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Maggie's FarmWe 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. |
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Thursday, March 17. 2011Mustelid du Jour: The Fisher doesn't scream and doesn't eat fish either
Fishers are large members of the weasel family (the Mustelidae - stoats, badgers, otters, martens, mink, weasels, wolverines) - kinda like mini-Wolverines. With the return of woodlands and the decline of fur trapping, Fisher populations are rebounding in the northern US, especially in New England (same as with the Black Bear). They are one of the few animals that kills Porcupines. I've never seen one in the wild, but I'd like to. Do they scream? It seems to be an Old Wives' Tale. Info about Fishers here and here. Have any of our readers seen one?
Posted by Bird Dog
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12:22
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Saturday, March 5. 2011Dog of the Week re-post: The Coyote in the East
They have adapted to suburbia, where they prey on cats (that's a good thing), small ankle-biter dogs (another good thing), mice, rats, fawns, geese, etc. So although they do not really belong here in New England, they eat things that we don't mind their eating. And they have become common. Massachusetts poet Catherine Reid has written a book about the coyotes which have now entended their range to the southern states, with great success, despite hunting, trapping, etc. The more of them you kill, the larger their litters. They are here to stay - at least until wolves return. Wolves kill coyotes, just as coyotes kill foxes.
Posted by The Barrister
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11:42
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Sunday, February 13. 2011Common sparrows at my winter bird feederDiligent students of Maggie's Farm have had the chance, over the years, to become familiar with many of the common birds of North America - or at least of the Eastern US. The common winter sparrows around my parts (not including Junco, which is a sparrow): In winter at my feeder, I mainly see Song Sparrow In some winters, we get a surge of Fox Sparrows, but not this year. This year, though, I have seen more Tree Sparrows than ever (that's the American Tree Sparrow, not the Eurasian): The Chipping Sparrow is common here in the summer, but migrates south. I rarely see a Field Sparrow anymore these days. No idea why. Never see White Crowned Sparrow at my feeder either. This is the common urban pest, once called the English Sparrow (they were a nasty import from Old Blighty):
Posted by Bird Dog
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11:16
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Thursday, February 10. 2011Goose du Jour: The Snow Goose (plus hunting and cooking )A seasonal re-post - Interesting bird, the Snow Goose. For There is almost no real limit on these birds, and it is now legal to use electronic calls to try to bring them into your field decoy spread during the spring Snow Goose season in the midwest. However, as it turns out, hunting makes no dent in their numbers. When a flock of 100 or 1000 of them descend over your blind into your field decoys on a frigid dawn, it's one hell of an adrenaline rush and one hell of a shooting experience. A literal "blast," and you cannot reload your auto fast enough to keep up with the action of these determined birds who can, at times, seem quite undeterred by the sound of shotgun fire. They go down very easily, compared to Canadas which can sometimes coast or flap for a quarter mile with a fatal wound, which gives a retriever - or a fellow - a good work out. We say "They go down like a prom dress." Our Brit cousins would love this shooting - they have, alas, nothing comparable for fun. Neither prom dresses nor Snow Geese. Our good pal Mr. Free Market would have the time of his life. When 5000 of them decide to chose the seemingly identical barley field adjacent to the one you happen to be in for brainless goose reasons, it is a deeply frustrating experience and there is not a damn thing you can do about it. A northern Canadian nester, this medium-sized honker is highly migratory across the US, especially in the Central Flyway. It is not unusual, these days, to see them flying over Vermont ski slopes in winter, or on Long Island potato fields. The causes of the potentially self-destructive population boom are unclear, but may have to do with changes in the agricultural lands on which they winter. I wish I had a decent digital image of the size of the flocks of these birds, capable of truly blocking out the sun, but my best shots are from my pre-digital era, a few years ago. Beautiful, and awe-inspiring but, according to the biologists, a big problem too. They could be wrong; it might just be a natural boom and bust cycle like the housing market. Being game birds, a word is always in order on cooking, since you must eat what you kill. These geese do not hold a candle to the delectable Canada Goose. The tough breast is best stewed, or crock-potted, and can be quite fine in a cassoulet. But anything is good in a cassoulet on a cold snowy, blowy winter evening, with crunchy garlic toast and a few bottles of Cote Roti and a mountain of powerful stinky French cheeses on the side. More about Snow Goose at CLO, whence the photo, here. Our old post on Cassoulet is lost for the moment. Good hearty peasant food, best made with game sausage and game meat of any sort. We once made one with venison sausage, wild boar, and Snow Goose breast. Thursday, January 27. 2011At the feeder today
At the feeders today: (Note Cottontail Rabbit gnawing on my roses. He's my official rose-pruner.) Tree Sparrow, Carolina Wren, Dark Eyed Junco, Cardinal, WT Sparrow, Red Bellied Woodpecker, BC Chickadee, Song Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker, Grey Squirrel (of course), Mourning Dove, Blue Jay. Notable for absence: Goldfinch, Tufted Titmouse.
