Site Discussions

I never knew
all these spiders could do!
I had no clue.
But thanks to you
and your crew,
now I do!

:) Betsy

Interesting, informative, and humorous article on a type of spider I have never even heard of.  Thank you!  I will now be on the look-out for these spiders.  - Cindy

Great article.
I have a great interest in water wildlife, be it mammalian or insects. I also was a student at St Michael’s College in the early 70’s.
Thanks for a great article that I shared with my eldest son and my grandson, both of whom share my interests.

Robert Thorsen in his book Stone by Stone explains and describes how the stones did not appear until the forest was cut off for farm land. The original forest with leaf litter and snow cover kept soil temperatures high enough that the frost did not harvest the crop. It was only the cleared land that had the ground frozen deep enough to do the job.

Thanks Jim! This is such a kind note. Now seems a good moment to acknowledge our circulation and communications manager Emily Rowe, and assistant editor Meghan McCarthy McPhaul, who are both involved in producing the series on a weekly basis!

For over ten years, we have had a pair of Broadwings nest in the woods behind our house in Essex County NY. in the Adirondack Mountains near Schroon Lake. In the early years I assumed it was the same birds coming back each year, but after more than ten years I now wonder about that. We so look forward to their return each spring. We named our wifi system “Hawksnest”!

Great work Elise! Nice selection of topics, backed up by informative links. I’ve put This Week in the Woods up as my default browser screen.

You might be surprised as to why I loved your article. I’m actually writing a children’s book with a vole as the main protagonist and I have been doing research into vole species, habitat, food sources, etc. Your article was fascinating and very helpful in my research. It saddens me that 90% of what I find in reference to voles is how to kill them. When did we, as humans, lose all sight of how to coexist with other creatures? Thanks for publishing.

Thanks for your story, Suzanne, though what a sad ending. It’s impressive your mother was able to raise the baby orioles - I don’t think they’re easy songbirds to raise.

Tom, good to know orioles are doing well in your area.

Rob, I have the Peterson Field Guide to Birds’ Nests.

Thank you very much for this article! It (along with your referenced source from UC, Riverside and Snopes.com) helped to develop my side of a recent debate with my dearest partner, however, I wish that I had found it years ago during my career as a secondary science teacher! I was asked about “granddaddy long legs’” venom being the most dangerous spider venom in the world every year for more than a decade. Sadly, due to testing, I, being the physical, earth, and space sciences teacher, did not have enough time to properly devote to the exploration of this subject.

I will pass it along to those who still wonder about those spiders in the corner. Thank you again!

Thanks for the article. Am wondering if anyone might suggest a book on identification of bird nests?

Here in WNY State we have had an explosion of breeding orioles for the past 3 years.  Our neighbors - mostly Amish - report the same.  They used to be a rarely seen bird in this area.

A variation on the story was a favorite of the farmer from whom I bought my land.  In Rupert’s telling it was a guy in a sports car. ” What you doing old timer?  Picking stone. where did the stone come from? Glacier brought it. Where’s the glacier now ?  Gone back for more stone”

Yesterday my video camera captured a house wren (possibly another female) stealing the 4 hatchlings! The parents kept flying back in the bird box to feed the missing babies. Is this a territorial dispute?

This beautiful moth was on the railing of our log cabin porch but is now on the ceiling. Saved your article for my granddaughter to read. Today’s date: June 20th, 2020.

There is a large rotten silver maple stump in my back yard.  A month or so ago my wife and I noticed a large scattering of wood chips around it.  We wondered what could make such a mess, guessing most likely raccoon or skunk.  A week or so later she came in from the deck and said, “you will never guess what shredded the stump.  It was a huge woodpecker!”  I have seen it twice since then, a pileated woodpecker aka Woody Woodpecker.  Thanks for the article.

Years ago (I’m 74) the wind blew an oriole’s nest out of our big old elm tree. There were two babies, still in pin feathers, mother no where to be found, so my mother took them in. She fed them well, worms and hard-boiled eggs, and they thrived and became big beauties and flew out to return and sit on my mother’s shoulders. One day they came back and dropped dead in her lap. Our neighbour had an apple orchard and had recently sprayed it with God only knows what toxic substance. Our poor beautiful birds.

Earth worms will extend the life of a tree.  I have several maple trees that were dying until we place the worms around the trees and the tree got healthy.

We found a Luna moth in our yard tonight. Very beautiful.

Blair,
I’ve seen wild chips do something similar with leaves, where the neatly fold a leaf much larger than them, using their hands and mouth… And I’m not sure if they are doing it to transport the leaf easier, or if they then use the leaf in a similar fashion to what you described.