Site Discussions

Thank you for the article. I thought Wild Raisin and Nannyberry are the same berry. Why the seed had to be removed from Nannyberry? Is it just too big, or may be there are other reasons?. I collected some few days ago and I am planning to make them into herbal tea.

Great article John! Protecting, restoring and conserving native fish including brook trout should be a high priority for anglers and Fish & Game departments.

Actually, red foxes can climb trees as well and do so with regularity here. So grey foxes are not the only other member of the Canidae family that climbs trees with ease. A red fox has nails that can somewhat retract and it’s not uncommon to see them high up in a tree hunting birds, eating eggs from a nest or hiding from something larger.

Is Entomophaga maimaiga to be used against Lymantria dispar (formerly Gypsy Moth) commercially available?

Is there any agreement about why the lynx population drops when they switch from hare to grouse as their primary food source?

Dear Elise, I just want to Thank You for bringing to my attention the relationship of bottle gentians and bumblebees.  I was kayaking on the Chittenden reservoir on 9/20/21 and my friends and I spotted a patch of the gentian and then a bumblebee came to seek the nectar.  So magical!  I made a “B” movie of this most mutualistic of relationships. If you are interested in seeing it, let me know!
Thank you!!
Jennifer

Such a good job and love the article! Thank you

This is a truly beautiful photo. Thank you for writing the accompanying story.

Thank you for your wonderful article.  It reminded me how lucky my husband and I are to still be able in our 80’s to get out into the woods every day.  Every time we go we “visit” our friends…the tiny toads and red-spotted efts that hurry out of our way and the deer that bound across our path or stand with a spotted fawn until we continue walking. We love to hear the sounds of woodpeckers we’ve been lucky to see and identify, and the barred owl we once caught mating.  And the flowering plants we refuse to pass by without checking how they are…the white oak that we measured at 137” diameter, the many Spikenard with berries now turning color, and the tiny white Ladies Tresses orchids mixed in with Fringed Gentian.  Two rare ferns we always go out of our way to see are Botrichium Dissectum forma dissectum and Dissectum forma oblogatum, There are now two of the, latter with fertile fronds!

Susan was my mentor in the Maine Master Naturalist course (2012 - 2013). Thank you so much for sharing this interview about a truly inspiring naturalist.

I have three on the ceiling in my bedroom. I watched one grabbing at a moth last night. I don’t know if it got it. Glad to know they don’t hurt people. They still make me a little nervous because I don’t love spiders.

Thank you for this wonderful post.

So beautifully written and full of information. Thank you!

That was one of the most informative articles I’ve read on the ‘Jacks n Jills’ in the pulpit. Thank you for posting it. I hope to grow these beauties some day soon. I’ve heard that 2021 was a very good year for them so I am ordering some corms this fall. I had no idea they could grow to two feet high. I remember these and May Apples being in the woods I played in as a child. I love these old time favorites.

That was the most informative and sensitively written article on these puzzling creatures I keep finding under the rotting wood under our kitchen sink. We had a leak and the wood of our cabinetry has suffered. I’ve been reading what I can to learn about the little intruders and how best to remove them. As with all nature’s “intruders”, I’m prone to be of two minds. One is practical and concerned for child safety in the house. No need for excess earwigs or other unwanted creature to be popping out unexpectedly for small playing hands. On the other side I always consider what message Mother Nature might be sending me. Ants really do tend to show up in places I need to apply a bit more effort in maintaining. Earwigs…an intriguing guest. Thank you for such a well written piece.

Thank you for this article. This is such important and helpful information. In my own efforts to plant native species, I have found I have much better luck with seed that I have collected locally than with seed ordered by mail. Now it makes sense.

This summer I was able to raise and set free 16 Monarchs. I am still waiting on 8 more cocoons to become butterflies and one more caterpillar.
Down to the wire for the trip south!

Thank you for this page. Wonderful information.

In northern Illinois when growing up we had drainage ditches on the farm.  In a sudden cold snap the ditches would freeze over leaving clear ice over the path that the muskrats swam between their breathing holes We could drive on top of the ditch banks and see them under the clear ice.  We would jump out and run down and jump up and down on the ice and hit the ice with sledge hammers and axes. The pressure under the ice on the muskrats ears would cause them to lose sense of direction and stun them.  They would drown before they got to the next breathing hole.  We called it muskrat stomping.  I tell this story and everyone laughs and says it is bull. But true funny I never heard anyone talk about it but us - heard anyone else do it.  We would identify the area and tell our trapper neighbors where it was. We were young and stupid but not dumb enough to try to pull one out of the ice until it had been there a long time.

Heidi, watch NH LAW frequently and just learned you are Wayne Fortier’s daughter. He is my cousin. Your bio is certainly impressive. You have accomplished so much. Proud to know of your connection to our beautiful state of NH.

Thanks you for that interesting article. I live in the Vancouver (BC) area, and we have many mature beech trees in our heavily landscaped complex, although they are planted around the complex singly, not grouped together.  I had wondered (and was disappointed that) I could never find a beech nut that has any actual mast in them - they look like they do, but when you open up these tri-sided kernels, they are all empty. You would think that a few would have managed to get pollinated in that the trees are not that far apart from each other.  I am wondering if there are any other reasons these trees produce only ‘fake nuts’, and produce many, many of them - the ground under them is carpeted with empty nuts? The trees all appear very healthy - no evidence of that beech bark disease that I had read which causes reduced mast production.