Hobblebush succeeds well at growing in deep shade by developing leaves before its neighboring trees leaf out. This allows them access to the suns rays for two to four weeks before the over-story leaves have fully expanded.

This eastern North America native has developed a number of interesting adaptaions that enable it to not merely survive, but to florish in the cold and shade. It has an antifreeze in its leaves that reduces the freezing point to 23℉ (-5℃)., enabbling the growing plant to withstand temperatures that would damage most other plants.  At night, hobblebush maintains a low respiration rate compared to other plants using less energy. And the showy flowers in the outer ring are sterile while the small greenish flowers of the inner cluster are fertile. This enables the plant to produce flowers that are attractive to pollinators while using less energy.

The flowers are 3 inches or more across, followed by fruits that change in color from red to dark purple in late summer. The flowers provide nectar and the leaves provide food for the Celastrina ladon (Spring Azure) butterfly and ite caterpillar. The fruits, leaves and twigs of this beautiful Viburnum are food for a large number of birds and mammals. In fact, one of its other common names is Moosewood. The heart-shaped opposite leaves, up to 8 inches long, act as large solar collectors in the dark understory.

For more on this interesting native shrubs read this Northern Woodlands article.

And for more photos on this rather extrordinary native plant and its survival mechanisims read this blog 'Hiking with Chuck'

Vernal Witch-hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) is the first shrub at Distant Hill Gardens to flower every year. The buds, which soon will become fragrant yellow flowers, are just beginning to open on this, the first full day of spring. Finally, life returns to the gardens after a long snowy winter.

• Height: 6-10' 
• Spread: 10-15' 
• Habit/Form: Rounded to upright  
• Zone: 4-8 
• Birds Attracted: Robin, junco, titmouse, cardinal, and many others
• Plant Appeal for Birds: Seeds released in September-October

According to Katey Walter Anthony in her Scientific American article

'Arctic Climate Threat -- Methane from Thawing Permafrost' :

"Arctic permafrost is already thawing, creating lakes that emit methane. The heat-trapping gas could dramatically accelerate global warming. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, packing 25 times more heating power, molecule for molecule, than carbon dioxide. If the permafrost thaws rapidly because of global warming worldwide, the planet could get hotter more quickly than most models now predict."

As more melting taking place, more methane is released, which causes more melting! A perfect example of a 'Catch 22' 

• Simple metamorphosis:  Grasshoppers, along with dragonflies and many other insects, go through simple metamorphosis. This is a 3 stage process: Egg to Nymph to Adult. The young nymphs usually look much like small wingless adults. The wings develop externally. 

Here is a partial list of insects that use simple metamorphosis.

• Complex metamorphosis: Butterflies and moths undergo complex metamorphosis, in which there are 4 distinct stages: Egg to Larva to Pupa to Adult. With Complex metamorphosis, the immature insects and the adults have different forms, often live in different habitats, and may have very different behavior. 

Tussock moths Caterpillars are all members of the insect family  Lymantriidae . The common name is derived from the hair tufts, or tussocks, found on most larval forms. The large larvae, or caterpillars, are hairy with many species having stinging hairs. Most feed on foliage of trees and shrubs. Some Lymantriidae caterpillars, such as the Gypsy Moth, are considered major forest pests. There are about 350 known genera and over 2,500 known species of Tussock Moths found all over the world, in every continent except Antarctica.

• Brown-tail, Euproctis chrysorrhoea
• Yellow-tail, Euproctis similis
• Gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar
• Nun Moth, Lymantria monacha
• Pale tussock moth, Calliteara pudibunda
• Pine tussock moth, Dasychira plagiata
• Arctic woollybear moth, Gynaephora groenlandica
• Rusty tussock moth or Vapourer, Orgyia antiqua
• Western tussock moth, Orgyia vetusta
• White-marked tussock moth, Orgyia leucostigma
• Douglas-fir tussock moth, Orgyia pseudostugata
• Satin moth, Leucoma salicis
• Coca moth, Eloria noyesi
• Painted apple moth, Teia anartoides

Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. They can be found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere. They are an important commercial crop in Canada and the United States.

The Health Effects of Cranberries are many. Cranberries and cranberry juice have been found to help prevent urinary tract infections. They also have been shown to have anti-cancer properties.  The cancer-preventive benefits of cranberries are known to extend to cancers of the breast, colon, lung, and prostate.

Large Cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon (syn Oxycoccus macrocarpus), is the species shown here and the one grown commercially.

