Flower “Beds” for Bumble Bees

Flower “Beds” for Bumble Bees

After a busy summer season many of us find sweet relief in the fall. The chilly air and the early evenings invite us all to slow down. Have you noticed the bumble bees slowing down as well?

In dawn and dusk the last couple of weeks, you might have observed bumble bees sleeping on your flowers…

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Wise Oaks, Clever Jays

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Wise Oaks, Clever Jays

It's another big acorn year, and many oak trees have dropped their acorns relatively early - presumably because they are stressed from the drought, and can’t afford the resources needed to grow their seeds to maturity. Meanwhile, small flocks of blue jays (often family groups) are moving through hardwood forests - busily collecting and caching these synchronized seeds.

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Goldenrods: Top Plants for Boosting Biodiversity

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Goldenrods: Top Plants for Boosting Biodiversity

The land is awash with sprays of amber, lemon, and yellow from the wild goldenrods that proliferate in meadows, roadsides, forest edges, and vacant lots this time of year. These misunderstood, underappreciated, and spectacularly diverse plants have been lumped into the common category of "goldenrod" and unfairly blamed for hay fever.

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Gentle Golden Wasps Adorned with Pollen

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Gentle Golden Wasps Adorned with Pollen

Despite my education, and the ecological role that I know they play, I have been pretty wary of wasps throughout my lifetime. It's a visceral thing. I respected their place in the food web, but I didn't lean in to study them. That is until I laid eyes on the star of this Phenology Note: the Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus). They have won me over!

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Water for Wildlife - Birdbath Basics & More

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Water for Wildlife - Birdbath Basics & More

Providing water can be something as simple as re-purposing a garbage can lid to building an elaborate wildlife pond. Assess your landscape needs, budget and resources (time and money) and take the next step providing water for wildlife today – at any scale.

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Fruits of the Forest

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Fruits of the Forest

In this week's Phenology Note, the focus is on three common (but often overlooked) woody plants that provide important nutrition for wildlife. Do you have these fruits ripening in your woods? Will you take the time to look for them, and to lean in to the lessons they have to teach us?

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Attracting Bluebirds without Boxes

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Attracting Bluebirds without Boxes

I’m delighted to report that we might finally have bluebirds nesting in our home habitat. We’ve lived here in Poland Spring for over a decade, and have never put up a nest box…

Wild Reads: We Took to The Woods

Wild Reads: We Took to The Woods

Our first book in the series is: We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich. This lovely memoir of life in a remote backcountry settlement in the Rangeley, Maine area is absolutely charming. The book was published in 1942, and I read it in 1999. It resonated with my roots as a multi-generational Mainer, and a woman of the woods.