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Hopeful nectarines

April 30, 2014 - We got a little glimpse of sun this morning, and since heavy rain is forecast for later today and tomorrow, I wanted to...
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Close-to-Mayflies

April 29, 2014 - Yesterday, the post was about a plant, the Canada Mayflower, that arrived early; today, it's an insect whose name is out...
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Almost-Mayflowers

April 28, 2014 - It's still chilly, and there's barely a hint of green in the tree canopy. But the situation is different on the forest f...
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Fern artistry

April 27, 2014 - The morning broke raw and chilly, but at least it was relatively dry—perfect for an amphibian surveying trip to the Thom...
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Don't feel sluggish

April 26, 2014 - When I got up to get ready for the walk I was scheduled to lead through the Babcock Ridge Preserve, the weather didn't l...
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Learning the mosses

April 25, 2014 - It has been a fine spring for bryophytes, and with no sign that the prevailing wet and cool conditions will end any time...
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A fine harvest of Marsh Marigolds

April 23, 2014 - In advance of the public walk I'm scheduled to lead at the Babcock Ridge Preserve on Saturday, I did a private walk—just...
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What are you doing here?

April 23, 2014 - It was late afternoon, and I was busy catching up on e-mail when, frankly, my attention started to drift out my second-f...
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An Earth Day celebration

April 22, 2014 - In 1970, at a time when the planet's ecological health was in a downhill spiral, a progressive Wisconsin senator named G...
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Reclaiming the shore

April 21, 2014 - A nearby pond serves as a watering hole for young dairy cows, a migration stopover for ducks, a nesting ground for Canad...
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A blue butterfly day

April 20, 2014 - The theme of today, for both Christians and Jews, is rebirth, and if you're looking for a suitable mascot from the natur...
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Sun turtles in the sun

April 19, 2014 - The wetlands have been waking up according to a timetable I've put together as a result of years of observation, and acc...
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Into spicy bloom

April 18, 2014 - My travels often take me into wetlands, so Spicebush, which likes wet "feet," is a small shrub I know extremely well. It...
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Welcome back, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

April 17, 2014 - I managed to get in some field work today in preparation for a series of Earth Day outdoor classes I'm presenting at our...
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Say it ain't snow

April 16, 2014 - 80 degrees on Monday—well, in the sun—under 30 this morning. And, as if to add an exclamation point, the world went from...
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Tax day antidote

April 14, 2014 - What could be a better counterweight to the dreariness associated with income tax calculation than the first trills of a...
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Bird's eye view

April 13, 2014 - One of the joys of climbing mountains, or, in our area, hills, is that the vantage points you reach at the height-of-lan...
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The ant-Bloodroot connection

April 13, 2014 - With the sun on the kitchen thermometer, the temperature supposedly hit 80. I didn't believe it, but the breeze was down...
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The reptilian premiere

April 12, 2014 - It was warming up after a chilly start, and I was leading a small but enthusiastic group of hikers on a Great Circle exp...
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Preventing arboreal disaster

April 11, 2014 - When we bought the place we've come to call the ridge, it was essentially three acres of a farm field that had grown up...
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The awful beginning of the end

April 10, 2014 - I haven't been kidding myself for the past couple of years—since around Thanksgiving 2012 to be exact. That was when a "...
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Blowin' in the wind

April 08, 2014 - One of the most reliable signs of spring is the lengthening and opening of a special kind of tree flower known as a catk...
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The first of the tree swallows

April 08, 2014 - Starting right about now, most of my discoveries are going to involve either newly returned or, in the case of the Mourn...
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Very mysterious eggs

April 07, 2014 - After all the rain we've had, the woods are dotted with brimful vernal pools, and now that the amphibians have had a cha...
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Welcome back, Mourning Cloak

April 06, 2014 - I had just started out on a morning hike on a chilly day when something small and pretty caught my attention. And how co...
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A backwoods graveyard

April 05, 2014 - Hike just about any trail through the New England forests and you're likely to encounter human history, along with the n...
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A praying mantis was here

April 04, 2014 - Last August, I wrote about a trek I made to try to find a local wetland called the Bell Cedar Swamp, and while I didn't...
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When Mac came to visit

April 03, 2014 - Ordinarily, I wouldn't post a picture of the same critter two days in a row, but there's a story here connected to this...
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Wish fulfillment

April 02, 2014 - At twilight, I led a small but ardent contingent of vernal pool aficionados to the Babcock Ridge wetlands, and though th...
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The water striders start striding

April 01, 2014 - After a morning spent at the keyboard, I finished a writing project, and after a cold start, the day warmed. So, with th...
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