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We think that someone’s cat killed the bluebird family early this spring. A pair of bluebirds overwintered in one of our nesting boxes, enduring cold and surviving on berries and suet until spring. Staking their claim in the off season appeared to give them a head start and competitive advantage.
Tilly Strauss had the foresight to order her baby chicks ahead of time. They arrived by mail a week or so ago and are now getting stronger in a little box in her living room. Photo by Tilly Strauss
This week’s Nature’s Notebook column includes information and observations from several area nature experts.
Ramps are here!
Jody Bronson, Forest Manager for the Great Mountain Forest in Norfolk and Falls Village, suggests that, “Foraging for ramps is a great spring tonic.
Pricked into the border of the 230-foot-long Bayeaux Tapestry, right before the coronation of the English King Harold and above the upturned heads and pointing arms of his retainers, is the Latin inscription “Isti Mirant Stella” (“These men wonder at the star”) and the unmistakable image of a blazing comet.
Migratory waterfowl are returning to the Northwest Corner, a herald of the arrival of spring weather. Look for wood ducks, such as this lone male. Photo by Michael Moschen
Previews of spring have been unveiling themselves through the steady arrival of migratory waterfowl species, particularly ducks, that are moving northward toward Canada and Alaska to breed.
This week’s Nature’s Notebook was compiled from contributions from several nature experts. Look for a report on the return of waterfowl, from Sharon Audubon, in our issue of April 2.
Great Mountain Forest
Jody Bronson, forest manager for the Great Mountain Forest in Norfolk and Falls Village says:
The first warm rainy night came early this year, and with it the first amphibians. There were wood frogs and spring peepers out on March 4, nearly a week earlier than the earliest I have ever seen them emerge in this region.
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