Site Discussions

Joanne is full of energy and knowledge and always up for playing hard on the “tree team.” I so enjoy working with her.

We walked along the warm-season grassland yesterday and were impressed at the drought tolerance of these fields.  The “West Field” part of this grassland is an almost pure stand of magnificent, shoulder-high big bluestem. 

We are in a drought here in southeast Massachusetts.  Everyone’s lawns are burned and the cool-season hay fields are dried up and sere; however, the big bluestem appears to be green, healthy, and thriving.  This bluestem will provide superior, late-season hay when it is harvested in the next few weeks.

Haying in May followed by a 65 day pause before the second cut has worked in the Champlain Valley, but it did not work in the location I wrote about (some coastal Audubon fields in South Dartmouth, MA).  Instead, the grassland managers at Mass Audubon discovered that light grazing in May followed by a 65 day pause did work.

An interesting issue for the Bobolink Project to consider would be to combine their delayed haying schedule with a conversion to warm-season grasses.  Warm-season grasses mature in late summer which means that the second cut (after 65 days) would yield better quality hay.  Of course, this conversion is easier said than done…

We have found beautiful turquoise wood in our forest.

Awesome article! About ten years ago, during the Monson tornado, a sheet of plywood was sucked up, high in the atmosphere. That plywood traveled 40 miles to Upton, Ma, hitting my brothers house. What were the odds of that happening? It’s not like we live in tornado alley.

I just found a Butternut tree that has fallen (leaned) into my yard. It’s still alive but touching the ground. don’t know if I should just cut it down or would somebody want to look at it first to save nuts for future trees.
We live in Milton.
Bernard Dubois

I saw my very first opossum last night here in Barre, Vermont. He was so quiet he made me jump. I have never seen one here till then. I have been in my apartment 6 years.

We have a pair of harriers that stopped in and perch in a hemlock tree about 30 feet from our front porch. We have a very wooded lot that is home to various hawks, barred owls, and someone hit a bald eagle in the road by our house this spring.

Take a look at the Pine Barrens of NJ. A million acres of unique ecology that exists nowhere else in the world at this level. Rare orchids, Pitcher plants, and other carnivorous plants are just some of the fascinating flora found in this area. It is home to some species that are not found anywhere else in the world.

This is a fantastic article! I, too, love tardigrades — those funky little creatures and their charms are such a fascinating area of study, and their resilience is truly impressive.

Thank you Elizabeth Crotty, for such a descriptive and enlightening article on tardigrades. Those cryptobiosis features are definitely worth having sleepless nights over. It was fun reading and learning about these odd but amazing creatures.

I read an article about tardigrade research in British Columbia a few years ago, but I’d forgotten about how wonderful they are until I read this and was reminded. Thank you.

Wow!  Perhaps the most fascinating article in a long, long time.
Thank you.

Luna moth was perched under my garage door outside light. I turned off the light so it would move on to find a mate; in their short adult life there isn’t time for them to waste. They are just beautiful and huge!! I was surprised how huge they really are in person.

I have a cherry tree which this year has produced a side growth which has no resemblance to the cherry tree. Nothing has been grafted to it, do you have any idea what may have happened. Thank you.
Andrew James Pearson.

Thank you. Your article helped my wife and I as she yelled at me to hurry and come see this insect. She said she thought she found the Queen Ant. I asked if it had wings and she replied no but it was different.  Like a spider and ant mated to form this new species.  It looked just like and ant, but had 8 legs and what eventually gave it away was when I used its web to lower itself down inside a jar we had on the counter.  I was able to take a close up picture and reverse search but nothing came up until I google “spiders that look like ants” and found this article.  Very cool.

The house wrens in my area are horrible. They threw out the cardinal eggs and and Carolina wren eggs and the chickadee babies. I no longer allow them to nest in my yard because they kill everything!

A really nicely written and informative article.  This article should be shared with all New England states and their communities to not only inspire mountain biking friendly development but to show that when groups and individuals that have similar ideas great community dividends can happen in a positive way.  It’s good too that this article did mention that there can be hurdles and through positive work by everyone on all sides of a given issue, the hurdle can be overcome for everyones benefit.

I believe I saw a marten crossing Winn Street in Burlington MA earlier today. At first I thought it was a fisher, but the body was a tawny brown with a dark brown tail.

I read the first few sentences and said “this must be by Susie Spikol, lover of the lowly beasts.” Thanks for the inspiration!