The Wrack

Dan Gardoqui leads a hardy, enthusiastic group in tracking fox, coyote, and fisher on the trails of the reserve.

Three cheers to all who tie, bundle, and stomp this holiday season!

Jack Frost paints beautifully. We're fortunate he brings his brushes to our hilltop center, where science and art intertwine. See more scenics in our Flickr album.…

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 2/22/2015.

I learned a new word this year. Subnivean, from the Latin for “under” (sub) and “snow” (nives). It’s the zone within and underneath the snowpack. It’s where we’ve all been living lately.

Compare these two snapshots from the South Cascade glacier official USGS long-term monitoring site in Washington state:

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 1/5/2014.

Quite possibly the best movie l saw in 2013 didn’t open in 3,000 theaters, didn’t have a Morgan Freeman voiceover, didn’t follow a hobbit and his ring.

Punkinfiddle is our last big event of The Busy Season and it always makes the fourth week of September feel like a “the turning point” – exit summer, enter fall. Frost threatens, jackets are located, the kids are ensconced once more in school.

Wells Reserve, Center for Wildlife, and York County Audubon Society partnered yesterday to offer the third annual Winter Wildlife Day, and 150 people attended! Activities included live animal presentations with non-releasable wildlife ambassadors, tracking walks, face painting, and the creation of plaster track casts, owl window decorations to prevent bird strikes, and binoculars. Snowshoes were available to use on the trails, and hot cocoa greeted visitors when they returned from the outdoors. It was a bustling day with lots of smiling faces!

We had loads of fun with campers this week during school vacation! Both days of Winter Trekkers Camp brought us out on the trails of the Reserve, exploring tracks and scat that wildlife left behind, searching for camouflaged rabbits, looking into tidepools at the beach, and wearing our scientist hats to test the temperature of varied mini-habitats.

On Saturday, the Wells Reserve and New England Wild Flower Society partnered to offer a "Naked Shrubs" workshop with naturalist Boot Boutwell. Participants hailed from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine to learn how to identify 15-20 species of shrubs in winter. Following a slideshow and overview of identification terminology, the group hit the snow-covered trail to observe shrubs up close. …

Here are a few images from the second Winter Wildlife Day, held during school vacation week with help from York County Audubon and the Center for Wildlife. Despite the lack of snow, folks had a good time. The rain showers seemed to arrive when everyone was inside for presentations and the sun came out when it was time for the trail walks.