MORRISVILLE – Jakob was featured in the December 4 issue. A handsome dog, he was recently adopted over the holidays. Although still at puppy age, it took Jakob a month to be adopted, unlike some of the other dogs featured. One reason for this is that many people don’t want[Read More…]
Columns
Horned Larks Enliven Sleeping Fields
NEW ENGLAND – Halloween is long past, but you may notice devilish figures hanging out in scrubby fields and open areas this winter: horned larks. These birds are North America’s only true lark species. They reside year-round in parts of the Northeast, such as Vermont’s Champlain Valley, but disperse across[Read More…]
Bark Helps Trees Weather Winter
CHAMPLAIN VALLEY – When I think about winter survival, my mind first goes to wildlife: field mice curling up in nests, chickadees flocking to bird feeders, and amphibians burrowing into the mud. Rarely do I think about the adaptations of our northern species that can’t grow thicker fur, fluff up[Read More…]
Snow Showers, Seasonably Cool For Most of Week
HARDWICK – The holiday season panned out with enough cool air and moisture in place to bring our region a white Christmas. This was quickly followed by a warm airmass migrating in, removing a substantial part of the snowpack by New Year’s Eve, when the pattern shifted again to cooler[Read More…]
After Years of Obsessing
EAST MONTPELIER – One of the greatest cultural changes during my lifetime has been the democratization of air travel. In my early years it didn’t exist; travel itself was the privilege of the upper classes (a family opinion disapprovingly implicit, rather than expressed), and air travel unthought of. Even presidents[Read More…]
Bumblebee Photographed in Woodbury Yard is a New Species in Vermont.
WOODBURY – It took a photo, a drawing, a naturalist’s boundless curiosity, and bee experts from across the nation for Vermont to claim a new bumblebee species for the state last week. In 2008, artist and naturalist Susan Sawyer snapped a beautiful photo of a bumblebee in her yard. “I[Read More…]
Christmas Trees Can be Recycled
BURLINGTON – If the holiday includes a live, cut Christmas tree, many may wonder what to do with it after the festivities are over. Many towns, civic clubs and solid waste districts across Vermont now have disposal programs in place. Most offer curbside pick-up of spent trees so long as[Read More…]
Recent Canada Lynx Sightings a Result of Vermont Conservation
VERMONT – Six years had passed without a confirmed sighting of a Canada lynx in Vermont. That all changed August 17. Over the summer, several Rutland County residents spotted what the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department confirmed was a juvenile male Canada lynx. Since then, the department has confirmed more than 15[Read More…]
Year in Review: Flooding Again Tops Weather Events For 2024
HARDWICK – It’s Thursday, Dec. 12, as this weather summary for 2024 is given careful reflection for what will be memorable from this year of fluctuating conditions. Even the last 24 hours has demonstrated variability, as two and a half inches of rain ended with a few inches of snow.[Read More…]
The Thompsons Do the Right Thing
GREENSBORO BEND – Landon and Jen Thompson do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. The Thompsons own Smith’s Store in Greensboro Bend, where they adjust their schedules so one of them is there as often as possible. When she hears of community needs, Jen can’t help[Read More…]
Invasion of the Cockroaches
EAST MONTPELIER – There are certain phenomena you can count on here in northern New England. Most are pleasant, migrating birds, the first snow, the aroma of boiling maple sap. Some are not. I’ve kept track of my first black fly each spring: average date, May 5, and it’s downhill[Read More…]
Winter Pest Management in Apple Trees
BURLINGTON – The apple harvest is over, but there are still some important pest management practices to follow to ensure healthy trees in the spring. The pests we need to manage are not the little ones we typically see in the summer but are larger and fluffier and include rabbits,[Read More…]