Posted by Bird Dog
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12:43
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Saturday, January 22. 2011Bird of the Week: The Dark-Eyed Junco
Flocks of these sparrows - yes, they are in the sparrow family - are common around the US during migration and in winter, generally feeding on or near the ground, in fields, edges, and brush. The dual flash of white in their tail is an easy field mark in flight. They enjoy our bird feeders, and they do not mind snow at all. They breed pretty much throughout Canada. Their arrival in the US in November, along with the White-Throated Sparrows, is a sign that winter is coming. They will begin to push north in March. You can read more about these cheerful critters here. Photo courtesy of R. Hays Cummins
Posted by Bird Dog
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12:53
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Tuesday, January 18. 2011Friend bought a new toyA pal just bought this rugged machine for his hunting and getaway place in upstate New York. He's been fixing up the old leaky farmhouse for a couple of years. Nice to see a Maggie's Farm logo on it - naw, too bad - it's just a wide-assed Massey-Ferguson:
Tuesday, December 21. 2010A guide to snowflakes
Posted by Bird Dog
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05:06
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Saturday, December 11. 2010Bird du Jour: Hermit Thrush
They are the only Thrush which winters in North America (unless you count Robins, which are in the Thrush family). I am not being an internet hermit this season. We hit two very nice Christmas parties last night, another one tonight, and tomorrow we are taking my in-laws to a nice lunch and a show down in NYC. (Gwynnie always tells me I need to get out more, so I do.)
Posted by Bird Dog
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10:53
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Thursday, December 2. 2010The Greens co-opted the Environmental Conservation movementA quote from the good piece I linked this morning, Can environmentalism be saved from itself?
I agree with all that. Furthermore, we non-politically-driven conservation types usually did the work ourselves - without asking governments and powers to do it. We even bought machines to restore filled-in and drained marshes (and even helped to undo Saddam Hussein's destruction of Iraq's vast marshes, which he did to eliminate those too-independent Marsh Arabs who wanted to be left alone). For one example, Ducks Unlimited. Something like 12 million acres of wildlife habitat under protection now in the US, Canada (and some in Mexico), done with private donations. (59 million acres "influenced and conserved" - that includes things like farmlands operated in habitat-compatible ways supervised and assisted by DU). While warmist bureaucrats party in Cancun and try to figure out how to control the world, DU works to raise money and protect habitat from development and degradation every day. Maggie's Farm supports DU.
