Site Discussions

The article about Jillian Bell was inspiring, uplifting and it made me very proud that our hometown girl is busy making the environment and the lives of young people better. Her proud papa shared the story and it made my day!

I really enjoyed reading this article.  The content is very relatable.  I am an avid gardener. Learning and respecting nature is so important, especially when you understand plants are alive therefore they have senses.

I have never lived in a place where I didn’t some access to nature.  We have lived for some years on land that years ago supported a small dairy farm.  It is very relaxing and always provides us with the opportunity to garden and simply enjoy the leaves moving the trees.  We are lucky.  But your article Indicates that with insight these joys are available in less rural settings, cities etc.  I hope your work in making that joy apparent helps people in denser settings find a similar joy.

West Nile, I’m quite sure, is less an issue than loss of habitat. The abandoned farm lots I knew in the 60s, which had grown into hardhack, popple whips, gray birch, raspberry canes, etc., were ideal habitat for ruffs. Much of that cover has become mature forest or, more frequently, been cleared by developers and/or home builders. Coyote and bobcat predation are factors, perhaps, but over-emphasized by many who should know better.There is no doubt the bird’s numbers are in serious decline.

My wife and I are fortunate to have Grouse visit on occasion, but never to our bird feeders. They have been attracted to our crab apple trees however; one of which is right next to the living room! Unfortunately, that crab apple was virtually cleaned out by songbirds (robins, mostly) the past two years and our other “Grouse magnet” crab apple died this past fall, so no birds since 2019. I’ve taken some great photos right through our window, just 2-4 feet away from the birds and I’d attach some here, but I don’t see a way of accomplishing that feat!

These are wonderful local residents but their numbers seem to be in decline in our neighborhood. Sadly, daily jaunts with our English Setter in our woods have produced very few signs (tracks/snow roosts) and no flushes this winter. The VT F&G is doing a study of Grouse and possible West Nile Virus effects on them, but I haven’t seen any results yet.

I went from 46 acres to 35 acres with the straight line gps measurements. Measure from hill top to hill top and it will be much shorter than measuring along the ground. All of us who live in hilly country have lost many acres.

What an amazing life story. Reading your bio makes me feel like an under achiever!
What really brings your stories to life are the amazing pictures which are so colorful and vibrant.
Your lifestyle is very similar to my late sister and her husband. You guys could have shared a lot of adventures together. I look forward to hearing your stories each month at the Waterbury writer’s meetings.

So maybe into a paper, into the woodstove if they don’t belong here, and have the possibility of changing forest composition?

Beautiful!  It felt like I was skiing along with you. Thank you for such a scenic trip from my couch.

Do you know of a case where someone found a gun barrel as a property corner?  I am a surveyor and now a surveyor instructor at RRC Polytech in Winnipeg, Mb, Canada.  I would be thrilled to find a picture of a gun barrel property corner (or anything out of the ordinary)  Or even a copy of original field notes showing a gun barrel being found as original evidence.

Well written.  Very enjoyable perspective!

I love how each type of turkey has a name.

Thank you for this article - a joy to read on a cold day while the blue jays and juncos are busy in my back garden. I will be sharing this with friends.

I’ve known about that reserve for close to 40 years and dreamed about going there.  In the early 80’s I hauled up to Maine every year with fishing friends always looking for that unique place.  Ice fishing, fall fishing, and sometimes flying into remote spots in the Spring right after ice-out.  It was a paradise.  Two of them were old enough to remember fishing before the Golden Road was built.  When I first joined them, the paved road ended at Kokadjo Maine.  We had quite a few adventures burying vehicles into mud on logging side roads we had no business driving on.  The trip to Eagle/Churchhill was one of the most memorable and where we learned we were only 5-10 miles from Spider where the Reed Reserve was. There had been a very brief mention of this Pingree untouched forest in a New England magazine.  It was memorable not for the fishing but because the blackflies literally ate the underbelly of Sampson the amazing fishing dog till he was blood red.

Mourning Doves I have feeding here in western Maine mountains (around 10 pair) are not bullies at all. Jays, Finches and Sparrows do the majority off bullying and hogging the feeder or ground seed. Why would anyone favor a raggedy Robin over a beautiful and glowing Dove?

As a graduate of PennState in environmental biology ( many years ago), and as a Pennsylvania resident, I really enjoyed your article. I find that I too think of myself as a bird, I store fat quite well this time of year, however, I don’t find myself flying south either! Thanks for reminding me of all those avian facts!

Thank you for the lovely article on juncos!

Beautiful article and drawing.
Thank you.

I’m wondering if anyone knows whether crows have a certain word or call that tells the group it’s time to fly (away, off a tree). If so, please let me know. Thank you, Sharon

Lise, it is definitely Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus), which is commonly planted as an ornamental, and is, unfortunately, still sold in some plant nurseries.