Small Cranberry, Vaccinium oxycoccosis, is quite similar to the large variety. Both are native to the northeastern United States and Canada.

Identifing Features the Two Species

• The size of their fruit: A quarter to half inch long (.635 - 1.25 cm) on Small Cranberry, and a half to one inch (1.25 - 2.5 cm) on Large Cranberry.
• The leaf edges: Generally rolled under on Small Cranberry and flat on the Large Cranberry.       

Pokeweed is yet another plant or fungi growing at Distant Hill that are known to have medicinal qualities. Others I have posted photos and info about include:

• Lungwort (Pulmonaria saccharata) 
• Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris syn. Anemone pulsatilla)
• Dwarf Ginseng (Panax trifolius)
• Hemlock Varnish Shelf Mushroom (Ganoderma tsugae)
• Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)

New Hampshire offers excellent opportunities for hunting wild turkey. This is possible today only because turkeys have made an amazing comeback in New Hampshire. By 1854, the birds had completely 

disappeared in the state because of habitat loss and market and subsistence hunting. Restoration efforts began in 1975, when Fish and Game released 25 wild turkeys in New Hampshire; careful management based on good science has allowed that initial introduction to grow to more than 40,000 birds today.

In the past few weeks we have had numerous red fox, a fisher, a black bear,  a raccoon family,  and an opossum visit us, along with dozens of gray squirrels. To view all of the trail photos taken at Distant Hill, with links to information on each animal, go to my Trail Camera set on Flickr.

Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), are shown here growing on a dying sugar maple at Distant Hill Gardens. They are one of the easiest edible mushrooms to identify. Often found growing in large numbers, it usually doesn't take long to collect enough for a meal or two. In this case, I shared half of the find with a friend and still had enough to freeze for later.

Their name comes from the fact that they resemble oysters in looks, and some say in flavor. According to Wikipedia, the genus Pleurotus is one of the most commonly cultivated edible mushrooms in the world.

To learn about the Nesting Box War go to an earlier blog 'Bluebird vs Tree Swallow' 

The USDA lists it as threatened or endangered in several states.

The Common names below are from state lists. Click on a state name to get a complete protected plant list for that state.

The Folded-wing Skippers are not very colorful, so they are often overlooked in the garden. But they are an interesting insect because of their unique and characteristic posture: they hold their wings partially open while resting, with the front wings and hind wings held at different angles.. All members of this group feed on grasses or grassy-like plants, like sedges and rushes, as caterpillars. Because of this fact, they are often called Grass Skippers.

Folded-winged Skippers, also called Banded Skippers,  are butterflies of the family Hesperiidae. There are over 2000 species of Folded-winged Skippers, and 1500 other species in the Skipper family. They are found worldwide.

Working with ‘Monarch Watch’ in 2003, I tagged a butterfly that was found six months later in El Rosario, Mexico, part of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. This is the area where the majority of the Monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains migrate to for the winter; an estimated 60 million to 1 billion butterflies every year. That small butterfly from New Hampshire had flown 2288 miles!

Have you ever noticed that some Dragonflies point their tails up into the air at times, and wondered why? Well, a number of scientists have given it some thought, and have designed some experiments to answer the question. The research points to dragonflies attempting to cool off.

It has been dubbed "The obelisk posture" and has been observed in about 30 species of Dragonflies and Damselflies. A few species lower their tails instead of raising them, but for the same purpose - to keep cool.

A FOUR-SPOTTED SKIMMER

This beautiful dragonfly is found around the world in the northern hemisphere.  It is known as the Four-Spotted Skimmer (Libellula quadrimaculata) in North America, and as the Four-Spotted Chaser in Europe and Japan. 

Question: What is the state insect of Alaska?...

 You guessed correctly... the Four-Spotted Skimmer.

• Some 5680 different species of dragonflies are known in the world today.
• Dragonflies are valuable predators that eat mosquitoes, and other small insects.
• Dragonflies are some of the fastest insects in the world. In general, large dragonflies have a maximum speed of 10–15 metres per second (22–34 mph).
• In some parts of the world dragonflies are a food source, eaten either as adults or larvae. 
• In the United States Dragonflies and Damselflies are sought out as a hobby similar to birding and butterflying, known as oding, from the dragonfly's Latin species name, odonata. Oding is especially popular in Texas, where 225 different species of odonates have been observed.

