We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Just a couple of weeks left to get your new Wood Duck houses up, and, if you want to place your boxes in water, it's easier to do if you can walk on the ice and punch a hole to hammer a post into the shallows. That is, if you have any sturdy ice on your pond or marsh.
The males arrive to their breeding grounds in March, and hunt for nesting boxes and holes and crevices in trees before the gals arrive later in April.
If you have a stream or fresh water pond or marsh nearby, they will welcome your effort. Remember, there is no limit to the number of boxes you can place in or near a marsh - these birds are not territorial. I try to add one each year.
I place them on dead trees in the shallows of the beaver marsh, and nail a 3' aluminum flashing on the tree to deter coons and Blacksnakes. Some I put on a post in about 3-6' of water with a strong cement base. I always add a few inches of wood shavings on the bottom.
You can also put them in trees near ponds and marshes,
Our piece on Wood Duck here. I won't shoot a Wood Duck unless by mistake. They are highly edible, but too small. My joy is just to see them around, and my worry is just how many Snapping Turtles and egrets eat the young ones.
It's not really winter here yet, but the flocks of male Robins are all over. They finished off all of our holly berries. We have holly trees and holly shrubs. They like all fruits and berries. They are known to get drunk on old apples.
There are some number of species with different lifestyles. The species commonly seen by snorkelers and divers is the Green Sea Turtle, most common in tropical and subtropical waters. The adults hang out on coasts and coral reefs. They are not green. I've seen one, snorkeling in the Caribbean.
I've also seen their tracks in the sand in the morning on Little St. Simon's Island. Sea turtles' migrations to their nesting beaches is miraculous.
These fairly common but not often seen (except during migration) eastern US forest hawks do put on a dramatic show during migration.
They migrate to Brazil in flocks, small or large, and into the hundreds on updrafts. Lifting on a updraft, then coasting down, saves lots of energy. I had a small flock of around five over my house this week. I think they were looking for a spot to roost.
I did a double take when seeing a blue and white Parakeet (Budgeriar) picking up gravel from my driveway.
Maybe an escape, maybe an "accidental" like birds being blown by storms like Debby. After Tropical Storm Sandy I saw a flock of Brown Pelicans over my house.
This is the time of year (mid-May to mid-June) when our Horseshoe Crabs come into the shallows to mate, sometimes ending up dead on the beach in the process. The WaPo did a piece on the spectacle a few years ago.
These critters, or ones similar, have been around for 1/2 billion years. The female digs holes in the sand and deposits around 20,000 eggs in each one, which the male then fertilizes. Those eggs are an important shorebird food.
Despite their size and intimidating appearance, horseshoe crabs are not dangerous.
A horseshoe crab's tail, while menacing, is not a weapon. Instead, the tail is used to plow the crab through the sand and muck, to act as a rudder, and to right the crab when it accidentally tips over.
The horseshoe crab's central mouth is surrounded by its legs and while harmless, it is advisable to handle a horseshoe crab with care since you could pinch your fingers between the two parts of its shell while holding it.
Horseshoe crabs have 2 compound eyes on the top of their shells with a range of about 3 feet. The eyes are used for locating mates.
Horseshoe crabs can swim upside down in the open ocean using their dozen legs (most with claws) and a flap hiding nearly 200 flattened gills to propel themselves.
Horseshoe crabs feed mostly at night and burrow for worms and mollusks. They will, however, feed at any time.
Horseshoe crabs grow by molting and emerge 25 percent larger with each molt. After 16 molts (usually between 9 and 12 years) they will be fully grown adults.
Horseshoe crab eggs are important food for migratory shore birds that pass over the Delaware Bay during the spring mating season. Fish also eat the juveniles or recent molts.
In the 1900s, horseshoe crabs were dried for use as fertilizer and poultry food supplements before the advent of artificial fertilizers.
The medical profession uses an extract from the horseshoe crab's blue, copper-based blood called lysate to test the purity of medicines. Certain properties of the shell have also been used to speed blood clotting and to make absorbable sutures.
A reader sent us this photo from two weeks ago. The male is the smaller one, clinging to the the barnacle-encrusted female:
A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land.
My House Wrens returned yesterday. I need to quickly finish my re-painting and refurbishingof their birdhouses because it cheers me to have them around ye olde cabin.
We have two pairs nesting each year in our wren houses, and their cheery chatter is a sentimental springtime pleasure. I can hear them right now. Once they lay their eggs, they tend to go silent so as not to draw attention to their eggs and babies.
With wrens, "If you build it, they will come." They lovewren houses. They like to appropriate mailboxes too, or anything else with a hole in it. For many years when I was a kid we had them nesting happily in an old horse feedbag that hung on a nail in an open shed.
Problem with House Wrens is that the males will fill boxes in their territory with sticks to keep competitors from using them. Filthy Capitalist slime.
Flocks of Purple Grackles (along with other blackbirds like Cowbirds, Redwings) always pass through on their way north around St. Valentine's Day.
It is still winter but they are rugged. They seem to like marshes at this time of year along with the other species of blackbirds, probably due to snow cover everywhere else.
North America has two species of Kinglets. I had a Ruby-Crowned flitting around shrubs this morning. I've rarely seen that ruby crown though. It takes sharp eyes to notice them even though they are not uncommon, especially in winter. Maybe you need to be curious about birds to see them.
Our two Kinglet species have quite different habits. Tiny birds, but impressive egg-layers.
This humble little critter is usually seen on the trunks of older trees, picking through the bark. You would never see them through foliage in summertime, but in winter they are all over the US.
I heard one hooting outside my open bedroom window last night at 4 am. Woke me up. After 20 minutes, another one joined in the conversation. A mate. They will lay their eggs soon, in winter.
Remarkable large birds, top predators, and adaptable to almost every habitat from urban parks to deserts. They are found everywhere in the US, Canada, Central America, and in parts of South America.
They will eat anything that moves: house cats, snakes, skunks, rats, porcupines, mice, fish, muskrats, possums, crows, gulls, ducks, even smaller owls - but their favorite food seems to be rabbits.
I rarely see them, but I hear them regularly. They are non-migratory and early maters and nesters, laying eggs in January snowstorms.
Just a couple of weeks left to get your new Wood Duck houses up, and, if you want to place your boxes in water, it's easier to do if you can walk on the ice and punch a hole to hammer a post into the shallows. That is, if you have any sturdy ice on your pond or marsh.
Sea Turtles are interesting critters. 
These fairly common but not often seen (except during migration) eastern US forest hawks do put on a dramatic show during migration. 
It's time when most summering, breeding birds return to their homes in South America.
This is the time of year (mid-May to mid-June) when our Horseshoe Crabs come into the shallows to mate, sometimes ending up dead on the beach in the process. The WaPo 
�
Flocks of
This humble little critter is usually seen on the trunks of older trees, picking through the bark. You would never see them through foliage in summertime, but in winter they are all over the US.
I heard one hooting outside my open bedroom window last night at 4 am. Woke me up. After 20 minutes, another one joined in the conversation. A mate. They will lay their eggs soon, in winter.