Author: Mike Dunn
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Merchants Millpond
I enter the swamp as a sacred place Henry David Thoreau Merchants Millpond has always been one of my favorite state parks. When I was the East District Naturalist for the State Parks system oh-so-many years ago (1981-1986), I would go up to Merchants and canoe out after dark to the family camping area after… Read more…
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Marbled Salamander eggs
Two friends from the Museum, Megan and Melissa, invited me to tag along with them yesterday, as they did some fieldwork for a future workshop. Megan made a great find as she and Melissa were turning over logs at the edge of a vernal pool, looking for salamanders – some viable Marbled Salamander eggs. It… Read more…
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Hollow Log Bluebird House
This is in response to a friend’s request for information on a natural-looking bluebird house. I have made several of these out of appropriate sized hollow tree trunks (just compare to a commercial bird house for approximate dimensions). After finding and cutting the hollow log into reasonable lengths, I use a large screwdriver to scrape… Read more…
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Crawling on your back…doing the Grub
Found this huge grub in the topsoil pile the other day as I was adding soil to some garden beds. When disturbed, it curls itself into a C-shape as do many grubs. But this one then did something that only a very few grubs do – it started crawling away on its back. I first… Read more…
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Shed in the shed
Found a large spider shed in my shed this week. Believe it to be from a Dolomedes species (probably D. tenebrosus). This one would have been close to 3 inches across in total leg span! Their group is known as the Fishing Spiders, but this species is often found far from water, as in this… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 