The Northern Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) - formerly Hyla crucifer, commonly called a "Pinkletink" in Martha's Vineyard, is a small tree frog only about an inch (2.5 cm) long. The Peeper is distinguished by the dark cross forming an often incomplete X shaped mark on its back. This X is the origin of the species name crucifer, meaning “one who bears a cross” in Latin.

Spring Peepers are rarely seen. But starting in mid to late March at Distant Hill Gardens, usually before the ice is out of the ponds, they are always heard. They are one of the first signs of spring here in New England.

Spring Peepers have large "vocal sacs" under their chins. They pump these sacs full of air until they look like a full balloon, then let out a mighty "peep" while discharging the air. The easiest way to see calling Peepers is to look for their shiny vocal sacs, which look like 25-cent pieces, inflating and deflating as they call. Only males emit the loud peeping call, which establishes a territory and attracts females. On warm spring evenings, the concentrations of calling "Pinkletinks" around ponds and wetlands can be incredibly loud.  

Bobwhites are classified as 'Near Threatened' by The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™  because of loss of habitat and over hunting. They are found in early successional vegetation in a variety of habitats, often created by disturbances from fire, agriculture and timber-harvesting. Maintaining tree canopy cover at less than 50% to develop open, parklike conditions is essential. It has been estimated that over 20,000,000 individuals are being killed annually by hunters in the United States.

Hemlock Varnish Shelf mushrooms, Ganoderma tsugae, grow on dead or dying Hemlock trees. There are four species of Hemlock occurring in North America. At Distant Hill Gardens you will only find the Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis.  

The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shatin, Hong Kong, conductrd a scientific study in 2006 and found that extracts of the Hemlock Varnish Shelf, along with extracts from both Ganoderma lucidum and Ganoderma sinense supress breast cancer tumors.  In a  2008 scientific study, conducted by Taipei Medical University in Taipei, Taiwan, extract from Ganoderma tsugae, the Hemlock Varnish Shelf mushroom, was found to inhibit colorectal cancer cell growth.

This pair of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) visited the swimming pond at Distant Hill Gardens in the early morning. Because of the low light, I had to use a very high ISO "film" speed. This makes them look more like paintings than photos. Beautiful, none the less.

• Natural cavities for nesting are scarce, and the Wood Duck readily uses nest boxes provided for it. If nest boxes are placed too close together, many females lay eggs in the nests of other females.
• The Wood Duck nests in trees near water, sometimes directly over water, but other times up to 2 km (1.2 mi) away. After hatching, the ducklings jump down from the nest tree and make their way to water. The mother calls them to her, but does not help them in any way. The ducklings may jump from heights of up to 89 m (290 ft) without injury.
• The Wood Duck is a popular game bird, and is second only to the Mallard in numbers shot each year in the United States.
• Wood Ducks pair up in January, and most birds arriving at the breeding grounds in the spring are already paired. The Wood Duck is the only North American duck that regularly produces two broods in one year.

The above facts are thanks to allaboutbirds.org

• It is illegal to pick and/or transplant trilliums from public lands without a permit in Michigan, Minnesota and New York.
• Trillium is one of many plants whose seeds are spread by ants. Trillium seeds have a fleshy organ called an elaiosome that attracts ants. The ants take the seeds to their nest, eat the elaiosomes, and put the seeds in their garbage where they germinate.
• The above ground parts of Trilliums are scapes with three large, leaf-like bracts. The true leaves are technically the underground papery coverings around the rhizomes.
• Trillium erectum is also known as Stinking Benjamin because the flowers have the smell of rotting meat, which attracts flies as pollinators.

It is worth noting that Painted Trillium, which needs acidic soils to thrive, grows only on the twenty-one acres of land at Distant Hill Gardens in the town of Alstead. Both Red Trillium and Dwarf Ginseng, liking a richer soil, are found almost exclusively on the thirty-seven acres of Walpole land. Is it just that the soils are different from one town to the other? I think not.   

The Alstead property has been virtually untouched by humans for at least the past 100 years. The Walpole property's forest was managed for timber and maple syrup since it first became a farm in 1790. The vegetation found on either side of the town line is like night and day. Everything we humans do, or don't do, to the land has a profound effect upon what will grow there and the health of the forest. Doing nothing is sometimes not the best course of action. In this case, the biodiversity of the property has been increased because of the difference in human interaction with these two adjacent parcels of land.

