I CAN'T HELP calling them "nakes" since years ago friends had a very young daughter who didn't say the letter S, but she was quick to spot a snake! Even if it was a garden hose! I like to think that I'm very confident around snakes but the truth is if one suddenly appears in an unexpected way I practically levitate off the ground. Some would call it a "primal" response, beyond our conscience control. Like we've already seen some big problems in the past with these things and our lower brains are trying to guarantee that curiosity is not our first response.

Nevertheless, most of the snakes we encounter around Village Hill are unlikely to present a threat to life and limb. This one is a Milk snake, about twelve inches long. It was stuck in my driveway trying to figure out how to get back under the cover of grasses. As you can see it was more than ready to bite back if I got close enough. I managed to scoop it up with a shovel and drop it in the grass. Within two seconds it had slithered down into the roots and was gone. Quite amazing how fast it disappeared.

You can see a larger version of this image in the gallery.

Photo taken: September 22, 2019, Higgins Way

Tags: Milk Snake

THE WOODLANDS around Northampton are generally quite open. No doubt a result of the heavy use of lumber during the industrial revolution when trees were cut as fast as they could get them down. Despite the open and airy feeling when walking the Village Hill trails there are hidden worlds just off the trail that many of us walk past every day without noticing. This past June I spotted a tree off the trail to Smith College playing fields. It was 20 yards out in the understory and it was covered in luxurious moss. The thought of running my hand over the cool spongy moss was tempting so I risked the tics and ventured out. When I looked up from the coat of moss I noticed this Beech sapling right in front of me. It was glossy, green and healthy the way plants often are in the late spring. Sometimes you really "can't see the forest for the trees."

Photo taken: June 21, 2019, Off the trail down to Smith College fields.

Tags: Beech

AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR walking the trails along the Mill River can be fairly gray and bleak. Though I'm quick to admit bleakness can be exceptionally beautiful…as long as you're not hunched over in howling wind with temps in the sub-zero range! One thing that certainly does stand out along the river are the outbreaks of Bittersweet vines, with their vivid red berries and yellow-orange husks. Lovely they are in that gray-brown world, but unfortunately a bit of a scourge. Take a drive up I-91 toward Greenfield and you can see the damage that Bittersweet does to native tree species. It's literally a slow strangulation as the vines climb on the native tree branches slowly stealing all their light from above and water from the roots below. As much as we like the spots of winter color, should we cut the vines and remove them?

Photo taken: January 28, 2020, Mill River trail between Village Hill and dog park.

Tags: Bittersweet

THIS PAST SPRING we were fortunate to have a mother fox choose the slope leading up to Oak Tree park as a den site for her kits. We were able to look out our kitchen window and see the kits playing on the hillside when the mother allowed them out. They would sneak up on each other and stage mock attacks, rolling and tumbling in balls of red fur. Once the foliage began to thicken it was harder to see them but they'd still appear now and then. The den is still visible from the edge of Oak Tree park but the gang cleared out long ago. I wonder if we'll see any of them back this spring? This little beauty patrols on the Cornfield trail at all hours of the day and night. I last saw him/her sitting down on the trail around 7:30 am waiting for some squirrels to get hungry enough to venture out for the day.

Photo taken: January 23, 2020, Trail below Higgins Way and Moser Street and the adjacent cornfield.

Tags: RedFox

WE'VE BEEN BIRD WATCHING on and off for almost 40 years. So it's odd that I've never seen a Bluebird until this past year. Right here in Northampton they show up each year at our feeders. Last year they'd just visit and watch from nearby. This year we decided to "go big" with dried mealworms to tempt them. It worked! Now while the sparrows and finches fight like angry hoards over seeds, the Bluebirds perch on the mealworm tray and dine. I was beginning to think they were a little self-entitled until the European Starlings showed up. The way those guys eat, the Bluebirds are going to have to be a little more assertive or go hungry.

Photo taken: January 28, 2020, Feeders adjacent to Mill River trail head on Higgins Way.

Tags: Bluebirddogs, cats, bears, coyotes, birds

ON NEW YEARS DAY we were walking on the cornfield trail. Suddenly there were tracks in front of us seemingly appearing from nowhere. Big prints. Bear prints. My first thought was they must have descended from a tree to just appear like that. As it turned out we couldn't see where the bear had come through the brush to get on the trail. Later our neighbor Eric told us he'd seen the tracks in the cornfield leading over to the trail. I wish I could have seen this bear sauntering across that big open field on it's way to sniff around the neighborhood for a winter snack.

Photo taken: January 1, 2020, Trail below Higgins Way and Moser Street and the adjacent cornfield.


Thanks to Eric G. for field photo

Tags: Bear

WHILE IT'S CURRENTLY a cold, nasty February day, this American Toad is nowhere to be found. He/she's burrowed deeply underground to hibernate. Most wild toads like this probably only live a couple of years. They seem to like hanging out in the deep grass where the lawnmower is a huge risk. They are capable of living quite long, some as much as 10 years. There is a documented account of a captive toad that lived to the ripe old age of 36.

Photo taken: May 15, 2018, Higgins Way, Adjacent to trail to Mill River.

Tags: Toad