"Woodman, spare that tree!" demanded poet-newspaperman George Pope Morris in his 1837 ballad and poem. If you want to manage your homestead for birds, it's good advice, particularly if the tree has seen better days. "Dead trees provide habitat for more than 1,000 species of wildlife nationwide," says the National Wildlife Federation. A snag — that's the term used for standing dead trees — offers two of the essentials for birds and other wildlife: food and cover. It can also provide the third, water, if it pools in crevices and pockets where limbs have detached. A bevy of birds — including …

Not only are groundhogs disagreeing about how long winter will last, as news media reported widely last week, but some plants and animals may act quirky due to Old Man Winter's weak performance so far this year. As noted in one of my recent columns, lack of snow cover removes an important source of insulation for plants, exposing them to freeze damage. Undue warmth toward winter's end can be even more harmful by stimulating premature flowering, although it does not trigger early emergence of leaves. The appearance of leaves on most tree species is timed to the photoperiod – which actually is …

If you ever have had a yearning to see a snowy owl and do not have the dollars or the time for birding on the Arctic tundra, grab your binoculars or spotting scope and get to open country right here in Connecticut. Each winter, a few snowy owls usually show up, but this season promises to bring a bumper crop of these large, predatory birds. From three to five snowy owls already have been sighted in the state, according to birding expert Jerry Connolly, owner of the Audubon Shop in Madison. Many more may be arriving, says the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Snowy owls are …

With minds focused on mating, whitetail deer and moose are now on the move, significantly raising the danger of unpleasant interactions with vehicles on the state's roadways, warns the wildlife division of Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Conservation (DEEP). The animals are most likely to be up to their hijinks during the early morning and evening, when most vehicular accidents occur. The irony of having to issue a warning about these two big wild creatures is magnificent: at a time when environmentalists worry about disappearing wild lands, species of large animals once …