Posted by Bird Dog
in Natural History and Conservation, Our Essays, Politics
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13:10
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Saturday, November 20. 2010BabesiosisI have a pal who is in the hospital, being treated for a serious case of Babesiosis. I visited him at the hospital yesterday, and determined that he would survive because I was able to elicit a few laughs - but it can be a very nasty and life-threatening disease (or a mild and insignificant one). He was on two or three IV antibiotics, and a morphine pump for the headache. It's a bug like Malaria, and its vector is the tiny Deer Tick, same bugger as Lyme Disease. Dog ticks are annoying, but we woodsy and doggy people get those on us all the time. No big deal. Those Deer Ticks (actually, they are mouse ticks more than deer ticks) are the real problem for people who spend time outdoors. Not to make light of a serious topic, but I can't resist re-posting "I'd Like to Check You For Ticks." It's a guy song, but the gals seem eager for Brad to check them. It must be lots of fun to be a country star: Tuesday, November 16. 2010Quercus alba: The White OakThe grand White Oak of eastern North America. For the past 40 years, as farming has declined in the Northeast, it is not unusual to see one of these gnarly monsters among a woodland filled with younger trees. Sometimes in the midst of the stands of White Pines which often quickly fill abandoned pastures. The old White Oak is the sign that you are walking through an old cow pasture. Squint your eyes in the woods to eliminate all of the younger trees, and imagine dairy cattle chewing their cud in the shade of that old oak. This is Frederic Church's View Near Stockbridge, MA, 1847: I was good friends with one of these giants as a boy. Its lower branches reached almost to the ground, so that you could monkey up to 15' or 20' into the tree by going up those low limbs. Getting higher was difficult going - and slippery going from all of the moss growing on those big limbs. New England is filled with second-growth forests, not too much climax forest yet. It's difficult to realize now, but in the late 1800s there was hardly a tree standing in rural New England other than in farmers' woodlots - and sugarbush. My pic doesn't capture it, but this one has about a 5' diameter. We were hunting for Woodcock.
Posted by Bird Dog
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14:12
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Saturday, November 13. 2010Horace Kephart's classic book on woodcraftOur post this week about Grizzlies reminded me of Kephart's 1906 classic, Camping and Woodcraft: A Handbook for Vacation Campers and for Travelers in the Wilderness. It's very much in the Teddy Roosevelt vein, and I have no doubt that he read it. Thursday, November 11. 2010Rosalie Edge and Hawk MountainNew York aristocrat Rosalie Edge was a crank, a Suffragette, and an ardent conservationist. A bio of her came out last year: Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy: The Activist Who Saved Nature from the Conservationists. Among the many causes she took up, one was protection of raptors from the mass slaughter of her era. She bought Hawk Mountain in Eastern PA and created the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. A high point on the Eastern raptor migration flyway, Hawk Mountain had been a popular site for the slaughter of raptors by gunners who believed they were going some sort of good while having fun. Hawk Mountain is now a foundation engaged in conservation education programs. It remains an excellent viewing spot in fall migration season. (Photo from the Hawk Mtn website.)
Posted by Bird Dog
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15:52
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Wednesday, November 10. 2010Grizzly Bears: Kill 'em or tolerate 'em?
Nobody in the 1800s would go out playing in Griz Country without a firearm. Grizzlies are not predatory carnivores, but they are mainly opportunistic carnivores, meaning that, if they find a dead, injured, weak or newborn mammal, they will be happy to eat it. Their main foods are grasses, sedges, roots, berries, fish, ants and bugs, etc. They aren't hunters. Generally, Grizzlies try to stay away from people - unless the people are camping with bacon on the griddle or have other tasty food - bear bait - around the camp. In Yellowstone, there have been recent incidents of Griz maulings of people. Perhaps many visitors to Yellowstone have a romantic and edenic vision of nature. I have been in Griz Country, and I would never camp in it. I figure that, to a Griz, a human is not much different from a helpless newborn Moose or Elk. Furthermore, I'd be more comfortable either on a horse or well-armed - preferably both. Unlike this commenter, I do not think we should kill all the bears. I think we should simply teach people who want to explore wilderness to be prepared for it and to understand the risks. Woodcraft. Same thing with rattlesnake country. Same thing as mountain-climbing. People die. It's not Disneyland out there. Saturday, November 6. 2010In the woods and marshesThe right places to be in New England on a November weekend (preferably with gun and dog).
