Site Discussions

Mark, you’re slightly ahead of where my mother and father are. They planted seven acres of walnut trees 20 years ago. They have been pruned and need to be thinned out. My question is: how should the thinning be done? I’m inclined to find someone with this expertise and hire them to mark the trees to be removed. Any advice is appreciated!

I have always loved mourning doves.  Their haunting song transports me back to my early childhood when I first heard it.  It’s my favorite very sound in the whole world.

Betsy, you are too kind!  Now is a good time of year to be excited about duckweed.  I just saw some in ponds in the Winooski floodplain.
I look forward to seeing you in the VMN Zoom!
Cheers
Declan

I discovered of very large intact alive freshwater mussel on my Beaver Pond. I had seen evidence of them in so much as I have found half shells but it was exciting to find a live one literally on the Beaver Dam.

Interesting interview!  Very nice drawing by Molly.

Duckweed. You took duckweed, Declan, this little weed, and turned it into a magical story. I cannot believe it. I am now excited about duckweed just from having read your article! Thank you..

This is right up my alley! I was brought up exploring the outdoors. My father, John T. Hemenway, used to take us to Taylor Valley to check out wood lots and forests. Our summer residence in Strafford has now become my permanent home. My house is located on the west branch of the Ompompanusic(not sure of spelling) where I spent hours exploring ...

What a wonderful article and I truly thank Molly and Pearl for sharing their thoughts, interests and favorite places.  My hope is that all children can have an equally stimulating and loving childhood environment.  I strongly suspect these two will have truly interesting and fulfilling lives.  Thank you!

On the 100 acre lake where I live, we have one pair of nesting loons every year. For the past three years an interloper loon has attempted to take territorial control of the lake resulting in wild water chases across the lake that go on for weeks. If any baby loons are present, it appears that the interloper kills them as the young baby chicks disappear after the interloper arrives and the water battles begin. Again this morning I saw another loon appear on our small lake and the chasing started once again. Fortunately, no babies have been born yet.
My question is, how many years will it take before these invasions stops. This is the third year in a row this has occurred. Prior to this, we never saw another loon try to invade our lake, which was already occupied by a regular nesting pair.
I appreciate any information you can offer. Is there any way to prevent this?

This was awesome! A few days ago, my dad saw a spiky caterpillar. The 2 days ago, I found a bunch of them hanging and starting to cocoon on our GARAGE! I got scared, because I thought that they were poisonous. But turns out we either have the American Lady or the Mourning Cloak. I’m guessing mourning cloak.

Meghan - love this one. What a great idea to interview a couple of kids - and these two have such unique perspectives. Thanks for such uplifting and hopeful writing during these tough days ...Eileen

Thanks Melanie! So to further your clarification: opossums can be supported temporarily by their tails, and indeed if you look online you’ll see photographs showing this. A great safety feature for a tree climber! But as for hanging about that way, no. People sometimes think they sleep this way, like bats, which is incorrect.

Fun, informative article! As a wildlife rehabilitator with more than 10 years working closely with opossums and having read extensively about them, I would like to correct a common myth that opossums hang by their tails. They do use them for balance and gripping, but the tails are not strong enough to support the opossum’s full weight.
I enjoy Northern Woodlands very much. Thanks!

This morning, 26 April 2020 I heard a lot of blue jay screaming.  I had been curious lately about how I had about 10 of them hanging out together in my yard.  This article explained.  Thanks.  This morning a hawk had just caught a rabbit and was finishing off the poor creature.  The blue jays were near by sheltering in a forsythia bush mobbing the hawk in the middle of its business.  Sad for the rabbit.  But all this gave me a better appreciation for blue jays.

Thank you for this very interesting information on mourning doves! I have a pair nesting in a tree next to my house and I keep a close eye on them and pray for them often! You’ve taught me a lot about what I’ve seen and what to expect! Thank you so much!

Thank you for your postings, Elise!

Here in the hills of South Vershire we’re enjoying the return visits of numerous “migrant” bird species.

I’m guilty of still feeding the birds, chipmunks, and squirrels, because I enjoy their presence and am willing to sacrifice seed and suet feeders if a bear pays a visit. (I live in and with Nature…)

And though we had about 2-inches of snow on Tuesday into Wednesday morning, the perennials - in our gardens and throughout our woodland - are still pushing their way toward the sun.

Eggs have begun appearing in our vernal pools, but we haven’t yet seen a greening of the woodland trees, which are visible when backlit by the early morning sun.

Your story about the turkeys was wonderful. We have approx. 25 and they roost in the trees in front of our house. As the spring progresses and the Toms are demonstrating, we have noticed that fewer and fewer are roosting in the trees, in fact today only 5 roosted in the trees, the rest we assume are sitting on nests, and I had wondered how the female feeds herself and if the male helps etc. You answered some of these questions and we thank you. One thing we noticed last year is that the young birds at a certain age are taken care of as a group with various females as nannies I suppose. We have a large group of pine trees that give good protection from the hawks, and that is where we see the young at that age.

The subtle coloring of the woods is one the early glories of Spring in New England - worth the allergies!

Given the blunt front of a barrel, would it make sense to have the choker chain exit from the bottom of the log and through a hole at the bottom of the barrel end?
Would this not put a little extra upwards force helping it skid over roots and other obstacles a little more easily?

This is a reply to Debra Kearney’s comment : “I found a pale yellow large caterpillar with a dark brown head in my yard. Waxy looking….what is he????”

That worm you are describing is most likely the Indianmeal moth larvae.