Wildlife

The Open Space Committee will host a wildlife tracking session in Lincoln Woods, from 10 a.m. to noon, next Sunday. Participants will meet on King Philip Road to hike or snowshoe, depending on conditions, through the newly logged forest, searching for critters. Dress warmly and bring water. Snow or rain cancels the event. - Christine Legere

John Galluzzo is constantly on the go. He's a man who likes to set goals and achieve new personal bests. In 2009, he took a 30-minute nature walk every day, no matter what the weather, in a different place each day. Last year, he upped the ante. In 2011, Galluzzo logged a half-hour walk in a nature preserve or outdoor setting in every city and town in the state. It was 351 towns in 341 days, starting in Dighton on Jan. 1 and ending in Hardwick on Dec. 7. "I wanted to show that you can be anywhere in Massachusetts and be within 15 minutes of a nature walk," he said.

Those who thought they missed the Westborough Community Land Trust's "Tracking the Wildlife of Little Chauncy Pond" event last week are in luck. The session has been rescheduled for Saturday from 10 a.m. until roughly 12:30 p.m. Animal trackers Janet Pesaturo and Bob Moore will lead nature lovers through the areas surrounding Lake Chauncy, educating them on how to track animals using nothing more than a simple footprint, found fur, or droppings. The event is recommended for adults and older teens.

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. - Kristen Hart's search for a cold-blooded killer came to an end at a perfect hideout - thick scrub brush, dense trees, and shade. She crouched with three scouts and whispered. "Do you see her?" asked Hart, a research ecologist for the US Geological Survey. "Yeah, she's in there," answered Thomas Selby, a wildlife biologist. "I think she knows we're here," said Brian Smith, another biologist. Within seconds, the 16 1/2-foot Burmese python uncoiled and tried to slither off. What happened next is a drama that plays out every week or so, as state and...

A state grant program overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs will benefit efforts to restore rivers, watersheds, and wildlife in Canton, Kingston, Plymouth, and Wareham. Grants statewide range from $15,600 to $75,000. The funds came from sale of the state's three environmentally themed specialty license plates: the Right Whale Tail, the Leaping Brook Trout, and the BlackstoneValley Mill. The Neponset River Watershed Association in Canton received $25,000 to help communities in the watershed prepare and implement the new EPA Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System general permit.

Janet Pesaturo, with the Animal Trackers of New England (formerly Nashaway Trackers), will lead a hike through the areas surrounding Little Chauncy Pond on Saturday. Pesaturo will offer tips on how to track and identify animals using footprints, fur, and food left behind, and other tactics. The areas around Little Chauncy provide a wide variety of habitats, from forests to swamps to wet meadows, and the chance to see evidence of rabbits, deer, squirrels, coyotes and otters. This event is best suitable for older children and adults.

MONROE, Maine -- A fire has leveled Forest Hart's hilltop home, studio, and gallery, but the wildlife sculptor and his wife say they remain optimistic and look forward to rebuilding. "All I've got is what I'm wearing, a pencil, a comb, and a jackknife -- and, you know, I feel pretty good," said Hart, who sifted through ashes Tuesday in search of drawings and notes he used to sculpt his bronze figures. Hart has pieces at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland and at the University of Maine.

New Hampshire tourism officials have developed a statewide self-guided tour for wildlife viewing and birding trails. Visitors to the state Division of Travel and Tourism website can see a map with descriptions on 25 viewing locations and what they see there. The site offers suggestions like the best time of year for spotting bald eagles and the best way to navigate an area, whether by foot, bike or boat. The Wildlife Viewing & Birding Trails brochure can be downloaded from the http://www.wildnh.com website or http://www.visitnh.gov website on the Adventure...

Vermont's rabies bait drop will start next week to prevent the spread of the disease among wildlife. The fish-bait vaccine will be hand-placed in rural areas of eight Vermont counties. An aerial bait drop will take place from planes sometime during the first week of September. Federal officials are trying to stop the spread of raccoon rabies into Canada. Officials say the baits are not harmful to children or pets if touched or eaten, but say the pellets should not be handled or disturbed.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said yesterday that changes it wants to make to endangered species rules before the president leaves office will have no significant environmental consequences. That's the conclusion of a draft assessment released by the Interior Department that represents one of the last remaining hurdles for the regulations to become final before Jan. 20. The administration in August proposed letting federal agencies approve power plants, dams, and other projects without consulting government wildlife specialists in some cases.

