If the pair’s breeding effort is successful at Midway Atoll Refuge, it would mark the first confirmed hatching of a short-tailed albatross outside of Japan in modern history.
Category Archive: New England Living
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Wing Fungus Has Lethal Effects on Bats With White Nose Syndrome
Damage to bat wings from the fungus associated with white-nose syndrome (WNS) may cause catastrophic imbalance in life-support processes, according to newly published research. This imbalance may be to blame for the more than 1 million deaths of bats due …
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Large New England Marshes Likely Created By Settlers
Researchers found that deforestation in the New England area at that time produced significant soil erosion, increasing sediment delivery rates — the natural flow of sand and soil in water systems. The large amounts of sediment traveling in rivers and streams to the coastline spurred a significant period of wetland growth, leading to marshes lining the coast of New England that today are abnormally large.
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Orange Spring Peeper Visits Chelmsford Backyard
As most gardeners do, I find it a spiritual experience to play amongst my garden beds and flowers. Imagine my surprise the other day when I saw what appeared to be an orange poison dart frog in my butterfly garden. …
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Eastern Wild Turkeys Flock to Chelmsford Backyard
This summer, a flock of Eastern Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) routinely visited my Chelmsford, Massachusetts backyard. The turkeys regularly pecked their way around the yard each morning, spending most of their time scratching and grazing on spilled seed from our bird feeders.
The flock was usually comprised of about a dozen hens (females), jakes, and jennies (young male and female turkeys). The size and number of the birds, made them an imposing site in our suburan New England backyard.
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Pink Lady’s Slipper at Crooked Spring Reservation in Chelmsford
Hiking on the hillside along the eastern leg of the main trail at the Mills Crooked Spring Reservation in Chelmsford, we found the showy flowers of the Pink Lady’s Slipper.
Pink lady’s slipper is a wildflower in the orchid family. It grows 6 – 15″ tall with two large basal leaves at the base of the plant. It is easily identifiable because of its bulbous flower hanging at the top of a tall leafless stalk. It generally flowers between May and July, is pink to whitish-pink, and sometimes all white. Another common name for this plant is moccasin flower.
Like most orchids, the lady’s slipper is symbiotic as it has a mutually beneficial relationship with a fungus. The pink lady’s slipper uses a fungus in the soil to break open their seeds and to draw food and nutrients to its seed. When the lady’s slipper plant is older, the fungus draws nutrients from the orchid’s roots. Pink lady’s slippers also require bees for pollination, luring them into the flower pouch through the front opening.
Pink lady’s slipper takes many years to mature, living twenty or more years. Pink lady’s slipper usually grows on a wet, acidic forest floor with mixed shade on the eastern United States. The plants should not be removed from the wild because of their rarity and the near impossibility of successfully transplanting and maintaining the plant. New plants are difficult to start because of the need for the symbiotic fungi and their particular growing conditions.
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Eastern Bluebirds at Red Wing Farm in Chelmsford, MA
On a cool, sunny New England spring morning bluebird love was in the air.
After dropping my son off at school, I visited Red Wing Farm (a great open space in Chelmsford,Massachusetts to bird watch) and was fortunate to observe a pair of Eastern Bluebirds grazing upon fat grubs while perched atop their nesting box.
The bluebirds seemed a bit put off by me at first, but I kept my distance and was careful to keep my movements to a minimum. Soon the bluebirds seemed to forget about me and began to go about their business of collecting grubs and insects, and defending their territory from encroaching tree swallows that had set up a nest in a cluster of nest boxes on the opposite side of the meadow.
The female bluebird sang throughout the morning. She remained perched atop the nest box, bouncing from corner to corner cheerfully singing to her partner as he repeated his dash from tree to tree, snatching insects in mid-flight. Her sweet songs were rewarded with a gift of the fattest grubs of the morning. My reward was being able to watch (and listen) on a beautiful New England spring morning.
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Sunny Meadow Farm Recycled Bluebird Houses
I recently completed a couple of bluebird houses made from discarded fence rails that were “rescued” from a burn pile.
Over April vacation, my sons and I worked with our town’s Open Space Stewardship program to help establish a tree nursery at Sunny Meadow Farm. In addition to the plot used to grow trees for the town’s use, the half acre property includes the Walter F. Lewis Community Garden where residents are given plots of farm land to grow their own crops.
While building a large brush pile that day, I noticed a few pieces of the original horse chewed fence had been stacked in the burn pile. Seeing the beauty of the patina of the boards, which had taken decades to form, and being a big fan of recycling materials, I grabbed a few of the discarded boards and loaded them into my truck.
Peterson style bluebird house
Peterson style bluebird house
Both bluebird houses share functional features such as a pivoting wall for easy clean-out, canopied roof, ventilation and drainage holes, and copper lined entry holes (to prevent predator chew out). I designed one birdhouse in the traditional bluebird box style, and the other in the angled Peterson style.
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Homemade Pine Cone Bird Feeders
For me one of life’s simple pleasures is catering to the wildlife that frequent our yard. We live in a small, rural town where woodland surrounds our property. It isn’t unusual to see wild turkeys and deer trespassing across the lawn.
Now that Spring has sprung, we look forward to being able to open windows, feel the fresh air, and hear the chirps and chippers of our local and returning bird residents.
Filling the feeders has long been a routine and special time I enjoy with my kids. A couple of weeks ago we were performing the endless task of picking pine cones out of the yard, when I was inspired to make our own feeders. These are easy and cheap to make…and a great craft project for kids!
Peanut Butter Pine Cones: A WILD (Bird) Treat !!!
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American Robins visit New England Backyard
According to traditional wisdom, they shouldn’t have been there at all. So much for traditional wisdom. They were there in droves.
Dozens of American robins visited my yard over the weekend. Their visits, unfortunately, were short-lived. First they gathered in the trees in the backyard. Then they dispersed, some going to the birdbath and others hopping along the garden or driveway.
It was nice to see the robins again, especially so many of them at once. Even in the summer when robins are commonplace, I never see that many together. Like many types of birds, robins form large flocks in the winter.
I was happy to see the robins in February, however I was not shocked or even the least bit surprised. Robins may be thought of as signs of spring, but each year many of them stay with us here in New England throughout the winter. In fact, some remain as far north as southern Canada.
They are often hard to find in the winter, but they are around somewhere — and usually in large groups.
With their feathers and down, robins are able to withstand bitter cold temperatures and extreme weather conditions, just like our other “winter” birds such as chickadees and kinglets.
Permanent link to this article: http://blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com/new-england-living/american-robins-visit-new-england-backyard/
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