Site Discussions

Ah yes! I may be 73 in a few weeks, and a Nam vet, but I still remember my daughter at that age when she was so small one of her nicknames was Tea Cup Buns - they were so small they would fit in a tea cup. And the time does flee way too soon. But it is replaced every day by something new.

This nest was beautifully constructed in the middle of a hanging flower arrangement outside of our porch.  The nest is tight.  I swear if it fell in a pond it would float for days.  The eggs (6) are a half inch in length, colour is light to medium shade of blue with a few tiny black spots on the ends.  Nobody has seen the mother yet though she scared me one night after dark when I went to water the plant. This was before I knew the nest was there.  Anyway the chicks are beginning to hatch this morning I’d like to know what species of bird we are raising.

I know they are here in the Ohoi Valley. I have seen three personally in the last 4 years and one on a game cam last year.

Enjoyed the article, I have been told that porcupines can scream, maybe when a fisher is chasing them?

In my great many years spent outdoors in NY and southern Canada, I have seen MANY Fishers, even called them in while turkey hunting, but have never had the experience of hearing one scream. My first observations took place in the 1950’s in the Adirondacks, but now they are everywhere.

Enjoyed your column very much.

I live on the Kennebunk River and have seen their ‘lope’ at dusk as they cross the road. A few years back I found one that had been hit by a car. I stopped to move it out of the way - and because my curiosity got the best of me - and was really surprised how long, and heavy, they are. I reported it to the Roadwatch program.

Re fishers screams: I have personally heard a fisher scream. My house is on the Josias river in southern Maine. One day years ago while watering my garden with my back to the river, I heard this god-awful scream from behind me. I whipped around to see high on a branch in a tree in the wetland between the river & my land, a fisher. Below the fisher, on the tree trunk about 8’ below was my cat. He was about 30’ up the tree. When he heard the scream, plus my scream of his name, he started to shinny down the tree. When he came to me I grabbed him & brought him inside. The fisher paced back & forth on the branch high up for 15 minutes before he came down & moved on.

Some of the confusion about fishers screaming or not may be the similarity to the red foxes territorial cries. I have heard that many times on my 16 acres of woods. My cat was the usual instigator in those cases.

So whether you believe my story or not will not change the facts of it. I feel lucky to have been able to experience it.

Unfortunately I have found fisher cats are opportunistic hunters so cats can be easy dinners,for example, I had a raccoon in a box trap, my boss saw it before I arrived. I went to receive it and found a tipped over open and empty trap, there was still snow on the ground and you could see what happened, there was a blood trail leading away and only fisher tracks.

Very informative. Thank you.

Question: I picked up a fawn to move it out of the road, where I am thinking it had been born. Anyway, I then read about how human scent would attract predators. I went back with a towel that had been rubbed in grass, to get my scent off the fawn..but it was gone. I am worried about my scent attracting predators to it, would the Mom have detected my scent and licked it off the fawn? I’ve been trying to find an answer for this…thanks!

Thanks so so so so so so so so so so so much.

We live in the southeast and found a white marked tussock moth which lives in the north east.

Can anyone tell me the dimensions of the Spruce Gum boxes pictured in the article.  My son and daughter are re-enacting at a local historical park, circa 1870 and I want to try to recreate a few of the boxes for their characters.

Thanks much

As someone who has tangled with a Bald Eagle, I can tell you that the useless Owls (any kind) are no match for the Bald Eagle. The Bald eagle is the perfect flying killing machine. If the Bald Eagle was to fight in a 15 round bout with a useless Owl, I would become rich as I would have placed my entire life savings on the Eagle—who of course would win.

As an ecologist and editor, I enjoyed this note and just now recommended it to a client in China.

In reply to Alan Smith- [I find] the point of Dr. Strauss is that though the wood on an acre that is thinned now holds less carbon, many other acres are not cut in that year and continue to grow. Now, if you say “but if the trees are not cut and burned, they’ll continue to hold carbon”- I say, but it’s naïve to think forests aren’t going to be cut one way or the other over time. What counts is that this work is properly done and that the total amount of wood stored in the regional forests does not decrease, but instead continues to increase. Otherwise, who wants to give up wood for construction, furniture, paper, etc.?

I wonder if similar research has been done on the Wood Thrush, and if their song evolved in the same way. Also does the Wood Thrush song vary within an individuals song and between different birds?

Bonita bonita: Did you get an answer to your question about the white circles on your tree?  I have the same thing and it is spreading and killing my trees.

Thanks!

My mom and I were out beach combing on Fox Island, WA (state) and we found about 6 clay babies. They are such wondrous finds! Btw, Fox Island is in the Puget Sound.

How refreshing to hear voices of reason amidst the destructive nonsense so prevalent nowadays.  While millions busily strive to disassemble the ecosystem for fun, profit, and power while ignoring or denying what science and education try to tell them, the Seeleys patiently work to patch up the Old Globe for its grandchildren and other inhabitants.  It would be more than interesting to know the outcome of this fateful contest.