Diane

In December, seven bobcats were reported to this column by Westford residents. Though we have been seeing bobcats in Westford since 1995, seven sightings in one month is an unusually high number. In 1995, there was one report of one animal, then no reports for many years. Between 2007 and the present, there have been … Read more

Happy New Year! 2018 was a good year for Westford wildlife watchers. Fifty-six residents sent in 1371 flora and fauna reports. Each month saw some interesting sightings. January was cold and snowy, but nevertheless blackbirds, both red-winged blackbirds and cowbirds returned to Westford on January 20. A flying squirrel was seen on Pine Hill Rd. … Read more

Are you a birder? If so, are you a contributor to eBird? This interactive birding website was developed by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and launched in 2002. Anyone can join free of charge. The website describes the program this way: “eBird transforms a global birding community’s passion for birds into critical data for research, conservation, … Read more

Now that May has arrived and our spring trees, shrubs and wildflowers are blooming, we should give some thought to bees, our most important pollinators. Without them, we would have very few plants. Or as a recent USDA report states, “The world as we know it would not exist if there were no bees to … Read more

Who’s top bird at your feeder? An interesting thing to observe while you are identifying birds is who is displacing whom at the bird feeder. This displacement behavior in birds is called a “dominance hierarchy”. For instance, we think of doves as peaceful and jays as aggressive. Cornell Lab of Ornithology set out to study … Read more