News
Songs of a grocery store checker and the white-throated sparrow
2+ day, 52+ min ago (236+ words) Heather Hopp-Bruce is director of visual strategy for Globe Opinion. A version of this essay first appeared on her Substack, Hoppyard. In the early 2000s, a single white-throated sparrow in British Columbia made up a new song. After umpteen years of…...
Bird sightings on Cape Cod
1+ mon, 3+ week ago (216+ words) Recent sightings (through March 31) as reported to Mass Audubon. The king eider continued in Sandwich Marina and surrounding areas. A flock of up to 7 black vultures was seen various places on the Cape between Sandwich and Dennis. A clay-colored sparrow…...
Beach, please: Mass. Senate backs Healey's plan to redefine when a beach becomes public
1+ week, 1+ day ago (990+ words) After languishing on Beacon Hill for years, a proposal that could redefine when a shifting beach in Massachusetts is considered public is, itself, inching closer to Governor Maura Healey's desk. The Massachusetts Senate on Wednesday unveiled a $3. 6 billion bond bill…...
With energy-efficient homes, moisture can be a challenge. But a New England company has a simple solution: Paint
1+ week, 3+ day ago (484+ words) PROVIDENCE " As a physics professor at Brown University, Derek Stein's research focused on nano science and nanotechnology. "Basically, I was really interested in making little devices that could manipulate single molecules like DNA and proteins, and understand how fluids and…...
Judge rules against R. I. coastal regulator, vacating approval of contested shellfish farm
1+ week, 6+ day ago (787+ words) PROVIDENCE " A Rhode Island judge ruled against the state's Coastal Resources Management Council, finding the regulatory agency failed to follow proper procedures when it signed off on plans for an aquaculture farm by the owner of the popular Matunuck Oyster…...
World's oldest known tortoise still very much alive despite rumor to the contrary
2+ week, 12+ hour ago (172+ words) Jonathan is still kicking " albeit slowly " on the island of St. Helena. News of the Seychelles giant tortoise's demise spread rapidly on social media on Wednesday. An account on X, falsely claiming to be by Joe Hollins, a veterinarian who…...
Bald eagle found dead near Mystic Lakes, nonprofit says
4+ week, 1+ day ago (143+ words) A bald eagle well known by those who frequent Mystic Lakes in Medford was found dead last week, according to a local environmental group. The bird, known simply as "Female Adult Eagle," or FAE, was brought to the Tufts Wildlife…...
More than a little lamb at Lexington farm
1+ mon, 23+ hour ago (886+ words) LEXINGTON -- March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, as the clich" goes, but few get to live it heartbeat-to-heartbeat for all 31 days. At Meadow Mist Farm, a dozen baby lambs were born in February and…...
A red fox stows away on cargo ship, traveling from England to US
1+ mon, 5+ day ago (212+ words) A red fox somehow slipped onto a cargo ship that traveled from Southampton, England, to New York, where the animal is now in the Bronx Zoo's care. The zoo said Wednesday that the 11-pound (5-kilogram) male fox appears healthy after…...
Demystifying the majestic owl
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (871+ words) CAMBRIDGE " The owl worshippers flocked to Story Chapel at Mount Auburn Cemetery, where the birds of prey sometimes hoot from their perches in the trees shading the tombstones. "Eyes on Owls" swooped in recently for three educational programs about the…...