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By BILL DANIELSON

My last visit to the Thinking Chair occurred on Sunday, Oct. 20. It was a bright, sunny day and there had been a frost during the night and this produced some interesting effects on the remaining leaves down in the meadow. The following Saturday was...

By BILL DANIELSON

It was the morning of Thanksgiving Day and I was up early. Guests were still asleep and I was done with the morning chores. A pot of fresh coffee had been brewed, a fire was crackling happily in the wood stove (front doors open so the fire was...

By BILL DANIELSON

Thanksgiving is here and I couldn’t be happier. 2024 has been an “interesting” year and I, for one, just need a break. Even the hustle and bustle of the holiday (the shopping, cooking, traveling, or hosting) can be a delightful distraction from the...

By BILL DANIELSON

It was Veteran’s Day and I was sitting at my kitchen window. I had a delicious mug of freshly brewed coffee, a comfortable seat to sit in and freshly washed windows to look through. The feeders had been stocked and I was all ready for a session of...

By BILL DANIELSON

For a good chunk of the summer I was able to monitor the activity of one particular visitor to the feeding station down by my Thinking Chair a little more closely than most of the others. Simple behavioral observations allowed me to hypothesize the...

By BILL DANIELSON

The American beaver (Castor canadensis) is one of those mammals that everyone has heard of. A humongous rodent capable of cutting down trees and damming up streams, the furry brown creature has been represented by plush toys and has long been a...

By BILL DANIELSON

I realize that I wrote a column on the yellow-rumped warbler just last week, but I had an encounter with this species that was as wonderful as it was unexpected. I very rarely feature a particular species in consecutive columns, but this was an...

By BILL DANIELSON

The month of September was one of the most beautiful stretches of solid gorgeous weather that I can remember. There was very little rain last month and whatever rain there was seemed to fall on weekdays. As a result, there was ample time to get out...

By BILL DANIELSON

One of the hazards of working in a school is the annual reunion of large numbers of people in small, confined spaces. The students get antsy and the adults get antsy, but this is just a temporary annoyance. The bigger problem is the confinement of...

By BILL DANIELSON

On Sept. 22 we observed the official change in the seasons from summer to autumn. This was the Autumnal Equinox, the day when we technically saw 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. With each passing day we will now see less and less of the sun...

By BILL DANIELSON

Long-time readers of mine will be familiar with my tales of the Photo Gods. These are those supernatural beings that look over me during my photographic endeavors and either smile down on me benevolently, or take issue with something that I have done...

By BILL DANIELSON

One of the most remarkable things about birding in September is the number of strangers that you see. Having spent so much time observing the birds during the summer months, I have a very clear roster in my head of who the “regulars” are. Not only...

By BILL DANIELSON

About a mile to the east of my house, sitting at the side of the quiet country road upon which I live, there is a small man-made pond that is typical of the kind that one might find near a farm. There are actually several of these ponds along this...

By BILL DANIELSON

For the final week of my summer vacation I decided to make a bold move and pay a visit to one of the wonderful coastal areas that we have in the state of Massachusetts. Earlier in the summer I went to First Encounter Beach, in Eastham, and to round...

By BILL DANIELSON

There was an absolutely wonderful change in the weather last week. Gone were the days with oppressive humidity and scorching temperatures. In their place came days with highs near 80 degrees Fahrenheit, lower humidity levels and a reliable breeze that...

By BILL DANIELSON

It was the middle of July and I was spending yet another morning in my beloved Thinking Chair. I had just returned from my trip to Cape Cod, where I had secured enough photos to give me columns until the end of the month and I had already committed to...

By BILL DANIELSON

Those of you who are familiar with my writing will know of my great admiration for a 19th-century naturalist named John Burroughs. Born in 1837, Burroughs lived in a time when the steam locomotive was still a new and wondrous thing in America. The...

By BILL DANIELSON

My second visit to First Encounter Beach came on a Monday. The hustle and bustle of moving day was a thing of the past, but I am generally immune to routine traffic issues because of the early hours that I keep. There was no one on the road at 5:45...

By BILL DANIELSON

Sometime back in the 1980s, in response to increased urbanization and technological development, the government of Japan decided that it was a good idea for people to turn off their electronics and get back to nature. Thus it was that the concept of...

By BILL DANIELSON

This week I have the rare pleasure of introducing you to a new species for the first time. After 27 years of reporting on my observations, I have finally acquired a photograph that I think is worthy of such an introduction. I have been exploring the...

By BILL DANIELSON

I first saw this curious little animal on June 1. It was a beautiful day outside, but the cottonwood tree that grows next to my deck was in full seed-dispersal mode and sitting outside was not really an option. Imagine a snowstorm, but the flakes of...