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Spring Migration For ardent birdwatchers, nothing can be more exciting than seeing the first spring migrants. First to come in February are the blackbirds, red-winged blackbirds, grackles and cowbirds. Next the phoebes arrive in March, first seen here on March 29. In April we say good-by to the northbound juncos, last seen here on April…

Spring Pools Spring has sprung in a way typical of New England: on and off rain, alternating warm and cold days, occasional spits of snow. This is the time of year that amphibians most love. On rainy nights at the end of March or early April that are 40 degrees or above, frogs and salamanders…

Happy Spring? Lately, I’ve been having fun writing poetry, mostly about my walks. They are “prose poems”, they have no rhyme and no meter. In this free form, I can just concentrate on describing my senses and emotions as a “stream of consciousness”. If you write poetry, or want to try it in any form,…

Winter has finally arrived. When the snow flies so do the birds, arriving at our feeders in larger numbers. We get many different little brown birds that on quick inspection we may lump together as “sparrows”. But on closer inspection, we see that they are house sparrows, female house finches, Carolina wrens, fox sparrows, song…

Happy New Year! At this time of year, I like to review your wildlife reports from the past year. It has been a very different year in many ways. For much of 2022 we underwent high temperatures and severe drought. Even this winter has been warm. We have had no notable snow as I write…

The winter of 2022 is predicted to be an irruption year for grosbeaks, winter finches and red-breasted nuthatches. Lucky us! An irruption of birds occurs in winters when the cone crop in Maine and Canada is insufficient to feed these birds that rely on it. The north looks to have a poor cone crop this…

Fall in New England! Just the sound of that phrase brings visions of New England’s most glorious days. I feel very lucky to be living in this lovely town at this most lovely time of the year. A walk on a trail on a sunny fall day is a blissful experience. Its all about color….

The feeling of fall is definitely in the air. Its a lovely time of year, with colorful red maples changing into brilliant red and orange costumes, mushrooms popping up, and purple and white asters blooming in the meadows and woods. We may notice migrating birds passing by or arriving at our feeders for only a…

September is an exciting month for birders; its hawk migration time.  Broad-winged hawks head south to Central and South America between September 1 and September 30. None of these hawks stay north in the winter. Mid-month sees the majority of broad-wings circling and gliding their way south. Broad-winged hawks migrate over land, avoiding flying over…