Wildlife Watch

Bees are  keystone species in the web of life. The presence of bees in our yards and open spaces is essential to the pollination and flourishing of our plants, and thus to our own lives. Dick Callahan, legislative director for the Massachusetts Beekeepers Association states that around the world, 40-50% of insect species are declining. … Read more

What It’s Like To Be a Bird Just as most gardeners love to read seed catalogs in spring, most bird watchers enjoy reading bird books. There is a new bird book just published, by artist David Allen Sibley, called “What It’s Like to Be a Bird”. This is a beautiful book of Sibley’s outstanding paintings … Read more

Birders often refer to little brown birds as LBB’s or LBJ’s (“little brown jobs”). They can be extremely confusing to identify, but seeing them at your bird feeder gives you a chance.The LBB’s we most often see at feeders in Westford are the sparrows: Song Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, and Chipping Sparrows. True sparrows have … Read more

In this winter of our Covid discontent, we have something exciting to look for at our feeders. According to the National Audubon website, this winter is “one of the biggest irruption years of boreal birds in recent memory.” As you have no doubt noticed, conifers have “mast” years when cones are plentiful, and other years … Read more

Many of Westford’s birds have migrated south by now, and we miss seeing them at our feeders and hearing their songs in our yards and woods. But, late fall and winter bring new opportunities. This is the time to really pay attention to and learn about our resident birds. There is much to learn about … Read more