Mass Audubon Blogs

It’s well-known that Monarch caterpillars (the larval form of Monarch butterflies) rely on plants in the milkweed family as their sole source of food. But milkweeds actually support many different insects, in addition to Monarchs. Most notably, this includes two insects in the seed bug family—large milkweed bugs and small milkweed bugs—and two from the […]

We posed a simple question to our Facebook followers: “If you could give one piece of advice to a beginning birder, what would it be?” With over 170 replies, here’s just a sample of what they said. Patience is Key “Walk slowly. And when you think you are walking slowly, walk slower.” “Patience, learn common […]

Late summer means crisp days and cooler nights, swinging back into routines, and savoring the last juicy tomatoes of the season. It also still means mosquitoes, and more rainfall can lead to an uptick in the number of shallow pools that make ideal mosquito breeding territory. Mosquitoes are a public health risk, since they spread diseases like […]

After ten long years of dedicated conservation effort by Mass Audubon staff, volunteers, and citizen scientists, the population of eastern spadefoot toads (Scaphiopus holbrookii) translocated to Ashumet Holly Wildlife Sanctuary has finally reproduced! A pilot project started by Long Pasture Sanctuary director Ian Ives and Bryan Windmiller of Zoo New England was initiated in 2011 […]

It’s hard to believe Session 4 is almost over! We are soaking up as much of summer as we can with lots of Gaga ball, swimming, paddling, arts & crafts, nature walks, and Chill Zone time as we can here at Wildwood. Campers have been making a lot of things: friends, works of art, and […]