Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

There are a lot of interesting things people have chosen to write about in this world. Some focus on the politics and problems of the world at large, while others write about their pet hobbies and ideas. I have chosen to write about an obsession of mine which is as large and varied as the world it encompasses. Those of you that visit regularly (despite the slow updates) know that the subject this blog covers is all things nature.  But why nature?  It seems like a simple question, but really it can be answered in so many ways. I will never know what precisely perked my interest in nature to start with. Maybe it was the day I watched a blackbird play over the garden hedge in Wales as a young boy, or the first time I ran terrified from my fishing rod when I caught my first ever Bluegill ( Lepomis macrochirus ). Perhaps it was the first time I canoed with my family down the Sudbury River taking in the smell of the water, the Red-winged Blackbirds ( Agelaius phoenicus ...

This Saturday past, I participated in my very first Christmas Bird Count with my girlfriend Alison, and was excited to get many photos of some of the birds we spied. Our first stop was to a local woman's farm in Dartmouth. We helped out by covering ground that had yet to be covered by the owners, a mother and son team with a tenacity for birding and listing. Mystery moss growing on many of the trees above. I would like to know what it might be... A late female Eastern Towhee ( Pipilo erythrothalmus ) hiding out in some briars near some old farming equipment. Milkweed ( Asclepias spp. ) was a common sight throughout the property. Their importance is paramount not only in healthy meadow ecology, but also to that of the Monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus ). Despite looking wet, this Woolly Bear Caterpillar ( Pyrrharctica isabella ) might yet survive to become a moth in the spring. As prevalent as another bird with "house" in its name, these western finc...