Signs of a Pileated Woodpecker?

Typically the work of a Pileated is more easily identifiable as they create rectangular holes which are deep and vertical while searching for carpenter ant nests in dead trees. I am guessing that a Pileated has taken advantage of this well rotted tree with an existing cavity based on the size and disbursement of woodchips; but I cannot rule out that another animal is responsible.

The largest surviving woodpecker native to North America, the Pileated had become rare due to the clearing of old growth mixed forests; but has since made a gradual comeback by adapting to human populations and second growth forests.  - Norma Manning                                                                                  

Lake Hitchock By Noreen Cooper

During the last glacial retreat, about 18-14,000 years ago, melt water from the retreating glacier dumped large volumes of sand and gravel in the Rocky Hill, CT area and created a dam.  As the glacier receded (melted), water that had been trapped behind the dam formed Lake Hitchcock. Lake Hitchcock, named after American geologist Edward Hitchcock (1793 - 1864), existed for about 4,100 years.  At its longest it stretched from the moraine dam to West Burke, Vermont - 250 miles long and up to 20 miles wide.

Land in the valley had been pressed downward during the ice age and the lake flooded into low lying lands creating natural terraces that reflect the lake's boundries.  Streams brought in large amounts of sand and gravel creating the gravel pits that are evidence of a stream's location along the lake.

Eventually the 3 mile deep dam broke and the lake waters drained south creating the modern Connecticut River valley.  The end of the lake probably occurred in three stages since delta building streams had partitioned Lake Hitchcock into a series of lakes.

-Noreen Cooper is a long time educator at Vernon Elementary school who is well known among her colleagues as someone who has a keen eye and interest in photographing insects.

Terraces at the Miller (Stonybrook) farm on 142 - photograph by Norma Manning

Gravel pit behind the Miller farm on Franklin hill - photograph by Norma Manning

The Spring on 142: Watering Trough Hill

 From the town hall take 142 North until you get to Witches Gutter. On the left you will see Watering Trough hill and (for lack of any name myself and a couple of old time residents with a map could come up with)  "The Spring on 142." Drivers who travel between Brattleboro and Vernon might have another name for this tricky spot where cars pull into and out of the parking area.  I asked them what they knew about the spring and they shared that the back side of Laurel Ledges is up the hill from the spring and that in 30 years they had never known the spring to stop running even during seasons when wells went dry. But they also warned that the spring does sometimes test positive for bacteria.

Living in Vernon I have never really been concerned about drinking water unless the power goes out and my pump stops working. Vernon doesn't have a town water supply, but we do have plenty of fresh potable water accessed by private wells. It had been on my bucket list for quite some time to visit the spring which seems to have a constant year round stream of visitors.

"What are we going to do in this country when our water turns to sludge?" asks Lindsey while filling  gallon jugs with spring water and loading them into the trunk of her car.  Lindsey is from MA and told me that she used to drink water from the Quabbin Reservoir but hates that it's full of chemicals. She especially dislikes the taste of chlorine. "There aren't many places like this left." she adds. I asked her how she found out about the spring,  "I'm 68 years old" she offers up while pointing to her car,  "I used to come here with my dad. That's my mom in the car."  I picked up a couple of jugs and carried them to her car. She must have been at the spring for some time before I got there as she already had a dozen filled jugs inside her trunk. Lindsey mentions the rollbacks at the EPA and how she wishes that people would keep the area clean.

In 2008 Vermont passed legislation making the state's groundwater a public trust.  I think Lindsey would approve. - Norma Manning

Lindsey fills gallon jugs at the spring on 142

Town Clerk Tim Arsenault's father used to call this spot  "Watering Trough Hill"

Eagles in Our Backyard

When I lived in Colorado, John Denver was dreamy and The Eagle and the Hawk was the song that dreams were made of. I dreamt of seeing my first wild eagle in flight and I was certain my dream would come true the summer I worked and lived with Grand Mesa Y.C.C. near Grand Junction. It did not.

Forty years later I routinely see mature eagles in flight.  There is often an adult flying over the fields between 142 and Governor Hunt road that drops low over the school children's heads at recess. Now and then one of the kids stops and points to the sky; but for the most part they never take notice and in my estimation that's not a bad thing. Though still protected, the Bald Eagle was removed form the endangered species list in 2007.  A success story before their time, our students in Vernon have always known eagles to be in their backyard.

I'm a notoriously poor eagle photographer, but managed to zoom in on this nest in Vernon. The land is posted so either I need a better camera or some generous readers to contribute their photographs. - Norma Manning

A Bald Eagle's nest can bee seen in the tree past the railroad tracks

 Bald Eagles lay eggs between March and May in VT  

Shoe Trees part three: Who or what decides?

Vernon is a working landscape. We have multiple generational dairy farms as well as backyard farms, seasonal operations such as sugaring, stone quarries, railroad, hydroelectric dam, a mulch company,  logging, a large neighboring lumber industry and the growing presence of eco tourism. With each of these industries, decisions have been made as to how best utilize our resources.

