Site Discussions

Beautifully written & filled with joyful insights that provide a keyhole view into a local swamp.  That Garry made me want to stumble through to find this place because of his wordsmithing is impressive ❤️  Going to miss seeing you at Coastal Roasters every Saturday, Garry.

I walked on the road, in the Berkshires, just Friday, May 20th, 2021 with my dog Wellesley. He had more than 80 ticks on this body. I used a tick/flea preventative just one month ago but wonder of the effectiveness of these drugs. I have walked my dog on the same road for over 10 years and never saw anything like that! Definitively an area to check carefully when one walks dogs…

Hello, I have a live sunk under my building in which I run my business so it is a truly terrible situation. Any loud noise and the smell is immediately horrendous and I am forced to close my store for several days or more. I’ve had several wildlife control experts come out and they can find no entry or exit points around my building. My business is on a street close right on the sidewalk. it is in a very old historic district. my question is…can there be access under my building several yards from a sewer system running under the street? No one has been able to determine how it is getting in the crawl space! We are facing having to tear up our floors.
Live Traps have been set around the perimeter to no avail. Please provide any opinions on my terrible problem. Thank you

I had my house built on the highest point of my land, which is over 845 ft elevation (and the highest point in my immediate area). The geology has always puzzled me since to my east, the ground could be used for farming (but I choose to leave it wooded). The same applies to my south, north and further west (from house). How ever,  half of my house foundation is in pure sand (they dug for the septic and never hit anything but sand). The other part of my house, is on rock. The kind of rock that is comprised of yellow rocks (imagine how rocks mixed with concrete looks). Back years ago, this hilltop was about 20+ foot higher. My grandfather let a neighbor haul away dirt/sand. Anyhow, I doubt I described it very well.

Beautiful description of an intriguing habitat. Reminded me of visits to NJ’s Pine Barrens also resilient to fire to the point of dependency on fire. Thank you for this piece.

There is so much private property now in my area that I can bv find very few areas to pick fiddleheads at all. I’m very interested in growing my own. Do you have information available for doing that? Thank you so much for reminding people to harvest sustainably.

Took a drive this week to Central Oregon to see the turkeys and discovered the turkeys were hiding.

Concluded that they must be nesting and following and several of the things mentioned in this article.

Thanks for the educational material..

Wonderful way to use roots as anti-inflammatory instead of pro-arthritis potatoes.

Thank Ric. And so great that Sutton Library is sharing local nature information!

Can you help identify a bird if we don’t have a picture?  It’s a tiny tan bird, with a square-end tail, that has been taking sticks into our blue bird house. We have fishing line of the sides of the hole to prevent sparrows but this bird is so small, it can get between.  It’s “nest” is a bunch of sticks piled in different ways all the way to the top of the house. It’s hard to imagine how that can be used as a nest.  My husband and I wondered how that little bird got all those fairly big sticks in the house.

Thanks for the note on false morels.  I saw several in a walk last weekend and had been meaning to review my memory about it.  (Mainly that I didn’t want to eat it.)  Tom Volk’s page was exactly what I wanted to see.

[I see these via a link from the Sutton Library FB page.]

Thank you for this information! The recipe was a bonus.

I found this in my bathroom and I am TERRIFIED.

I had the pleasure of meeting Officer Murphy today and I couldn’t be happier! I was riding my bicycle on the rail trail through Enfield, enjoying the beautiful weather. As I crossed a bridge over Mascoma River, I looked over and saw Heidi walking up from the river bank. I hollered and waved, and we proceeded to have a nice short conversation. She is a great member of North Woods Law, which is one of very few shows I record and watch. I’m very glad that she serves as the conservation officer in my district. Keep up the good work Heidi! I hope you get a chance to enjoy Mother’s Day with your two young boys today.

Have you ever heard of Osprey, diving with fish in talons, toward a hard surface to slam it’s catch against said ground? I think I witnessed this on a side street near our neighborhood. Could it be a behavior meant to kill a struggling fish before flying to a nearby nest with it’s young?

First time to see, even know they exist, this cold past winter. Heard the wings sitting in the house, so loud thought it was one of the owls really close. Ran to window like a kid and gasped loudly. Amazing!!!! I am surrounded by woods so maybe will see another.

Thanks for the excellent, informative article, Lee!

To avoid confusion, I am the son of Howard Fadden (1912-1963). Kudos to Dave Fadden (Onchiota) for his amazing art work. I vividly recall my first visit to the museum when I was a very young boy.  I was impressed by the stories shared by Cousin Ray and how it influenced my miss-guided perception of the indigenous occupants of this beautiful area known as The Adirondacks.

Thanks for the great info and feed back. I just recently started clearing my property of sketchy trees. I have 2.5 acres and am trying to extend driveway. Not to mention I have about 15 60’+ oaks 50’ from my home. Constantly thinking about them. Definitely getting the come along now. I’d rather not get crushed in the middle of the night by one. Thanks all.

Thanks for the info. I just spotted a kettle migrating north/northeast over Brownsville, TX. The winds were very strong for about 4-5 days before calming down today. There are easily hundreds- if not in the 4 digits. I’ve had my eye on it for about an hour. This is my first sighting. I’ll never forget it.