Just as I began my back cast, out of the corner of my eye I caught movement along the shoreline. Letting my rod dip back toward the water I waited to see what creature was poking around in the understory among the large boulders. Suddenly out popped a head with a curious look on its… Read more
When I looked across the river and saw my friend’s fly rod bent nearly double, I called out to him, “Wow, that looks like a good fish!” With a dejected look on his face, my pal replied, “Naw, it’s just a sucker.” You may be tougher than I am, but after suffering way too many… Read more
Every season of the year offers special times, unique experiences, and lasting memories. Following mud season, we all look forward to getting outside for fresh air, green grass, and early flowers like the crocus and hyacinth. This is a time of reawakening for the Earth and all her creatures. It can also be a time… Read more
“What’s the big deal, Ed?” asked Thad, “It’s just an old swamp.” To be fair, Thad is not as thick-headed as he sounded, and I knew he was baiting me. Rather than snap at him I said quietly, “That ‘swamp’ is a salt marsh and some of the best wildlife habitat in our state.” We… Read more
Lately I have been chasing vagrants. My quest has been specific to birds, including some species that are exceedingly rare for this region. In recent months Maine’s birding community has been flush with opportunities to view creatures that would normally involve long distance travel in building a life list. We should start with a definition… Read more
Someone asked me once if I feared running out of topics for these monthly columns. Hah! There is no chance of that! There is such diversity in the natural world, and so many potential story ideas piled up on the desk that my ashes will be pushing up lupines before the backlog is cleared. The… Read more
One definition for the word dormant is being “temporarily in abeyance yet capable of being activated.” That describes how I feel after a hard day of cutting, splitting and stacking firewood followed by a long snooze. It takes the old noggin a few minutes to get up to speed for polite conversation with my long-suffering spouse…. Read more
How things have changed! When I was young, mankind was still of the mindset that the natural world existed mostly for our pleasure and exploitation, and we were hell bent upon control of everything around us. Our chemical industries were hard at work inventing new products to kill every possible irritating insect and we were… Read more
“So, what is that, Scott, 75?” “More like 95, Ed, you missed a few while you were looking for that northern harrier over the marsh!” The location was Mutton Hunk Fen Natural Area Preserve on the Delmarva Peninsula in Virginia, on an October morning perfect for a long walk with binoculars in hand. It is… Read more
Just when it is safe to go outdoors without fear of brown-tailed moth caterpillars or disease-bearing mosquitos, along comes more bad news. While this new pest will not harm you directly, it damages the environment around you, and if you are a gardener there is no joy in this article. Even worse, this pest is… Read more