October 5, 2023
By MCHT Nature Bum Steward Kirk Gentalen written November 2022 The right to “wool” bears. So, this post was originally purported to focus on woolly bear caterpillars. You know woolly bears, those black and orangey-reddish banded caterpillars that are fuzzy and whose coloration pattern is purported to predict winter severity. A “poor-(hu)man’s Punxsutawney Phil” if […]
August 24, 2023
By 2023 MCHT Richard G. Rockefeller Conservation Intern Chloe March I’m Chloe March from Hampden, Maine. I’m majoring in environmental studies and Holocaust and genocide studies at Keene State College where I’ll be a junior this fall. During my internship with the stewardship program at Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve through Maine Coast Heritage Trust, […]
July 28, 2023
By MCHT Nature Bum Steward Kirk Gentalen Alright, we’re going to cut right to the chase here with this post. I had an encounter with a “whisker of shrews” (I just learned that collective noun). It was on a Midcoast Maine beach, of which I am not at liberty to say (let’s just say I […]
April 21, 2023
Nature Bummin’ with MCHT Steward Kirk Gentalen A nice thing about writing a monthly nature blog is that in any month there are a gagillion topics to write about. At times it can be hard to pick just one thing to focus on. And so, often I find myself with two, three, or even four […]
March 16, 2023
Nature Bummin’ with MCHT Steward Kirk Gentalen All dates mentioned in this post are based on personal observation and may change by days or even up to weeks depending on the year. It’s nature, not everything is etched in stone. Blood itself is a track. But we’ll get to that in a bit. Let’s start […]
September 20, 2022
Nature Bummin’ with MCHT Steward Kirk Gentalen “When is the best time to see river otters?” I was asked the above question this summer, right around mid-August, when I posted a river otter video on “the Instagram” (handle @baldfulmar). Instantly, I came up with a couple of obvious answer, “any time is the best time”, […]
August 23, 2022
Nature Bummin’ with MCHT Steward Kirk Gentalen I mean, they’re Red Crossbills. Loxia curvirostra. Where do we begin? Better yet, when do we begin? Full disclosure here (and I think we’ve had this conversation before) but when it comes to nature observing, birds tend to be the “first hook” when exploring a new […]
July 14, 2022
By MCHT Land Steward Kirk Gentalen Written June 17, 2022 So maybe I got a little ahead on myself a couple of posts ago, or maybe I should have known better before announcing a “favorite” anything too quickly. I don’t know—maybe “favorites” should be viewed a fluid concept that changes depending on which way the […]
June 13, 2022
Nature Bummin’ with MCHT Steward Kirk Gentalen Nowadays, it seems like everyone is busy processing changes in the world. Changes in perspective, changes in knowledge and understanding—and not just changes happening in real time, but changes from the past, as well as changes that have implications for the future. Processing like this brings […]
April 1, 2022
Nature Bummin with MCHT steward, Kirk Gentalen Written March 2021, published April 2022 In “nature-speak” there are many words for transition: molting, shedding, and metamorphosis come to mind right off the bat. These particular transitions occur on a somewhat regular basis (often with implications of life and death). Amphibians have to get metamorphosizing and “out […]