• Although it can climb up the trunks of trees and hammer on wood like other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker prefers to find food on the ground. Ants are its main food, and the flicker digs in the dirt to find them. It uses its long barbed tongue to lap up the ants.
• The red-shafted and yellow-shafted forms of the Northern Flicker formerly were considered different species. The two forms hybridize extensively in a wide zone from Alaska to the panhandle of Texas. A hybrid often has some traits from each of the two forms and some traits that are intermediate between them. The Red-shafted Flicker also hybridizes with the Gilded Flicker, but less frequently.
• The Northern Flicker is one of the few North American woodpeckers that is strongly migratory. Flickers in the northern parts of their range move south for the winter, although a few individuals often stay rather far north.

The above facts are thanks to allaboutbirds.org

Pulsatilla vulgaris is an early blooming perennial at Distant Hill Gardens. One of its common names is Pasque flower. However, Pasque flower is also the common name for a number of other species of plant of the genus Pulsatilla. Proof that using the common name for a plant can be quite misleading. To add to the difficulty, the genus Pulsatilla is sometimes considered a subgenus under the genus Anemone. Pulsatilla vulgaris is synonymous with Anemone pulsatilla. Even the Latin names can be misleading. I think those who name plants go out of their way to make it complicated! 

Pulsatillas are highly toxic, and produce cardiogenic toxins and oxytoxins which slow the heart in humans. The herb is harmful if eaten fresh and only the dried plant should be used medicinally. The anemonin compound in Pulsatilla is a powerful irritant, and overdoses cause violent gastroenteritis, vomiting, looseness of the bowels, convulsions and even coma. Even so, some Native Americans have used Anemone pulsatilla as a medicine for centuries. They used it to induce abortions and childbirth, among other things.

In researching my blog posts about the various plants at Distant Hill Gardens, I have discovered just how many plants have proven (and some unproven) medicinal qualities. According to the 'US Forest Service Celebrating Wildflowers' webpage on Medicinal Botany, a full 40 percent of the drugs behind the pharmacist’s counter in the Western world are derived from plants that people have used for centuries, including the top 20 best selling prescription drugs in the United States today. Here is a link to a Wikipedia list of Medicinal plants, many of which grow at Distant Hill Gardens. 

Chipping Sparrows love our Christmas tree plantation at Distant Hill Gardens. A number of the birds call the conifers home for the spring and summer months. We always find a few nests in the twenty or so trees we cut to give to friends each Holiday season.

Chipping Sparrows seem to gravitate toward evergreens. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website allaboutbirds.org states that:"Chipping Sparrows... sing from the tops of small trees (often evergreens).  When singing, they cling to high outer limbs." We can vouch for that.

Here is a handy list excerpted from 'The Cook's Thesaurus' showing which varieties work best for the many different cooking methods possible:

Best for baking:   russet potato

Best for potato salads: Yellow Finn potato, new potato, red-skinned potato, white round potato, and purple potato 

Best for mashing:   russet potato, Yukon gold potato, Caribe potato, and purple potato 

Best for soups and chowders:   Yukon gold potato, Yellow Finn potato, red-skinned potato, white round potato, and purple potato 

Best for pan-frying:  red-skinned potatoes, white round potatoes, new potatoes, and fingerling potatoes

Best for French fries:   russet potato, purple potato, Bintje potato

Best for purees:  fingerling potatoes

Best for roasting:   new potatoes, Bintje potatoes (and IMO fingerlings)

Best for steaming:  new potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes

Best for potato pancakes:   russet potato, Yukon Gold potato

•  The word Dandelion comes from the French name for the plant dents de lion. This means teeth of the lion and refers to the jagged edges of the leaf of the plant.
• The other French name for this plant is pis-en-lit, in English this means wet the bed. Dandelions deserve this name because their greens, when eaten, remove water from the body. So eating the greens could cause someone to well… you can guess the rest. Not recommend for a bedtime snack.
• The dandelion first came from Asia but it now calls the entire planet home!
• Each year fifty-five tones of coffee substitutes made from roasted Dandelion roots are sold in England, Australia and Canada.
• The Dandelion provides an important food source to bees. The pollen from this plant helps bees out in the spring because it flowers early and the flowers continue through to the fall providing constant food. In fact no less then 93 different kinds of insects use Dandelion pollen as food.
• The Dandelion seeds are important food to many small birds.

The above facts thanks to NatureWatch

 Here is Photographic Proof that the Nesting Box War is over.

