Site Discussions

I’m baffled. The last two years I’ve gotten a chipmunk (the same one?) use to me. Last year it even took nuts from my hand. This year I just left them. It recognized the sounds of the doors when I went in and came out and it popped out waiting for the almonds. But I didn’t try to get it to get closer like the year before. More skittish than last year. It clearly knew I was providing, but took off after stuffing its jaws. It’d come back like that over and over. I haven’t seen hide nor hare of it in over a month. It’s October now. There were two of them that’d come out a few times. I think they were a couple! Anyway, does anyone have an idea why they would suddenly stop showing up? Carl.

I befriended a small, young, female crow last winter, when it was -20° F and it looked like she was having a hard time finding food. I started tossing meat and fish scraps out for her and even though very hungry, she would look at it, peck at it, and fly off. It was two days before she took it. She is not stupid, imo. She started coming by at noon daily, to roost in my birch tree and, most days, get some food. Come spring, she started bringing a male with and although he would hang back, she would come right out to eat. He would wait till I went inside. Then, their feeding became frantic with the two of them grabbing any food I set out. They would fly off with it, returning in a few minutes for more. Sure enough, they had young to feed and soon, 5 more very young crows were coming around. Now, there are only 3 of the young ones left, likely due to the Coopers hawks that are always around. I was about to wean them when I looked out one afternoon and saw the whole family methodically eliminating any Yellowjacket or Wasp in my yard, while leaving the bees alone. I could go outside with my dogs and enjoy the yard without one sting all summer, on me or the dogs. Now, I feed them most days, my dogs just ignore them, and they are welcome in my yard anytime. They are noisy and wonderful.

Thanks for putting the whole thing in perspective!! Makes so much sense!

I like your tree tips. I need an oak tree removed. I’ll have to hire a professional.

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.