Thursday, October 28. 2010Not turkeysFrom a distance, I figured this was a flock of turkeys in an Ohio hayfield outside Mount Vernon last Saturday. Nope. Vultures. Since I could not see any red on their heads, and because of their apparent sociable habit, they might have been Black Vultures. Or Maybe Turkey Vultures assembling around a corpse. Did not have my binoculars. Not sure whether Black Vultures are regular in central Ohio.
Saturday, October 23. 2010"I have a fatal disease" says my Beech TreeI have a fatal disease in my large, probably 100 year-old Copper Beech tree. I have diagnosed it as Beech Bark Disease. I've seen the same bark disease on many old Copper Beeches recently - areas of shedding bark on the trunk and dying branches high overhead. It's a damn shame.
Posted by Bird Dog
in Gardens, Plants, etc., Natural History and Conservation, Our Essays
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11:25
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Saturday, October 16. 2010Bird of the Week: White Throated Sparrow
He'll be coming down from the breeding grounds in Canada around now, and will give us a chance to hear his familiar pleasant songs (the link has songs).
Posted by Bird Dog
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15:51
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Tuesday, October 5. 2010Raptor of the Week: American Kestrel, plus Dragonfly Migration
They are falcons, prey on insects, especially grasshoppers, small mammals, and small birds. Occasionally they can be seen in fields hunting from a hover but, more commonly, perched on the wires or branches from which they pounce. Because of their preference for open spaces, their numbers decline where agriculture gives way to woodland. Their Eastern US population is down, probably due to the decline of farming in the Northeast. They breed in nest holes, and move south from their northern ranges in the winter, making them "semi-migratory." Their autumn southerly movements have been correlated with dragonfly migrations. Kestrels are happy to catch dragonflies although I don't know how it is possible. I had no idea that dragonflies migrated, but some species do - all over the world. More about these fine birds here.
Posted by Bird Dog
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12:32
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Saturday, October 2. 2010Geology
I was recently reminded about John McPhee's Annals of This Former World. The book is a treat, but much better appreciated if you know basic Geo. (As my friends know, my kids are all given my list of what they are required to study in college - or as AP high school courses - if I am to pay for their education. Intro Geology is on my list. Maybe I should post my Dad's Required Courses one of these days. It might stimulate some fun discussion here. Being a Yankee, I am cheap and hate to waste money on transient nonsense du jour. One reason I love Columbia and the U of Chicago is because they dare have an opinion about what kids need to know from the wisdom of past generations.)
Posted by Bird Dog
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13:58
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Friday, October 1. 2010Flying with the fastest birdsFalconers have mini-cameras mounted on Peregrine Falcons in their wide-open habitats, and on Goshawks in their woodland habitats. h/t Never yet melted
Tuesday, September 28. 2010Eagle feeding stationNo idea where this was. (thanks, Buddy). We photographed a scene like this (but without the bird-feeding) driving down from Whistler to Vancouver some winters ago. Awesome. Even the non-birders in our skiing group were impressed. The eagles were like gulls. These greedy fish-eaters have no idea that they are symbols. Another pic below the fold
Continue reading "Eagle feeding station"
Posted by Bird Dog
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19:39
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Wednesday, September 22. 2010Oyster aquaculture
There is no way that one small harbor could support the nationwide demand for naturally-produced Wellfleet Oysters. As we sat on the deck watched the oystermen at work on their cages at low tide, we wondered where they buy the baby oysters. I found out how the whole system works (link has great photos). The laboratory-bred spat from the hatcheries are bought by nurseries, then they are sold to the watermen who do the "grow-out" of the seed oysters. It is quite remarkable. No wonder they aren't cheap. Photo on top: large scale commercial oyster grow-out in the southern US
Posted by Bird Dog
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18:14
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