• Brown-headed Cowbird lay eggs in the nests of more than 220 species of birds. Recent genetic analyses have shown that most individual females specialize on one particular host species.
• Social relationships are difficult to figure out in birds that do not build nests, but male and female Brown-headed Cowbirds are not monogamous. Genetic analyses show that males and females have several different mates within a single season.
• Some birds, such as the Yellow Warbler, can recognize cowbird eggs but are too small to get the eggs out of their nests. Instead, they build a new nest over the top of the old one and hope cowbirds don’t come back. Some larger species puncture or grab cowbird eggs and throw them out of the nest. But the majority of hosts don’t recognize cowbird eggs at all.
• Cowbird eggs hatch faster than other species eggs, giving cowbird nestlings a head start in getting food from the parents. Young cowbirds also develop at a faster pace than their nest mates, and they sometimes toss out eggs and young nestlings or smother them in the bottom of the nest.
• In winter, Brown-headed Cowbirds may join huge roosts with several blackbird species. One such mixed roost in Kentucky contained more than five million birds.
• The oldest recorded Brown-headed Cowbird was 16 years 10 months old.

The above facts thanks to allaboutbirds.org

The photo is of Pulmonaria saccharata 'Mrs. Moon', also called Lungwort or Bethlehem Sage. It is one of the earliest blooming perennials at Distant Hill Gardens. In spring, the plant produces small clusters of 5-petaled flowers that are pink at first, and later turn to blue-purple. It easily self-seeds, but the seedlings are manageable. It makes a beautiful ground cover or single plant early in the season, but can turn quite ugly in the heat of summer if it doesn't get enough water and shade.

The genus Pulmonaria or Lungworts have been cultivated for centuries as a medicinal herb, because the ovate spotted leaves were thought to be representative of diseased lungs. This followed the 'Doctrine of Signatures' - the concept that the key to the medicinal use of various plants was indicated by the form of the plant. This concept was employed by the herbalists of the Renaissance, and was accepted until the latter part of the 19th century.

Lungwort Tea is still used in the treatment of chest diseases and asthma. Its benefits are thought to include a therapeutic effect on the respiratory system, and it is said to be one of the best herbal remedies to relieve the most common symptoms of flu and colds. 

• Lousewort, Pedicularis - thought to be useful in repelling lice

• Spleenwort, Asplenium - thought to be useful in treating the spleen

• Liverwort, Marchantiophyta - thought to be useful in treating the liver

• Toothwort, Dentaria - thought to be useful in treating tooth ailments

• Hedge woundwort, Stachys - thought to have antiseptic qualities

• Lungwort - Pulmonaria - used in treating pulmonary infections.

The Banded Woolly Bear Caterpillar is found in temperate regions of North America. It emerges from the egg in the fall and overwinters in its caterpillar form, when it literally freezes solid. It survives being frozen by producing a cryoprotectant in its tissues.  Because the summer period for vegetative growth and hence feeding is so short in some northern areas, the Woolly Bear can feed for several summers, freezing again each winter before finally pupating. Some are known to live through as many as 14 winters in the Arctic. Once it emerges from its pupa as an Isabella Tiger Moth it has only days to find a mate before it dies.

Folklore of the eastern United States and Canada holds that the relative amounts of rust and black on a Woolly Bear caterpillar are an indication of the severity of the coming winter. It is believed that the narrower the rust colored band in the middle of the Woolly Bear caterpillar is in the fall, the more severe the winter will be. In reality, hatchlings from the same clutch of eggs can display considerable variation in their color distribution, and the rusty band tends to change width with age.

A Tricolored Bumblebee, Bombus ternarius, visiting an Erica carnea 'Springwood White', a variety of Spring Heath. This bee is also known as an Orange-belted Bumblebee, for obvious reasons. The name bumblebee refers to any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, with New Zealand and Tasmania being exceptions. Bumblebees are social insects that are characterized by black, yellow or orange body hairs often in bands.  

Like their relatives the honey bees, bumblebees feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young. Bumblebees will also tend to visit the same patches of flowers every day, as long as they continue to find nectar and pollen. 

One common, yet incorrect, assumption is that the buzzing sound of bees is caused by the beating of their wings. The sound is actually the result of the bee vibrating its flight muscles. This is especially pronounced in bumblebees at low ambient temperatures. 

