Join Sarah Gladu to learn how to feed and house bluebirds. Sarah will talk about characteristics specific to bluebirds, such as their family life and eating habits, and let you know how to ensure the houses you provide are both attractive to bluebirds and secure from predators. She will also share resources for purchasing bluebird houses, kits, poles and predator guards.
Skunk cabbage is most noticeable in early spring when its tropical-looking leaves expand in stream-beds and ditches throughout the northeast. These water-loving plants will grow in muddy bogs, swamps, wet woodlands and streambeds. They prefer shade and wet soils, though they cannot tolerate having their roots wet for prolonged periods.
In the month of the Lion and the Lamb, flying, blustery days, one after another, go winging past, spinning on the skirts of arctic highs between the shivering damps of grey coastal lows. “I say,” says a friend one day, “I think I heard a red wing, but can’t be sure. Seems a little early.”
All the signs come to me – teasing glimpses of light and warmth, of (…)
How do you tell a fisher from an otter by its footprints? Learn the finer points of tracking Maine wildlife in this online program with naturalist Sarah Gladu.
Sarah shares photos of tracks and signs and discusses the animals who left them, from birds to weasels.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the harvest operation at Dodge Point Public Land in Newcastle, Maine. Hear about the goals, scope and status of the current project, and get some background on the Dodge Point property, formerly the award-winning Freeman Tree Farm. Forester Stephen Richardson explains how BPL is managing the stand for forest health, wildlife, and recreation, and answers participants’ questions about the expected short and long-term impacts of the harvest.
It was the kind of day when icicles don’t drip, cold and grey, with a stiff wind out of the north. The thermometer stood at zero. It was that sort of weather when warmth and comfort couldn’t be taken for granted, and the woodpile shrank by the hour. No birds came to the feeder; they were holed up. I noticed a nuthatch peering out of a birdhouse out behind the shop. (…)
Join Sarah for a walk at Walpole Woods in South Bristol. This upland forest habitat provides wonderful cover and food for all sorts of animals and birds. See tracks left by jumping mice, red and gray squirrel, snowshoe hare, ruffed grouse, fox and more. Sarah also points out interesting plants, trees and other features she encounters along the way.
In this online program, Research Ecologist, Conservation Planner, and Coastal Rivers trustee Peter McKinley takes a look at how the ecology of the Damariscotta-Pemaquid region ties in to other regions, including the boreal forest. He shares how individual property owners, no matter how large or small the property, can contribute to the larger landscape of wildlife conservation in this region.
Winterberry shrubs are easy to spot in Maine this time of year, when its red berries are often the only bright color on the landscape. Look for it in roadside ditches, in and around wetlands, and in soggy spots in the woods. From March to October this shrub is cloaked with dark, glossy, oval leaves, but in the winter the red berries stand out and draw us to take a closer look.
It was a clear, crisp January afternoon, cold, and the woods and fields were filled up with snow that had a hard, glazed crust and glinted in the lowering sun. Two young boys sat stiffly in the backseat of a station wagon, bundled up to their eyes in snowsuits and boots and knitted mittens, itchy flannel scarves, like tourniquets, around their necks and faces, and each had on a red woolen hat with a tassel on top.
“All right boys,” said the mother behind the wheel, slowing the car (…)
