me at all.. I would go to the attic to see what i could see, turn on the lights, and one would just come scurrying up from the insulation in the wall and just stare at me.  I started putting some dry dog food nuggets on the plywood floor to see if they would take them, which they did.
Eventually, the scurrying sounds in the walls started being heard on the 1st floor, and in the eves of our overhanging porch.  This was simply too much for my wife, so it was time to try to get rid of them.  I put up a Wifi camera so I could observe their habits going in and out of the hole. At the time I thought I only had 4.  I saw 2 go out of the hole, so I went up and sealed the hole, then put down a humane trap to get the other 2.  It took less than 10 minutes to catch the first one, he was really cute, didn’t seem too alarmed, he even sat there eating the rest of the peanut butter after the trap door snapped closed!  These guys are very chill!  I released it in my back yard, where I think they also are living in a hollowed out stump, at least that’s where he ran to immediately.  I went through the same routine with the second one, then noticed in my video feed 2 more crawling around.
Needless to say, it is now 3 days later and I have caught a total of 20 so far and released them outside.  I’m pretty sure they aren’t getting back in, I added a much stronger screen, and things are sounding much calmer at night, so their numbers MUST be decreasing, right?  It is late November and I hope they survive by finding another home in that stump or some other natural protection.  They are the cutest things, I started releasing them from the trap at a height of 5 feet and watch them glide to safety each time.
Pete
Collegeville, PA

Hi, will the bark on a log cut in the fall loosen up by spring?
Thank you,
Fran

Slides are pretty solid evidence it’s an otter. The males especially are wanderers—one Alaskan study documented males with a home range greater than 125 square miles—and they will often travel over land to get from one flowage to the next.

Hello!

I am writing an annotated bibliography for an ecology course I’m taking at Sterling College.  I’m doing Diapensia lapponica.  There isn’t a ton of information on this plant it seems, and I would love to talk with someone knowledgeable about it.  Let me know if you can connect me with someone. 

Thanks!
Hannah

Thanks folks!

I sugared for the first time last year…and did indeed have a few moths in my buckets….great idea…thanks Malcolm.

Jen, I stand corrected. They are challenging for me to tell apart, but the distribution maps don’t lie.  Also, the Bruce Spanworm moths fly a little farther. I have a photo on my phone…if interested please send me your email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)); I can eliminate the Fall Cankerwork based on the photos.

Sincerely
Declan

Absolutely riveting essay. Thank you!

If you found this in northern VT it is likely not the invasive winter moth but one of the natives; Fall Cankerworm or Bruce Spanworm.

https://nhbugs.org/winter-moth

Is there anyone banding young kestrels in Vermont now?  Or monitoring any kestrel nest boxes?  I’m trying to pull together an article about kestrels in the Northeast states and Vermont is the one state I have no information about.

I have also seen these skid marks and wondered what had made them. I concluded it was probably a fisher since I had seen one in the area and the marks were a very long distance from water which basically eliminated otters.

I have two fireplaces and I have raccoons inside my smoke chamber and they have babies how do I get rid of them without killing them

So it’s too early to hope to get any starts to plant in Vermont?

I have a possum that comes to my feeder at night.  I was wondering if you think it would use a shelter setup like for a feral cat - the insulated rubbermaid container with hay.  What do you think?  It has been so cold here so early in the year - I am worried about it!

I saw one last night on our kitchen window where the light had been on for a couple hours. Temperature as 31F. Amazing!!

I love this story of the flunker moth.

Very helpful information to help me identify the tracks in the riverbank of the Nanticoke River. 
If you have comparisons of muskrat and beaver, that would help a lot too!

Please consider doing an article on the Maple Moth. They always show up in the sap buckets!

Uncertain if backlean would work for me. High winds past several years have shifted lots of trees on the front face of windbreak. Most roots have been pulled out. Tree, roots and all…...no disease.

These trees are leaning on other small trees. About 15% angle.

Neighbor said just cut pulled-out roots. I don’t think that will work.

Would love to see illustration how to cut.

Much deep thanks!

The Long Island Pine Barrens are being devastated by this beetle. Its awful. So sad.

Hi Dick - lucky you to have that wildlife sighting! What you saw was almost certainly a long- or short-tailed weasel, but their sizes overlap based on gender, their markings are pretty much identical, and the difference in tail length isn’t as obvious as the name implies! Both species are brown and summer, and most (not all) individuals grow white winter coats.

I just caught a quick glimpse of a weasel carrying quickly a Meadow Vole into a hole under a large planting container. The past two years we have had a good population of Meadow Voles, seen mostly in the late fall and winter. This year, however, the population of Meadow Voles and a family of Chipmunks have disappeared. Since the weasel was small, estimated to be about 8-10 inches,  long and brown which weasel could I have witnessed?