 I'm sure that over the four hundred years at Black Gum Swamps, more than a few close calls were had in the name of progress, commodity, home heating as well natural causes such as fire, disease and changing environment.

A short hike up Black Gum Swamps' red trail reveals American Chestnut rings where mature trees once graced the swamp's landscape. Did these valuable trees fall victim to the blight, age or logging? Is it possible with careful management to restore the stand?

Last Autumn I was with a group of naturalists touring the swamps when the leader requested that no participant who had been in contact with chestnuts previously, approach the rings for fear of transferring the blight. This group seemed more excited about the rings than the Black Gums Vernon is so famous for.

Though the pictures of trees I take today may seemingly lack the romance of others found in or once found in Vernon, I can't help but wonder if our maples, ash and hemlocks without purposeful intervention, will someday go the way of the American Chestnut and American Elm.  With the Asian Long- horned Beetle, Emerald Ash Borer, Woolly Adelgid, land use pressures and climate change, one thing is certain, the foresight of our community members to conserve Black Gum Swamps and our town forest was wise, but will it be enough?

Wouldn't that be a shame if in twenty years shoes hung from our Sugar Maples instead of taps? - Norma Manning

Sapline running to a collection barrel on Huckle Hill

Vernon Post Office Beaver

This past Autumn someone posted on social media that a beaver was working at felling a tree at the Vernon Post office. That report caused quite a ruckus among residents who were very attached to the three maples between the parking lot and the pond. I had heard recently that the beaver had been dispatched, so I took a moment to take a look around and see if I could spot any beaver activity. While I didn't see any signs of recent activity around the lodge, I thought I would post a few pictures anyway of Vernon's unwelcomed resident. - Norma Manning

Beaver lodge at Vernon post office

This culvert under 142 is a passage to wetlands beyond

Attempt to outwit the beaver and save the maple

Beaver lodge with man made dam just beyond

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American Elm

The American Elm which is native to our area can live four hundred years if unaffected by disease. Dutch elm disease, a fungal infection is spread by bark beetles and has left many Elm Streets in the Northeast without any elms at all. We here in Vernon are fortunate to have this mature elm which may be disease resistant, a hybrid, or just sufficiently isolated enough to have escaped DED. - Norma Manning

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An American Elm can be easily viewed from a street in Vernon

Shoe Trees part two: Last Tree Standing

I was around the age of 14 when I first experienced the Black Hills of South Dakota on our way to a new station in Colorado Springs. My interests at that time didn't extend to the Lakota people or to the Black Hills. We were there to see Mount Rushmore and as time permitted the Badlands. The irony of this escaped me until I visited again while driving coast to coast at the age of 51. It was on this second visit that Wayne, Abby and I (at my daughters insistence) made a point of including the Crazy Horse monument on our itinerary.

But let's back this up just a smidgeon. As I would later surmise, the Black Hills were named in similar fashion to the way other ranges in North America were. The Rocky Mountains have a tree line at 11,000 feet leaving peaks of exposed rock.  The Green mountains are covered with green trees, plants and shrubs and the Black Hills were covered with Black Spruce. I say "were" because the area that we traveled through on that second visit had been mostly cleared of trees.

It was at the Crazy Horse Monument that I approached an employee and asked him why the hills had been cleared of trees.  His  answer was that it was in an effort to save the Black Spruce from Black Hills Spruce Diseases. Black Hills Spruce Diseases are three kinds of fungal infections that were spreading from tree to tree through the hills at a rapid pace. The decision had been made to remove all but one healthy tree per acre.

Several springs ago here in Vernon, we lost our entire roadside row of mature spruce. Some suggested that it had to do with road salt applications. It was when I noticed numerous balding spruce in my neighborhood and on Pond Rd that I asked our local forester what was happening. He speculated that it was a fungal disease and that we should remove dead trees, prune lower branches and carefully dispose of tree litter. When my trees came down a neighbor expressed sadness because they were some of the only mature trees in the development. I agreed that the loss of a mature tree is a loss to the community; but removing some to save the others was a sacrifice well worth the cost.

Of course here in Vermont, there were and are other reasons for removing trees besides firewood and disease. Historically, Vermont's rocky soil, rolling hills and swift rivers made it ideal for the sheep and wool industry. By the middle of the 1800s, seventy-five percent of Vermont's forests had been cleared. Today while hiking through our forests its common to find rock walls created by clearing land for pasture. You might also come upon Wolf Trees that for whatever reason were spared the ax and saw, escaped illness and await the day when they too will be brought down. - Norma Manning

Wayne stands next to a Wolf Tree on the Red and White trail in Vernon

Bird Pantry

Look closely at this pine in Black Gum Swamp and you will see seeds stored in rows of holes drilled into its bark. Was it a woodpecker who filled the larder or an industrious nuthatch? I really don't know how to tell; but in a 2015 tour of the Black Gum Swamps, Forester Bill Gunther called it the "Sapsucker tree". So perhaps whomever is storing seed is taking advantage of another's hard work! - Norma Manning

