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Merlins Abide at Spruces ParkBy Tor Hansen, iBerkshires columnist
05:30PM / Tuesday, September 18, 2018 | |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Look aloft, for I hear wings stirring the air and the primeval cry of a falcon in the spruce! Also known as pigeon hawk, a family of merlin falcons occupies a significant niche in the open meadow known for its tall Norway spruce, seeded when these 38 acres was formerly a thriving mobile home park. While I was surveying this moist meadow for butterfly diversity, both resident and migratory, walking the dirt roads between weedy quadrants, I heard a deliberate outcry from above, and looked up to behold some large hawk-like birds swiftly flying between the tall spruces that punctuate the grassy meadow like solemn sentinels. A 4 Comments
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Solar Array Planned For Pontoosuc Country ClubBy Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
03:58AM / Friday, September 14, 2018 | |
Joe Fiori outlined the plan to the Conservation Commission but also told the neighbors that the company will be before the Community Development Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals, and will hold a neighborhood meeting as well. PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Ridge Avenue-area neighbors feel blindsided by a plan to construct a 6.6-megawatt solar facility at the Pontoosuc Country Club. The Boston-based solar developer Nexamp Inc. is looking to take over 25 of the 131 acres on the course for a photovoltaic array. The planned array is located on the southern portion of the property — the Hancock Road side of the first handful of holes. Nexamp's business 2 Comments
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Hidden Bio-Gem Discovered at Mountain MeadowBy Tor Hansen, iBerkshires columnist
05:22PM / Sunday, August 26, 2018 | |
Another image of the northern pearly eye found at Mountain Meadows and enhanced by Erik Hansen. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — As I walked up the grassy trail to Mountain Meadow Preserve, I was soon in for a big surprise. Following a zigzag erratic flight of what looked like a common little wood satyr, a closer look when it roosted on a blade of grass before I could close the shutter, what flew off turns out to be a heretofore unlisted satyrid for Mountain Meadow, the multi-Argus-eyed northern pearly eye. Enodia anthedon is hard enough to find on Cape Cod, my former home for more than 30 years, let alone here in the Berkshires. Watch carefully the sylvan fringe where 3 Comments
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Swallowtails and Purples Abound at Stoney LedgeBy Tor Hansen, iBerkshires columnist
04:33PM / Sunday, August 05, 2018 | |
A monarch sips nectar from a lily. Its wings can brush against the flower's stamen and anthers, spreading its pollen to the next flower. ADAMS, Mass. — The winding trail out to Stoney Ledge on the slopes of Mount Greylock is wide enough to allow sunlight to penetrate the high leafy canopy above, creating light gaps where wildflowers abound that attract assorted butterflies. The tiger swallowtail is the sole swallowtail here in late June through mid-July, and quite numerous, leading to a surprising estimate in the thousands for the whole Greylock mountain range and neighboring valleys. Swallowtails looping and fluttering through the green woodland in this great 0 Comments
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Environment Massachusetts Releases 'Roadmap' To 100 Percent RenewablesBy Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
03:45AM / Wednesday, July 25, 2018 | |
State Director Ben Hellerstein is urging lawmakers to "go big" with policies to quickly roll out renewable energy technology. PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Environment Massachusetts is pushing for Massachusetts to get 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources. On Tuesday the organization joined with those heading local renewable energy projects to release its agenda, or roadmap, to do so. "We could produce 19 times as much electricity as the state consumes each year from offshore wind. From solar power, we can get 47 percent of the state's electricity just by putting solar panels on every rooftop in the state - to say nothing of larger, 3 Comments
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Hoosic River Host to Mother Merganser and DucklingsBy Tor Hansen, iBerkshires columnist
03:58PM / Sunday, July 01, 2018 | |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — What came as a complete surprise while I was surveying wildlife at the Hoosic River was an armada of little ducklings paddling to keep up with their mother merganser. I had heard of ducks laying up to 12 eggs per nest, but 16 fuzzy red heads all in tight single file seemed incredulous. Perhaps she had taken on another missing mother gander's offspring. As time passed, I counted five ducklings able to catch a ride on mamma's back, while the rest paddled wildly behind, reminiscent of loons carrying baby loons while crossing an upland lake. This sighting is my first for river mergansers and caused in me a reserved jubilee, a quiet 0 Comments
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Cecropia, Our Sylvan KingBy Tor Hansen, Guest Column
07:15PM / Wednesday, June 20, 2018 | |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — So majestic is Hyalophora cecropia in appearance and biology that our sylvan king of the realm is a fitting title. Just how this regal silk moth can engineer survival despite an inborn handicap is to its credit all the more remarkable. That such a resourceful creature can change form, starting with a tiny egg advancing to an enticing armored caterpillar, to a slumbering pupa inside a silken cocoon, emerging transformed into a wondrous moth is totally amazing. Cecropia is an ancient moth, but its remote origin remains a mystery. So named by the father of binomial nomenclature, the taxonomist Carrolus 0 Comments
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State House Passes Act That Helps Preserve Family Farms| 02:46PM / Monday, June 18, 2018 | |
 BOSTON — State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli joined state Rep. Kate Hogan of Stwo and colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass a bill that aims to preserve family farms across the commonwealth.
H.3915, An Act to establish estate tax valuation for farms, would change the method for assessment of the estate tax valuation for agricultural land. Pignatelli, of Lenox, worked with Hogan to include the agricultural estate tax reform bill as part of a larger environmental bond bill that seeks to address the commonwealth's climate change preparedness and response plans.
"The agricultural estate tax is possibly one of the most important pieces of legislation
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Pittsfield Inching Closer to Decision on Plastic Bag BanBy Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
04:02AM / Tuesday, June 05, 2018 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — City officials are slowly getting closer to rendering a decision on the plastic bag ban. Attorney Rinaldo Del Gallo proposed a ban on single-use plastic bag -- specifically the bags used at the checkout of grocery stores -- a little over five years ago. Pittsfield would have been at the forefront of the effort but during the time it has kicked around the legislative process, 79 other communities in the state have passed bans. Del Gallo said he'd even like to build on the petition by adding a surcharge for customers who use paper bags, an incentive to encourage residents to go with reusable bags. But, given the length of time it has been 8 Comments
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Spring Harbinger Butterflies Abound on Mount GreylockBy Tor Hansen, Community Submission
05:44PM / Saturday, April 28, 2018 | |
ADAMS, Mass. — Under azure blue skies our sun is warming the ground story all around the woodlands of Mount Greylock, and the native butterflies are responding. Drawn out of winterlong hibernation, resident species are actively flitting about, searching for mates, and sipping both ground moisture and sap from oak and beech trees. As April warmth pervades the trailside glens, as winter's remnant snows remain and recede, one may find joy in witnessing these showy denizens basking in vernal warmth, and dashing and zooming hither and yon, in pursuit of conjugation or coupling so to procreate their progeny or offspring. Here nature shows us 0 Comments
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