Egret feathers were worth more than gold in the late 1800s, when the fashion industry used them to decorate women’s hats. These spectacular birds were nearly hunted to extinction—and might well have disappeared if not for Boston socialites Harriet Lawrence Hemenway and her cousin Minna Hall, who rallied 900 women to boycott feathered hats in […]
Critter of the month
Animals of The Secret Bay: Egrets
Egret feathers were worth more than gold in the late 1800s, when the fashion industry used them to decorate women’s hats. These spectacular birds were nearly hunted to extinction—and might well have disappeared if not for Boston socialites Harriet Lawrence Hemenway and her cousin Minna Hall, who rallied 900 women to boycott feathered hats in […]
River Otters!
Two surprises popped out of a hole in the ice on a small roadside pond on Deer Isle as I drove by the other week: river otters! They didn’t seem to mind the cold and snow a bit as they frolicked on the ice and then dove back underwater. Winter is a good time to […]
Critter of the Month: December
Whoosh! A clump of feathers shot out of the predawn blue the other morning and landed on a birdfeeder ten feet from the kitchen window. I nearly dropped my coffee cup. The bird stared right at me with dark eyes in a pale face that was both familiar and alien. A barred owl. She […]