nature encounters – Ben's Blog

Eating Sunflower Seeds

ben — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 12:56:11 +0000

Birds & squirrels tear through sunflowers, but they have the decency to wait until fall when they dry out.

Cooper’s Hawk?

ben — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:57:14 +0000

We catch this guy from the corners of our eyes quite often. Finally it gave us a good look by perching on the sugarhouse. Thank you for keeping the mice in check.

Shameless

ben — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 04:13:06 +0000

This will be a whole other post, but I’ve gone through great lengths this year to discourage wildlife from eating our stuff. Of course the clueless fawn to gorges itself in the middle of the day with zero appreciation for the effort.

Red Shouldered Hawk

ben — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 03:30:27 +0000

It was getting pestered by a couple of other birds flying too fast for identification, which only seemed to mildly bother it.

Protected: 2026 Fireflies

ben — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 12:52:45 +0000

Corkscrew Sounds a Mystery no Longer

ben — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 02:05:31 +0000

In the Spring and Summer we often hear the sound of one or several corkscrews coming from pine logs. It’s weird in a funny way, and any time we’ve tried to investigate we didn’t find the culprit. Whatever is doing this stops when you move the log.

We finally got to the bottom of it, and found the bug responsible. Its mandibles must be quite strong to make such a ruckus. I’m not sure what they’re digging for, food and protection I assume. I had ran into them cutting wood before, they get bigger. You can see the byproduct of all the digging it’s done.

Yuck

I think it’s a Raghium Inquisitor, or ribbed pine borer. Makes sense.

Protected: Spicy Peanut Butter

ben — Mon, 04 May 2026 02:04:47 +0000

Territorial Turkey

ben — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 01:44:54 +0000

(take note Canonical)

I seem to have stumbled on a turkey turf war, I wasn’t sure what I was hearing until I got close. And then again I wasn’t sure what I was seeing until from the chaos emerged 2 flocks going opposite directions. Clearly they had run into each other and weren’t having each other’s presence.

Annoying Unkindness

ben — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 02:57:44 +0000

A group of ravens (I think, I still can’t quite tell them apart from crows), has taken over the area. I try to remain zen and admiring toward nature, but they are so fucking annoying. I feel bad for saying so but it’s the truth. They make the ugliest sound, and they make it all the god damn time, starting at 4:30. Any time you step out the door, it’s a riot cause they gotta let everyone on the whole hill know that something’s moved. They steal eggs if we leave them outside 5 minutes. The noise they constantly make is a loud swear over all other song birds. To top the ruckus, they do this weird dance I can’t quite place.

And of course they do it all the time and everywhere. I thought it was some sort of courtship behavior, but they’ve been at it for days at this point. You’d think they’d be done with it. I’ve looked at all sort of videos on raven behavior, and I really don’t know what they’re up to.

Fawn

ben — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 02:21:23 +0000

Luna Wing

ben — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 03:07:51 +0000

It’s only a wing I found on the ground, but it’s making me hopeful. We’ve seen Luna Moths only once 11 years ago. We were fresh transplants to Vermont then and didn’t realize it was rare. When I ask, people tell me they’ve only seen them once or twice in their lives.

With Babies

ben — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 02:54:28 +0000

Skunks don’t cause much trouble, their great defense is the only thing that makes them so darn undesirable. I wouldn’t mind them at all if I wasn’t worried we’ll run into each other unexpectedly. I’ve learned to shoo them on, they really don’t care about anything, but if you’re mildly annoying (from a distance), they’ll move along. And moving along is the whole point, for if they pick your stuff for a den, they’ll need to go and that’ll be a guaranteed mess.

You Have to Admire

ben — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 01:55:28 +0000

This Beaver’s perfect execution of instinct. It saw an undammed stream, a tree standing near, and it knew just what to do. And the tree went right where the beaver wanted it.

I would have loved to see it at work.

Protected: Encrusted in Ice

ben — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 22:01:40 +0000

Cycles & Traditions

ben — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 21:07:51 +0000

Did you know that turkeys literally start showing up around Thanksgiving? Didn’t see them all Summer, and now they’re here everyday, looking tasty. Something makes them bolder and get quite close. The fact that culture and tradition were shaped by environmental cycles was completely lost on me as a city dweller. Maybe it didn’t help that I lived in places where that culture had been imported not in accordance with the environment, I’ve never seen wild turkeys in Utah.

Raccoon Pressure

ben — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 11:56:36 +0000

I guess it’s a mast year for… raccoons? They’re all around the house every night causing a ruckus. I’m trying to deter them from coming, even took out a few, only to have more come back. In past years, we’d run into them here and there, but this year the house and its surrounding seems to be their established playground every night, it is a bit baffling. I know it’s only a matter of time before they cause damage that really stings. They’ve already been trying to get in the chicken coop.

I swear to god if you make the skunk spray I will smite all of you.

Crazy Caterpillar

ben — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 01:55:02 +0000

Picking blueberries, we stumbled upon this crazy looking thing.

Which apparently belongs to the largest moth in North America. We hope we’ll be able to catch it in the moth stage.

Organic Lanterns

ben — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 01:49:00 +0000

It’s a great year for fireflies, we harnessed the magic into lanterns.

Protected: Lightning Bugs

ben — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 12:05:42 +0000

Peony Bud & Ants

ben — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 01:12:55 +0000

I thought I was capturing the wonderful nature story of ants helping a peony bud open. Alas, looking it up I learned this wonderful piece of folklore is untrue. Peonies do not in fact need ants to break open. It still seems as though they have a symbiotic relationship, the peonies feed the ants with nectar, and the ants keep other insects at bay. They only drink the nectar and to not dig into the plant like other insects might. They do seem focused around the bud’s seams, but this might simply be because that’s where there’s the most nectar.

On this close up you can see the nectar droplets on the seam.

Boing

ben — Wed, 22 May 2024 01:24:13 +0000

Deer Paths

ben — Tue, 21 May 2024 01:14:17 +0000

12 Years in Vermont

ben — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 22:19:21 +0000

And I finally caught a glimpse of the very elusive fisher cat.