The Haunting

The Common Grackle’s gregariousness has not made it popular with agricultural interests, since large flocks of blackbirds can cause extensive damage to crops. In addition, roosts in urban areas are messy, noisy, and potentially a source of disease. As a result, grackles are viewed as pests in some areas and subject to a variety of control measures, including hazing, spraying crops to make them distasteful, or – in some cases – killing the birds themselves.

Northern Cardinal

The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird.  One fascinating northern cardinal bird fact—mostly male birds do the singing, but this is one of the few species whose female sings. A pair of cardinals might even share song phrases, using them to communicate at nesting time. Female cardinals will sing back and forth to reinforce pair bonding early in the breeding season.

Diet

Mostly seeds, insects, berries. Diet is quite varied. Feeds on many insects, including beetles, true bugs, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, flies, and many others, also spiders, centipedes, and snails. Most of diet is vegetable matter, including seeds of weeds and grasses, waste grain, leaf buds, flowers, and many berries and wild fruits. Young are fed mostly insects.

     

Wild Turkeys on the Glen

According to MassWildlife, today there are between 31,000 and 35,000 of these birds across the state. In 1978, there were approximately 1,000 birds across the state.  the urban birds continue to flourish in New England. Now wildlife agencies across the region are tasked with managing both the Wild Turkeys and their human neighbors to make sure encounters don’t go awry. The answer, biologists say, is simple: “We just need to stop feeding them”


White-tailed deer

Our white-tailed deer in Massachusetts get their iconic name from the white underside of their tail, which they raise when alarmed.  Here on the east side of Taunton, down by the Glen, always plenty to see. It has been said, they are attracted to people who have inner peace within themselves and are guided by their highest truth.

The Moon was but a Chin of Gold

Harvest moon changes its hue as it rises in the sky over East Glen Drive, Taunton

 

The Moon was but a Chin of Gold
A Night or two ago –
And now she turns Her perfect Face
Upon the World below –

Her Forehead is of Amplest Blonde –
Her Cheek – a Beryl hewn –
Her Eye unto the Summer Dew
The likest I have known –

Her Lips of Amber never part –
But what must be the smile
Upon Her Friend she could confer
Were such Her Silver Will –

And what a privilege to be
But the remotest Star –
For Certainty She take Her Way
Beside Your Palace Door –

Her Bonnet is the Firmament –
The Universe – Her Shoe –
The Stars – the Trinkets at Her Belt –
Her Dimities – of Blue.

Head Turners

Praying Mantis

These insects get their name because they have very long front legs that they hold in a position that reminds people of praying.

Praying mantis is the only insect that has stereo-vision.

This means that the mantis can look at the same spot with both eyes, which lets it determine distances more accurately.  Some species have distinct body shapes that make the insects look like branches, flowers, or leaves. The most common praying mantis color is green, but it can range from brownish colors and tones to camouflage its body among its environment.

Below: Mantis on Basil plant

Below: On shrubs

Learn what is true in order to do what is right. Thomas Huxley

 

 

 

From East Glen to the Berkshires

Memorial Day Weekend, 2022 to June 5th

Hummingbirds are the only species of bird that can fly backward, and their closest relative are swifts!

6 Spices of hummingbirds in Massachusetts:

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Allen’s Hummingbird

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Calliope Hummingbird

 

The return of the Wild Turkey to New England is a marvelous success story. Once all but extinct from Massachusetts, this iconic bird can be found just about anywhere—woods, suburbs, and even cities.

Red Tail Hawk. This is the most widespread and familiar large hawk in North America, bulky and broad-winged, designed for effortless soaring. An inhabitant of open country, it is commonly seen perched on roadside poles or sailing over fields and woods. Although adults usually can be recognized by the trademark reddish-brown tail, the rest of their plumage can be quite variable, especially west of the Mississippi: Western Red-tails can range from blackish to rufous-brown to nearly white.
Probably an An Orchard Orb-Weaver. Unfortunately his web was at the nesting site of a sparrow.

an image of a milkweed pod. All parts of the plant contain toxic cardiac glycosides, which can cause nausea, diarrhea, weakness, and confusion in small amounts, and seizures, heart rhythm changes, respiratory paralysis, and even death in large amounts. Milkweed can also irritate the skin and eyes if touched.  Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed, the only host plant for this iconic butterfly species. Milkweed is critical for the survival of monarchs. Without it, they cannot complete their life cycle and their populations decline.