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A Look at the Season’s Main Events
Virginia Barlow
First Week of December
Chipping sparrows have big appetites: each one will eat 160 times its weight in seeds over the course of a winter.
The delicate fronds of the small fern called maidenhair spleenwort are still green and still clinging to rocks.
Once they find suet hanging by the birdfeeder, hairy and downy woodpeckers will come back to it again and again.
Snowy owls occasionally visit this region. These beautiful daytime hunters often perch on fence posts and low branches.
Second Week of December
December 13-14: Geminids meteor shower peaks. One of the best and brightest, it might be a good show despite a nearly full moon.
December 14: The last of 2016’s three super moons, when the moon is both full and closest to Earth.
Sweet cicely sprouts new leaves in autumn. They stay green all winter, ready to enlarge quickly in spring before tree leaves intercept the light.
Screech owl pairs are conserving heat by roosting in tree cavities during the day.
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Dave Mance III
A deer hunter pushes open the door and enters a warm, slow camp. The woodstove pings pleasantly as it accommodates a fresh charge of wood. Wet clothes hung above it shutter slightly in the heat’s convection. A venison roast, smothered in broth and onions, simmers on an antique range…
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We’re on the hunt for November 2016 photos for our next Reader Photo Gallery. We encourage you to share images about anything that relates to the Northeast’s forests, and that you take this month. Here are examples – but by no means an exclusive list – of photo topics that fit this category: nature, weather, education activities (any age), forest management/logging, recreation, wood manufacture, art, workshops, events. As long as it relates in some way to the Northeast’s forests, we’ll consider it.
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Susan C. Morse
The ability to detect the passage of the most elusive wild animals without relying on fresh tracks is a skill that amazes novices. They sometimes assume that such a tracker, like a legendary Native American scout, must possess magical powers. What’s really needed, though, is keen observation of specific wildlife habitat features, an understanding of animal behavior, and the experience to anticipate where animal sign will most likely be found…
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Declan McCabe
Recently, my daughter participated in Odyssey of the Mind, a creative problem solving competition devoted to ingenuity and team work. As an entomologist, I was thrilled to learn that the program calls its highest award the Ranatra fusca. Not only was the award named for an insect, but an aquatic insect, and a particularly fascinating one to boot…
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Elise Tillinghast
Tamarack is a tree with a number of aliases – hackmatack, eastern larch, or if you’re from northern Maine and feeling contrary, juniper. Whatever you call it, this scraggly tree, easy to overlook for most of the year, lights up the November forest. Weeks after leaf season has passed us by, the tamarack turns brilliant yellow and then orange…
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Dana Hillesland sent us these photos she took in northwestern New Hampshire in October. We want to know: What in the Water is That?
Every other week we run a photo of something unusual found in the woods. Guess what it is and you’ll be eligible to win one of our Season’s Main Events Day Calendars. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner’s name, will appear in our next e-newsletter.
This week’s contest deadline is 8:00 AM, Wednesday, December 7, 2016.
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Congratulations to our winner Kyle Hunter! Kyle receives a Season’s Main Events Day Calendar.
What are we looking at here?
NW Answer:
An oak apple gall. Here’s a photo of the inside of the gall, and some more information about them.
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The 2017 Northern Woodlands Conference will return to the Hulbert Outdoor Center from October 20 to the 22nd for our annual weekend celebration of the natural history of our region and the interactions of people and place. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for details!
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Our cup runneth over. Actually, our inbox spilleth over. Either way, we have a lot of interesting news stories that cross our desks. Here were some of our favorites:
NATURE
Breaking news: Tech giant Apple and The Conservation Fund team up to donate a 32,000-acre easement in Maine. Ancient history: A mammoth discovery in Michigan may shed light on when the earliest humans lived in the Americas, and drilling into the Chicxulub crater tells scientists more about the asteroid impact that wiped out dinosaurs. It’s dry out there: The southeastern U.S. is experiencing major wildfires, and there are more than 100 million dead trees in California. Scientists are learning more about the ricochet effects of large forest die-offs. A look at how solar systems begin. The year isn’t over yet, but here’s a look at the most important science stories of 2016, and the wackiest.
INDUSTRY
Sprucing up the wood products industry in Maine, a wood pellet heating system manufacturer expands to Massachusetts, switching to biomass heat at the Adirondack Park Agency headquarters and other state offices in New York, and the importance of local, low-grade wood in Vermont. The U.S. Forest Service has grants available and is looking for wood products and wood energy innovations. Amazing but true: a 94-year-old lumberjack who’s still cutting firewood, and airline flights that are powered by logging slash.
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The Center for Northern Woodlands Education (Northern Woodlands) is seeking an Assistant Executive Director. This is a new position reporting to the Executive Director and working closely with her on a day-to-day basis. We’re looking for someone who is highly organized, self-directed, and enjoys working in a creative, collaborative environment.
For a full job description and information on how to apply, click here.
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The perfect gift for everyone on your list can be found in our shop. Use special Customer Code BLACKFRIDAY to enjoy 15% off your entire purchase.
Domestic orders only. Shop items only; subscriptions not included. Offer ends 11/27/2016
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