Author Archives: Hillary T.

About Hillary T.

Where: Mass Audubon Headquarters, Lincoln Who: Massachusetts transplant by way of Florida and New York. Raising two young girls, who she hopes will be budding naturalists Favorite part of the job: Learning something new every day from some of the smartest and most enthusiastic groups of people

Summer Reads

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Hillary T.

Towel? Check. Sunscreen? Check. Hat? Check. Snacks and water? Check. Now that you have the essentials, all that’s left to pack before you hit the beach or the hammock is a great summer read. And, since you’ll be enjoying the outdoors, why not make it a book about the outdoors.

To offer some guidance, I asked Leslie at the Audubon Shop in Lincoln for her top picks. Like what you see? Stop by Shop at Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary or order a copy over the phone at 781-259-2214. Mass Audubon members save 10 percent plus your purchase helps Mass Audubon protect the nature of Massachusetts.

Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O’Brien
A student researcher at Caltech is captivated by an injured four-day-old barn owl and adopts him, keeping him for the next 19 years. This warm and heartfelt tale reveals much about both the bird and the humans it lives with.

Good, Good Pig: the Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery
Christopher is the name Sy Montgomery gave to the sick piglet she brought home in a shoebox. He eventually grew to weigh 750 pounds, became a beloved family member also adored by the neighbors, and was featured on USA Today and NPR. A charming, wise, and personable memoir by the same naturalist who brought us Birdology.

The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston
A classic of nature literature originally published in 1928, this beautifully written account still speaks strongly to us today. Beston intended to stay for two weeks on the Cape but was so mesmerized by the beauty he found on the beach that he stayed for a year. This book has a personal connection as well: the cottage where he stayed was given to Mass Audubon in 1960. Sadly, it was destroyed by a winter storm in 1978.

Life List: A Woman’s Quest for the World’s Most Amazing Birds by Olivia Gentile
A biography of Phoebe Snetsinger, a mother, housewife, and amateur birdwatcher who received a terminal diagnosis of cancer at age 49 and responded by setting out to see as many of the world’s birds as she could. This is the tale of her quest, the hundreds of trips around the globe she made, and the risks and dangers she faced. It’s a story with both triumph and tragedy.

Bayshore Summer: Finding Eden in A Most Unlikely Place by Pete Dunne
Director of the Cape May Bird Observatory, Dunne gives us a personal tour and intimate portrait of the New Jersey Shore—the beaches, the birds, the nearby produce farms, the crabbers and fishermen, and the unspoiled beauty many of us may not remember or know.

The Armchair Birder Goes Coastal: The Secret Lives of Birds of the Southeastern Shore by John Yow
A great companion for a ramble along the beach, this is a witty and individualistic look at the lives of southern waterbirds.

A Paradise of All These Parts: A Natural History of Boston by John Hanson Mitchell
Editor of Mass Audubon’s Sanctuary magazine, Mitchell evokes a wonderful sense of place as he explores both the historical and modern landscape of Boston. Readable, lively, and entertaining.

And tell us: What’s your favorite nature-inspired read?

Photo via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Smelly Side of Nature

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Hillary T.

If you were one of the many people captivated by the rare titan arum a.k.a. corpse flower that recently bloomed at the Franklin Park Zoo, but didn’t get a chance to see it (or smell it for that matter), don’t fret. While it will be some time till “Morticia” blooms again, you may be able to discover an insect-attracting stinky species while exploring the outdoors in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, you may have to wait until next spring to sniff all but one of these out as many have already bloomed.


Stinkhorns are a variety of strikingly-shaped mushrooms that have a sticky, spore-bearing coating that smells like rotting meat. The attracted flies get the spores on their feet and “plant” them elsewhere. In Massachusetts, you can typically find ones like the “Stinky Squid” during summer and fall.

 

 

A member of the lily family, Red (Purple) Trillium gives off an odor reminiscent of a wet-dog, earning it the nickname of, you guessed it, “wet dog trillium.” This spring bloomer is also known as Stinking Benjamin and Wake-robin (since it appears about the time people first notice robins in the spring).

 

 

Skunk Cabbage is pollinated by flies in the early spring. It’s also capable of generating its own heat, thereby enabling its very early emergence in the spring.

 

 

 

Dutchman’s Pipe is a type of Pipevine used locally as an ornamental vine. The “pipe” shields the flowers, which gives off a strong odor in mid- to late-spring that attracts flies that are then trapped inside by special hairs; once the fly gets covered with pollen the hairs wither and let the fly escape.

 

 

When it blooms in the spring, Jack-in-the-Pulpit gives off the odor of mushrooms and attracts fungus gnats for pollination.

Photo Credits from Top: Noah Siegel/Wikimedia Commons; USDA Forest Service; Sue Sweeney/Wikimedia Commons; Ondrej Zicha/www.biolib.cz; Ivo Shandor/Wikimedia Commons