Take a look at this incredible old Christmas Bird Count map featuring the Ramsey circle.

The map, though musty, is a glimpse of our region before it got developed to a fare-thee-well.

The map includes a ZIPcode for Hagstrom, so it can't be older than 1963.

The Fyke Nature Association got the map scanned. (Thanks, Fyke!)

You can download the large but detailed file here:

Download Fykecbcmap(4)

 You can enlarge the map and see amazing details -- including how undeveloped this area was 50 years ago.

Does anyone know how old the map is, and who drew the circle, etc., and who did the lettering?

Even better, please share any info you have on the history of the Ramsey Circle!

My next free Zoom talk about The Real James Bond is for Maine's Mid-coast Audubon and the Camden Public Library is tonight (Thursday,  Dec. 16) at 7 p.m.

The ornithologist spent his summers in Maine his whole life, and he and his artist uncle Carroll Tyson even wrote a field guide about the birds of Mount Desert Island. (Tyson also did a famous portfolio of the birds of MDI with Bond's help.

You can learn more here.

Visited the Paterson Museum and the Great Falls this month. Lots of great exhibits on the Lenape, local geology and Paterson's industrial history (including a great collection of Colt firearms).

I believe that the carved stone bearing the name of legendary archeologist Max Schrabish might have been his gravestone. (He discovered the rock shelter near the Clove at High Mountain  and hundreds of other rock shelters throughout the Northeast.)

You can learn more here -- but call before you go... Best route to get there is probably via Route 80.

Over the many years of writing this blog, I have found that the posts that get the most traffic via Google involve screech owls and squirrels (and how to evict the latter from the former's nestbox).

If you don't evict squirrels, they will take over the box and -- sooner or later -- raise babies inside.

Here's the basic info:

When you see a squirrel enter the box,  vigorously whack the side of the box with a broom handle (being sure to steer clear of the opening).

(If you install a nest cam, you can find out fairly easily if have any furry squatters. You can also use a selfie stick, sort of like a periscope.)

Once the squirrel vamooses, remove any leaves that the squirrel(s) have imported. If the squirrels go back in, repeat. And repeat. And repeat, until you wear them out and they give up.

In the coming months, I will be adding more advice on how to make it tougher for squirrels to move in.

If you have any (humane) squirrel-eviction advice to share, please email me. (For example, I recently read a book that suggested giving the squirrel a mild shock of electricity as a deterrent.)

Found this barrel (on left) in the Clove last month. Any idea what it was used for?

Also found this thing (on right). Any idea what it was used for?

(Thanks to The Nature Conservancy for removing this discarded crap.)