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Speaking of Nature: Stinky signs of spring: Skunk cabbage is eye candy after months of winter landscape
04-01-2025 12:33 PM

By BILL DANIELSON

March Madness is a term that has been assigned to the sport of college basketball. The idea is that a huge tournament creates a frenzied “madness” of athletic exuberance as different teams from across the country compete in a clash of collegiate contenders to see who will be crowned as champion. There are brackets, debates and wagers involved and everyone seems to have a good time.

Displaying articles 1 to 20 out of 159 total.
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PHOTO: Water and stone
03-31-2025 5:40 PM


PHOTOS: Waiting for waterfowl
03-26-2025 4:46 PM


Speaking of Nature: Survival of the cautious?: An argument for slowing down just a little bit
03-25-2025 12:46 PM

By BILL DANIELSON

The plan was simple. Make a quick stop at a geologic feature that would provide a real-world example of topics that were being discussed in my biology classes. The topic was evolution and I was specifically looking for an example of rock formations that were being reshaped by the elements. It really couldn’t be any more straightforward, right? Well, perhaps a little background would help.


Speaking of Nature: The bluebird of happiness: Finding solace in the birds at my feeders
03-18-2025 12:35 PM

By BILL DANIELSON

As I write this column I am feeling quite under the weather. The flu has come to town and it has me in its grip. I haven’t left the house in days and all I want to do is sleep. That being said, I am also stuck on “teacher time” and I can’t seem to sleep past 5 a.m. With the recent changing of the clocks this puts me in the unhappy position of being awake while it is still dark outside; annoying on a work day, positively miserable when not going to work.


Speaking of Nature: It’s enough already: Mallards bring signs of spring
03-11-2025 1:58 PM

By BILL DANIELSON

The first week of March came with a roller coaster of emotions. Saturday, March 1 was absolutely amazing. For the first time in months the weather seemed to be warming and there was a moment when I actually considered cleaning off the table on my deck and sitting outside in the sunshine. A large flock of red-winged blackbirds and common grackles arrived that morning and suddenly the yard was full of songs and the murmur of hundreds of birds talking about their plans for the day. It was joyous, it was refreshing, and it was short-lived.


Speaking of Nature: Opportunity taken: Omnivorous scavengers eat just about anything during the tough months of winter
03-04-2025 12:22 PM

By BILL DANIELSON

Last week I regaled you with a story about a red-tailed hawk. This bird kept showing up in my yard and forlornly staring out across my back yard in the hopes of finding something to eat. At the time, the problem was one of precipitation, or, rather, the precise combination of temperature and precipitation. Snow, followed by rain, followed by prolonged temperatures below freezing had resulted in a landscape that was covered by a thick shell of ice.


Back Porch Festival returns next weekend: Tribute to Neil Young, ‘Bluegrass Spectacular’ and Lucinda Williams will headline
02-28-2025 10:26 AM

By CAROLYN BROWN

The roots music festival Back Porch Festival, which takes place in downtown Northampton, will return for its 11th year from Friday, March 7, through Sunday, March 9, with more than 60 performers.


Speaking of Nature: The hawks are not happy: The snow and ice are creating a big problem for the big birds
02-25-2025 3:05 PM

By BILL DANIELSON

If there has been any theme to this winter it has been the cold. For the first time in years the temperatures have dropped below freezing and generally remained there for weeks on end. Back when I was a kid, my father used to make a skating rink in the back of our house where we would spend endless hours playing hockey. My father even put spotlights in the bedroom windows so that we could play outside at night. On particularly cold nights, my mother would insist that the faces of her children were slathered with copious amounts of Johnson’s baby cream so that we didn’t freeze solid. Those were the days.


PHOTO: Snowy surroundings
02-25-2025 10:58 AM


Greenfield ecologist to lead talk on supporting birds
02-22-2025 5:08 PM

GREENFIELD — Greening Greenfield’s next event in its series on supporting birds will take place Monday, Feb. 24, at 6:30 p.m. at the Second Congregational Church, located at 16 Court Square.


Speaking of Nature: A decade of waiting: Remembering my last visit from the Northern shrike
02-18-2025 12:06 PM

By BILL DANIELSON

The kitchen windows face due east. The narrow writing desk is as wide as the double windows and looks out at my deck. Ten feet away is the deck railing and a collection of different feeders. The Birch Perch is there and another five feet away there is a giant lilac bush that fills the yard with perfume in May. But this is wintertime and the only thing the yard is full of now is the hustle and bustle of hungry birds as they bicker with one another over food.


Planting to support birds: Ecologist maps out a plan at Greening Greenfield’s Supporting Birds in Our Community series
02-14-2025 11:27 AM

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

A crowd recently gathered at the Second Congregational Church to hear ecologist and educator Dr. Martha Gach describe how to support birds by growing and tending plants. Gach delivered a sobering update: the number of birds worldwide has decreased by 30% since 1970; nearly 3 billion birds died unnaturally in that time span.


Speaking of Nature: Signs of a lucky escape: L’il Stumpy’s tail of adventure
02-12-2025 8:13 PM

By BILL DANIELSON

I’ve been living in my house on the hill, my house above the meadow, for almost 20 years and ever since the day that I moved in I have been feeding the birds. It all started out small, as these things tend to do, and then the feeding program grew and became more elaborate. Today, I have a total of eight different feeders, of various types, that hang in highly curated positions around my deck. A lot of thought has gone into the collection and to this day there is always room for minor, but essential adjustments.


PHOTO: Icy waters
02-07-2025 11:54 PM


Speaking of Nature: A rare visit from our largest woodpecker: At long last, a Pileated Woodpecker came to explore my dead pines
02-04-2025 10:54 AM

By BILL DANIELSON

Last Friday morning I woke up with a splitting headache and bloody sinuses. Every muscle in my body ached and I was utterly exhausted even after a full night of sleep. I walked out to check on the wood stove, then sat down and contemplated my next move. The threat of inclement weather and my general physical state combined to convince me that going to work was not an option. So I filled out the paperwork for a sick day and then went back to bed.


PHOTO: Sticking out in the snow
01-30-2025 5:46 PM


PHOTO: Snow fowl
01-29-2025 3:53 PM


Speaking of Nature: A spa for snakes: Finding signs of garter snakes and their skins in my woodpile
01-28-2025 1:34 PM

By BILL DANIELSON

It was a Sunday and a big storm was on the way. The morning was fairly calm, but clouds had moved in and there wasn’t much time before the snow started to fall. In a perfect world I could have simply kicked off my shoes and settled in for a quiet winter morning, but we don’t live in a perfect world. Instead, we live in a world that requires firewood to be moved from time to time, and, like it or not, it was time.


PHOTO: Wings spread wide
01-24-2025 4:32 PM


Speaking of Nature: Reflected in a blue jay’s eye: A curious opportunity to try something a little artsy
01-21-2025 9:56 AM

By BILL DANIELSON

Anyone who has ever dabbled in the art of photography will understand that you find yourself at the mercy of your environment. Of course, I am speaking of outdoor photography in this case. Studio photography is an entirely different organism because in that particular endeavor the art lies in manufacturing an environment. If you are outdoors, however, you have to find ways to make due with what you’ve got on any particular day.

Displaying articles 1 to 20 out of 159 total.
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