Site Discussions

I once saw a milk snake with stripes like a coral snake.  It was at least five feet in length.  I saw it come out of a rock wall and go under a deck where mice nested.  Later I saw it come out and go back into the wall.  I never saw the head so I don’t know how long it was but about four inches in diameter.  The deck was just laying on the ground.  I then built a wood shed over the deck and shut off access for the snake so I never saw it again.

Given a bullfrog this year. Built a pool area just for the occasion (and as an extension of our turtle pond- complete with turtle tunnel only younger turtles can use).

Stumbled on your article. Loved it. Beautifully written. Thanks.

I have a potted impatient plant hanging from a tree.  I’d see it sway every now and then.  I took it down to turn the pot for even circulation.  I noticed 2 holes in the soil. 1 was filled with dry leaves.  Then a smallish bird flew out.  So quick I couldn’t even tell the color.  Except dark.  Any suggestions?

I was walking through the park this morning with the dogs when I heard a “hello”.  I looked all around and saw no one so I kept walking.  Then I heard it again “hello”.  I thought someone was playing jokes and then I heard it again.  So I stopped and looked up and there was a crow in the tree.  I waited and watched him and then he opened his beak and said hello.  Wow I was astonished.  I said well hello to yoy too and he said it again.  So strange, he must have learned this somewhere but I was relieved when I figured out where the hello was coming from.  :)

Onkwehonwe built those standing stone structures.

I have seen many Eagles take fish from Osprey. I volunteer at an Alewife run and it is fairly common there. But once I was rowing across a harbor in the fog I heard a ruckus in the sky and out of the fog emerged a Great Blue Heron with a fish in mouth and an Eagle with the same fish in its talons flying in tandem. I didn’t see who ended up with the fish as they disappeared back into the fog.

We have a pair of mourning doves that have made a nest in our garage
on top of the garage door opener and light. We have left our garage door open since they laid their eggs. How long does it take before the eggs hatch once laid ??
We would like to close our garage door, but don’t want to,until the chicks are able to make it on their own.

What a lovely article, I really enjoyed this! Your boys will have wonderful memories of home when they are older!

Great article. Informative and beautifully written.

I like the word “Murder” of crows.  It sounds Halloweeny.

I think a healthy fear of of crows is warranted.

They come into my yard and shit everywhere. I will never feed them in my neighborhood.

On the other hand, I have trouble getting their attention. If I’m on the mountain and I try to make caw sounds, they ignore me.

A random cat or dog will look me in the eyes. I don’t have to bribe them with food to feel acknowledged. 

That’s why most people take crows for granted.  Crows are everywhere and they don’t interact with us, even when we make the first move.

All you crow lover commenters are anomalies.

Also, is it even wise to feed crows? Feeding bears gets them humanized and potentially killed in the future.

As a landowner, farmer and logger I have sold logs to Hull Forest Products, worked with Mary’s husband Mark on management plans. Both her brothers have helped when I’ve had questions and I work with her father Bill on the board of the Massachusetts Forest Alliance. I feel like I know them all and Mary too a little better. I enjoyed it.

I startled a baby fawn with the mower,,it was hiding in the brush,,I didn’t see it,,,at which point the baby ran away,,although wobbly,,at least 50 ft from where it was hiding,,,my question ,,will the mother be able to find her baby

When I was a young teen my family spent a lot of weekends camping a Jigger Johnson campground and I stalked many of the small streams in the area, dipping #14 nymphs is pockets of water on Douglas, Downes, Olivarian, Rob, and White Brooks, plus the Swift River.  Back then, in the late 1960’s and early 1970;s, there were lots of 6: brookies in those waters, along with the rare 8” lunker.  Beaver ponds and the deep corner pool on the Swift River offered up some bigger brookies and the occasional sucker in the slower water between the Passaconaway and Jigger Johnson campgrounds.

Good memories!

I just found an isolated intact egg in my front yard. NO nests nearby.  I think maybe one of my dogs brought it carefully home.  I identified it as a turkey egg from online pictures.  Your description of nesting sites was very helpful.  There are many such places in our wild field/forested back yard.  I wonder if this egg is still vital, what should I do with it?

Can you please share the article that had the Minnesota toad mortality study?

I was born & raised in northern NH, I love NH! I hope that people who continue to enjoy our beautiful state, leave it how they visited it OR BETTER! I love the wildlife in our state most of all. Thank you Shaun for bringing that wildlife that a lot of people can’t get out to see, to life for them. The stunning photos you take show just how beautiful these wonderful animals are!

I love nettles! In the spring I collect leaves and stems and steam. Then just pop in my mouth to eat or add to food processer to make pesto. I also love drinking the leftover water - very nutritive.

New York has established a policy whereby any trout stream demonstrating natural reproducing brook trout in the headwaters is banned from receiving hatchery reared trout.

So glad I found this article. I have in my possession, 7 wild turkey eggs. The mother was killed when she was hit by a mower on a farm my husband works on. They were mowing hay. Apparently, she refused to leave the nest and the guy on the mower never saw her. I don’t understand why she didn’t leave. It seems she would have been flushed and once the eggs were exposed, would have laid a new clutch elsewhere. When I initially talked to a rehabber, I was lectured about how its illegal to incubate their eggs (which I expected). It requires a license. I have since been given the okay by another rehabber to incubate. She will take any poults that may hatch.

As a retired R. M .G. Brook Trout is the most popular game fish to be had, Salmon a second. Fishermen always want to know where is the best fishing place/lake to fish. This is an awesome article on game fish brook trout/on all F&G State department do. More readers should pass on this article information to Anglers in their State, and their club’s meetings. Thank you. M.A.P.