Leucistic White-Throated Sparrow A puffy white face caught my attention early Monday morning. I couldn’t get a good look at the bird through the branches of the hydrangea tree in the few seconds before it disappeared. It took until from Monday to Thursday to get a good look and determine…
heard the familiar noise as soon as I stepped out of the truck. “Jeeeeb. Jeeeb. Jeeep.” I wasn’t thinking about anything other than getting the mail and letting the dogs out when I heard the sound. It kind of caught me by surprise. “Jeeeb jeeeeb.” I know I know that…
Merlin (Merlin columbarius) “Klee-klee.” I heard the high-pitched call but was too far out the door to stop mid-step.line, The predator, afraid of me, flew away. The garden was littered with the jay’s feathers. It flew, barely, and I lost track of it while I looked for the other bird.…
Relocating Bird Feeders I’m relocating bird feeders today because of a merlin. This merlin. It’s taking advantage of the bird feeders a couple of times a week. Yesterday’s hunt was a disaster. This is the best way to put an end to the merlin’s opportunistic hunting and help the small…
Lynx Tracks in the Snow We’re making the most of our backwoods road riding this month while we wait for winter to give up and let spring move in. The roads are still frozen and the frost hasn’t started working its way out of the ground yet. From last weekend…
Moose Browse It’s still very much winter here in northeastern Maine. Snow is measured in feet in parts of our woodlot. Branches I don’t notice when the ground is bare have to be ducked under now. The bobcat is still hunting snowshoe hare in sight of the house and now,…
Bobcat on the Homestead I’ve been waiting for him. Let’s call this bobcat “him.” Could be a female, I don’t know yet. I’ve been waiting for a bobcat to show up. We know they’re here year round but we don’t see them until mid to late February, when it’s been…
Feeding Deer in Winter (My February column in Maine Woodlands) Feeding deer in winter is tricky. We mean well but we can kill deer with kindness if we aren’t careful. Farmer’s Almanac said we’d have a lot of snow this winter, and they were right. We had more snow on…
Ermine – Short-tailed Weasel We have an ermine, called a short-tailed weasel or stoat when from spring through fall when its coat isn’t white. I mentioned it before. It still comes around now and then even though it’s wiped out the mouse problem for us. There’s been some concern by…
The Track Maker I waited until it warmed up before going out this morning. Six below. -6°F, “feels like” -17°F (feels like needles on bare skin) when I went out. The ducks peeked out the door. A hen waddled out, looked around, stretched her right leg behind her, wings out…