Something Wild

Phenology Happens in the Field

Chris Martin — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:07:00 +0000

We tagged along with Diane DeLuca, a biologist with NH Audubon on her rounds of the Deering Wildlife Sanctuary. DeLuca has been working on their Phenological Monitoring Pilot Project, and defines phenology as "the study of 'phenophases', which are the different phases that plants and animals go through in their life cycle each year."

Birdsong, Translated

Chris Martin and Francie Von Mertens — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

With birds tuning up for the breeding season ahead, here are some memory tricks to help you recognize a few of the more common songs.

Robins can be heard in just about all habitats across the state and the nation. Their whistled song is often translated as, "Cheer-up. Cheerily. Cheerio."

Another song easy to "translate" is the flight song of goldfinches. Someone somewhere interpreted it as, "Potato chip! Potato chip!"

Marsh Marigold

Dave Anderson — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:20:31 +0000

Among the most conspicuous wildflowers of early May, my favorite is a native wetland plant, the yellow so-called “Marsh Marigold.” It’s also called “American cowslip” and is always found blooming early in marshes, roadside ditches, fens and wet woodlands and at watery edges of damp pastures.

Marsh marigold is a hardy, native perennial. It’s considered to be one of the ancestral plants of the northern latitudes. It’s thought to have thrived in torrents of post-glacial melt-water following the last “glaciation” in the northern hemisphere.

Going Woodcocking (And Making Memories)

Dave Anderson — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

One of the rituals I shared with my children when they were growing up was stalking woodcocks during their spring courtship display. I guess I was sort of emulating a hero of mine named Aldo Leopold.

At twilight on April evenings, the woodcocks perform what naturalist Aldo Leopold described as "The Sky Dance" in an essay of the same title from his book A Sand Country Almanac, it's a sort of Bible for conservationists.

If It Sounds Like A Duck...Might Be A Frog

Chris Martin and Francie Von Mertens — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Forest Pharmacy

Dave Anderson — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:00:00 +0000

The Chairman of the Society of Forest Medicine at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo, Japan Dr. Qing Li, studies nature’s effect on the human immune system. A person’s natural immune cells called “NK cells” can be reliably measured in a lab. NK cells function like white blood cells to increase resistance to illness including cancer by sending self-destruct messages to tumors and virus-infected cells. Stress, aging and pesticides reduce NK counts.

How Many Birds?

Chris Martin and Francie Von Mertens — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

How many bird species might an attentive backyard birdwatcher, or "birder", find?

The term "backyard" means any nearby open space, such as a stream corridor or an open field with forest edge. The more habitat types a backyard has, the better.

Don and Lillian Stokes, of Hancock, NH, have a backyard that includes the Contoocook River, a distant ridgeline, open field, wetlands, and forest, not to mention many birdfeeders and birdhouses to attract their feathered friends. Like many active birders, they keep a backyard list of their sightings from over the years.

Solar Salamanders

Dave Anderson — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0000

The online blog “Zoo-logger” reports on “solar powered” spotted salamanders, an amphibian common to New Hampshire and migrating soon to a vernal pool near you!

Unique Nests

Chris Martin and Francie Von Mertens — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

A bird can be identified by the different splashes of color on its feathers, or its distinct call, but did you know that you can also tell a bird by the way it builds its nest, even if it's empty?

Just as birds in all their variety evolved from the very first species, their nests have evolved in equal variety over millions of years. Every bird builds a nest unique to its species.

Fewer Trees, Fewer People

Dave Anderson — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

The January issue of Atlantic Monthly online reported a curious connection between the death of 100 million ash trees killed after the arrival of the invasive, exotic “Emerald Ash borer” beetle in lower Michigan to an ensuing spike in rates of human heart disease and pulmonary illness including pneumonia.

High Perch: Peregrines Nesting In The City

Chris Martin and Francie Von Mertens — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 05:00:00 +0000

The peregrine falcon: Fierce, fast, high cliff dweller, symbol of the wild. All true, but increasingly peregrines can be found inhabiting urban canyons of concrete and steel.

The Brown Creeper: Songs from the Wood

Dave Anderson — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome to March! If you walk in the forest this week, you might detect the song of a non-descript little brown bird called the "brown creeper."

Brown creepers are hard to see. Their habit is to creep upward on tree trunks, often in spiral fashion remaining well-hidden. It sports mottled "tree-bark pattern" camouflage.

The Maligned Fisher

Chris Martin and Francie Von Mertens — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:11:26 +0000

The "fisher cat": ferocious predator of house cats whose bloodcurdling screams pierce the dark of night. Facts about this one wildlife species have mutated a long way into fiction. For starters, fishers are members of the weasel family—not feline. Properly referred to, they're "fishers," not "fisher cats."

A Red Squirrel Valentine

Dave Anderson — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:00:00 +0000

The latter half of February begins the onset of peak breeding season for many furbearers and rodents. At Valentine's Day, tracks in the snow increase exponentially as wild mammals seek available mates.

New Study: Cats Kill Birds, A Lot of Birds

Chris Martin and Francie Von Mertens — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:59:17 +0000

There's new and unsettling information about domestic cats. A study just published (full study here) estimates cats kill between 1 and 4 billion birds each year in the U.S. That's an average of over three million birds each day.