Vernon Hatchery Winter Walk

We took the opportunity on a sunny Sunday in Feb. to check out the Vernon Hatchery,  but we weren't the first ones there. - Norma Manning

Sweet Dreams: A tree seems to be sleeping contentedly at Black Gum Swamp Feb. 2020

Black Gum - Norma Manning

Angry Tree: When Black Gums are tired of winter

Black Gum - Norma Manning

Shoe Trees: part one - how far we've come

  One of the curiosities about having lived all across the country is that it's often challenging to keep the exact origins of an experience straight. A child might say, "I just knowed it" and now that I have more than a few decades behind me, I'm thinking that there is something behind their wisdom. My hope is that readers will practice a liberal amount of forgiveness with these sorts of things.

Sometime in the 80s before social media and during our travels in South Carolina, we came across a tree that had a pair of shoes nailed to it. Other than the shoes, there was seemingly nothing more interesting about the old tree. It was later that I heard about the custom of neighbors nailing shoes to a tee that they figured needed to be taken down.  The reasoning was that shoes would embarrass their neighbor into removing the tree.  I imagine today someone might update their status to the same ends.

Whether it is the popularity of pellet stoves to heat our homes or fewer acres being cleared for pasture and lawns that account for the number of shoe worthy trees in Vernon I can't really say for sure. My hope however, is that it is in part due to increasing awareness of the environmental and wildlife benefits of allowing them to stand until they don't. - Norma Manning

Ah-ha!

When I was a teenager traveling out west with my family, my parents excitedly announced that we were standing on the continental divide. You can imagine my lack of excitement when I ceremoniously poured the contents of my canteen on the ground and observed the liquid splatter like any other spilled drink back home. Truthfully I hadn't thought much about that day since except now and then when it served my purposes as bragging rights. But that changed this weekend in Vernon while on a Saturday bird walk led by Biologist Cory Ross.

You know how when you live in one place for a long time it's kind of expected that some things belong in a certain place and when that isn't so you feel like you are lost? It's like when living in Vernon the Green Mountains are always to the west but when you go to Bennington they suddenly are on the right.  It's times like these that I'm unsure if I'm really still in Vermont. Take the Connecticut river for example. If you live from Springfield, VT down to Vernon, the CT is to the east, cross the bridge into NH and the CT is to your west.  When trying to gauge where a child went shopping with their parents you might ask if they crossed the bridge. If the answer is yes it's pretty certain that they were at Walmart in NH.

So what does any of this have to do with a bird walk in Vernon? Well, as It turns out it has a lot to do with it. You see, Vernon has a hundred year old hydroelectric dam that spans the CT across from Cold Brook store on Governor Hunt road. There is a picnic area below the dam where bird watchers can get a pretty good look at any variety of waterfowl on any given day. Standing on the west bank looking east towards NH, we spotted mallard, golden eye and common merganser, pintail, and Canada Geese before we moved on to our next stop on Stebbins road which is left off of 142.  We drove half a minute to where the power lines are and walked a tenth of a mile to an overlook where we saw a flock of robins and a bald eagle. I kept looking over the river to the opposite bank and couldn't quite put my mind to what I was noticing, but something didn't quite feel right. It was cold and the group called it a day but my brain still nagged me into the evening about that feeling you get when something is on the wrong side of the Green Mountains.

It wasn't until I checked my pictures that I put my finger on it. From Stebbins road I was looking west across the CT river but I hadn't crossed over a bridge and I hadn't left the town of Vernon to get to Stebbins road from Governor Hunt road. I enthusiastically spouted, "I found the oxbow!" Wayne looked at me like someone who had just dumped water on the continental divide and mumbled, "We were still on the west bank." Yes that's true, but we were looking west over the river to VT.  Clearly my ah-ha moment was lost on him so I further explained that we could stand at the dam in the morning and watch the sunrise over the CT then go to Stebbins in the evening and watch the sunset over the CT all without crossing the river or leaving Vernon! Wayne otherwise engaged in galactic battle on his tablet, remained unimpressed. I on the other hand learned something very important this weekend.

Sometimes it takes forty years for a person to truly appreciate what's so exciting about that place where water flows west to the Pacific and east to the Atlantic. I hope that someday, one of our four adult children thinks about something lame that I was so excited about and shouts AH- HA! - Norma Manning

View from Stebbins overlook

Carolina Wren & Downy Woodpecker 2/8/2020

Mushroom hung to dry by squirrl in Black Gum Swamp: by Kayden Manning 2019

Cover at Black Gum Swamp: by Kayden Manning 2019

J. Maynard Miller Black Gum Swamp 1973. Can anyone post the same shot 47 years later?

Lily Pond - A year in photographs (in progress)

My goal is to capture this same view from 2019 in the early Autumn to Autumn 2020 at Lily Pond in Vernon, Vermont. -Norma Manning

Early Autumn 2019

February 2020

May 2020