Every spring, often in the early morning hours, a male Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker drums on the metal roof of a cabin just outside our bedroom window. According to allaboutbirds.org, most non-birders believe that the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is a fictitious bird created just for the humorous name. It is in fact a widespread species of small woodpecker. Its habit of making shallow holes in trees to get sap is exploited by other bird species, and the sapsucker can be considered a "keystone" species, one whose existence is vital for the maintenance of a community.

• The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker frequently uses human-produced materials to help in its territorial drumming. Street signs and metal chimney flashing, and metal roofing amplify the irregular tapping of a territorial sapsucker. The sapsucker seems to suffer no ill effects of whacking its bill on metal, and a bird will return to a favorite object day after day to pound out its Morse code-like message.
• The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is the only woodpecker in eastern North America that is completely migratory. Although a few individuals remain throughout much of the winter in the southern part of the breeding range, most head farther south, going as far south as Panama. Females tend to migrate farther south than do males.

The above facts are thanks to allaboutbirds.org

Last week, on my daily walk in the woods at Distant Hill Gardens, I came across an eight-inch hole in the ground. I thought it might be the den for a small animal, so I set up my motion sensing infrared trail camera. Sure enough, a few days later, I got a photo of a Raccoon sticking its head out of the burrow at 4:25 AM.

As stated in the Northern Virginia Ecology website, "Raccoons are omnivorous and eat almost anything, including: nuts, berries, acorns, leaves, grasshoppers, crickets, grubs, worms, dragonfly larvae, clams, wasps, salamanders, frogs, crayfish, snakes, turtles and their eggs, bird eggs and nestlings, fish, voles, and squirrels. They often eat garbage scraps and at times have been seen eating dead animals on the sides of roads."

And, from personal experience, I know they eat CORN. I wonder if this is the same Raccoon that raids our sweet corn every year? 

We planted four different varieties of lettuce this week; six plants each of Merlot, Red Sails, Plato II and, my favorite, Sierra. The seedlings were started on March 9 in our home's sunspace.

As soon as the sugarhouse at Distant Hill was built in 2007, Eastern Phoebes (Sayornis phoebe) took up residence. That first year, we made the mistake of allowing the birds to nest in the rafters. What a mess! A lesson was learned. Now the doors and windows of the main building are kept closed, starting in early spring and through the summer. Our avian visitors are welcome to nest in the woodshed attached to the sugarhouse, and for the past four years that is exactly what they have done. They still make a mess, but a gravel floor is a bit easier to clean than all of our stainless steel maple syrup equipment! 

• In 1804, the Eastern Phoebe became the first banded bird in North America. John James Audubon attached silvered thread to an Eastern Phoebe's leg to track its return in successive years.
• The Eastern Phoebe is a loner, rarely coming in contact with other phoebes. Even members of a mated pair do not spend much time together. They may roost together early in pair formation, but even during egg laying the female frequently chases the male away from her.
• The use of buildings and bridges for nest sites has allowed the Eastern Phoebe to tolerate the landscape changes made by humans and even expand its range. However, it still uses natural nest sites when they are available.
• Unlike most birds, Eastern Phoebes often reuse nests in subsequent years—and sometimes Barn Swallows use them in between. In turn, Eastern Phoebes may renovate and use old American Robin or Barn Swallow nests themselves.
• The oldest known Eastern Phoebe was 10 years, 4 months old.

The facts above are thanks to allaboutbirds.org

Each spring, for the past five years or more, a pair of Canada Geese have nested in the center of the marsh next to March Hill Road at Distant Hill Gardens. I don't know for sure that they are the same two geese, but the nest is close to the same place each year.

Nest placement for Canada Geese is on the ground, usually on a slightly elevated site, near water. They prefer a spot from which they can have a fairly unobstructed view in many directions. The female selects the site and does much of nest construction. She does all the incubation while her mate guards her and the nest.

• Clutch Size: 2–8 eggs
• Number of Broods: 1 broods
• Incubation Period: 25–28 days
• Nestling Period: 42–50 days

Question: How many geese does it take to make a gaggle? The answer, according to my Mac Book Pro's dictionary, is Five. And a gaggle is only used do define a group of geese on the ground. In flight, a gaggle becomes a skein, a wedge or a team.

The first known collection of specific names for collective groups of animals, including many birds, was published in 1486. Click for a link to a Wikipedia web page with a list of collective names for groups of birds and animals. One of my favorite group names is a 'Charm of Goldfinches'.

More than you need to know: In terms of salt, a gaggle is equal to eight fifty pound bags of salt.