Tag: north america
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Meet the turkey
If you’re in United States, next Thursday is Thanksgiving! And we all know what that means – many of us will enjoy a turkey dinner. Beyond the domesticated turkey on my dinner table, I’ve become more aware of their wild cousins lately. Quite a few turkeys are running around the towns surrounding Boston! In fact, […]
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Meet the fisher
This week’s animal is an identification request from my partner. He was biking around Massachusetts when he saw a sign that said, “Warning: fisher cats.” Which begged the question: what is a fisher cat?? He asked me if I knew what they were when I got home; I said I did, but I honestly only […]
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Meet the European starling
When my partner got home from a Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) concert last week, he asked me if I knew what a murmuration was. I said of course! It’s when a bunch of European starlings fly together. But how did starling murmurations come up in an orchestra concert? Well apparently, the BSO co-commissioned a piece […]
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Meet the American black bear
My book club this month read “A Libertarian Walks into a Bear” by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling. It tells the true story of how a bunch of libertarians moved to Grafton, New Hampshire, with the goal of making it a libertarian utopia. They somewhat succeeded? At the very least, they got rid of a bunch of government […]
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Meet the red-cockaded woodpecker
You might have missed it, but a big conservation bill passed in the House of Representative this week: the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. This bill is HUGE news for conservation. There are currently more than 1,600 endangered or threatened species living in the United States. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 provides protection for them, […]
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Meet the monarch butterfly
My 6th grade teacher really liked monarch butterflies. Like, a lot. We grew monarch butterflies in our classroom: there was a big butterfly net where we watched caterpillars grow, make a chrysalis, and hatch into butterflies over the span of just a month. At one point I think we let the monarchs fly around in […]
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Meet the coati
I have had the absolute pleasure of seeing today’s animal in the wild. My senior year of college, I went on a trip to Costa Rica over winter break for a class. One day, while we were getting ready to hike in the cloud forest, we saw a coati in the parking lot. He was […]
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Meet the Great Horned Owl
I love owls; they’re one of my favorite animals (up there with foxes and wolves). I even have a set of owls that I cross stitched hanging on the wall in my bedroom. And honestly, what’s not to like about owls? They’re so cool! They have asymmetrical ears, which helps them better pinpoint the location […]
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Meet the American robin
It’s officially spring! At least according to the calendar. Here in Boston, we just got finished with some cold, winter-like days. Which is not surprising because, you know, Boston in March is unpredictable like that. But still! Warmer days are in the weather forecast and the spring flowers are starting to bloom! In honor of […]