DENVER - A bear whose photograph was widely circulated after it was tranquilized and fell from a tree at the University of Colorado last month died this week when it was hit by two cars after returning to town, probably looking for food. A photo captured the 280-pound black bear in midair, its arms and legs spread, after it was tranquilized April 26. The animal was relocated 50 miles away to the mountains, but was struck around dawn Thursday on US Highway 36, which connects Denver to Boulder.

When wildlife agents infiltrated the home of a small-town Alaska couple suspected of dealing illegal animal parts, they didn't expect to find fine art among the couple's loot. But amid the machine guns and illegal ivory, the pot and coca plants, sat five pricey Victorian paintings pilfered from a New England woman's home in 2005. Now that the Glennallen residents targeted in the investigation are behind bars, the government is trying to reunite the paintings with their rightful owner.

If you get far enough west of the city, the mighty Charles River isn't so mighty, snaking tentatively through the low plains and wetlands, unsure of its plans. In its serene basin sit some of most bucolic acres in Greater Boston. Mass Audubon's Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick offers 9 miles of trails through forest, marsh, and meadow. In the spring, the sanctuary is alive with song, as migrant birds announce their return from winter holiday. The unseasonably warm weather this year has drawn them home weeks earlier than usual.

How to get there It's not easy to get to the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. To get to Bunia, the closest big city, you can take the speedboat from Ntoroko in western Uganda, a two-hour drive from the popular tourist destination of Fort Portal, to Kasenyi, and hire a taxi or motorcycles from there to Bunia. Alternatively, you can fly directly to Bunia from Entebbe Airport, the main airport in Kampala, Uganda. From Bunia, a bus or hired taxi can take you the eight hours to Epulu, the town where the reserve is located.

With spring upon us, Maine wildlife officials are offering moose-viewing tips to the public. May and June are typically the prime months to see moose browsing at roadsides or feeding at lakes and ponds with their young. With 29,000 moose, Maine has the country's largest moose population outside of Alaska. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife says the best times of day to see moose are at dawn or dusk — the animals spend the warmest part of the day in the woods.

State wildlife authorities are investigating the grisly discovery of 14 dead coyotes at a Belchertown lumber yard. Janis Sugrue, owner of Native Lumber Co., says she informed state environmental police on Monday after a neighbor riding her horse on her property, saw, and smelled, the carcasses. Environmental police and a representative from the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife visited the site Tuesday. It is unclear where and how the animals died. Officials say there was no obvious evidence of gunshot wounds or trapping.

You may not have heard of Aldo Leopold but the conservationist, forester, philosopher and writer is considered by many to be the father of wildlife ecology and his well-known book, A Sand County Almanac, is considered a classic in conservation. Leopold died in 1948 in Wisconsin and his impact on wildlife management and wildernesses grew after his death. Here is a chance to get to know him better. On Thursday, June 2, the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service will host the Boston premiere of Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time, at the Stuart Street...

JACKSON, Wyo. - Standing by the Snake River in the hushed dark of morning, I screwed my camera onto my tripod at Schwabacher Landing and tried to focus on the blue-gray snow-capped mountains in the distance. My husband, John, an avid photographer, and I had been up since 4:30 to catch the sunrise over the Teton Range, the youngest of the mountains in the Rocky Mountain system. This picturesque part of Wyoming is prized for its skiing. The area receives an annual average of 460 inches of snow and Rendezvous Mountain at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has the...

Photos courtesy of Charles MacPherson (Above) A photo of a bird captured mid-flight. (Left) MacPherson taking photos. By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent Scituate Arts Association's monthly Meet the Artist series will welcome wildlife photographer Charles MacPherson to discuss his career, explore his glimpses at nature, and give insight into the secrets of wildlife photos. MacPherson, a Scituate resident, has traveled internationally to photograph wildlife.

With the exception of old-fashioned petting zoos, typically when young children reach out to touch "wild" animals, adult reactions range from annoyance to fear. At the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth, that sight is greeted each week with smiles and encouraging cheers from both parents and staff members. The center itself is 28 years old, but it's been in its state-of-the-art, three-story "green" building on Columbian Street only since 2006. Wounded and abandoned wild animals are treated there.