1.   People who are fond of me call me “sugar bush.”
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

2.   I’m that black bird that you see perching silently on tree branches, logs, stumps, or other objects out in the middle of ponds, especially in spring and fall.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

3.   You might think I’m a strange pinecone or old corncob, but I’m a parasitic plant that grows on underground oak tree roots.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

4.   I’m a bright red bird that comes to New England to breed in forests, and I sing a raspy song while my green mate blends in with the foliage.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

5.   Listen for my lovely flute-like song in the woods – one of the special sounds of summer.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

6.   Like some other butterflies, my colors are orange, black, and white, but my checkerboard pattern is distinctive.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

7.   My caterpillars probably ate all the leaves off some of your trees, and they’re likely to do it again this coming spring.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

8.   I’m a summer bird of the forest floor, with a loud repetitive song, and I’m named for my dome-shaped nest which resembles something the early colonists used for cooking outdoors.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

9.   I’m a gray flycatcher with a name that sounds like my song, which you might, still hear in late summer and fall when many other birds have gone silent or already gone away.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

10.   As an invasive giant reed, I’m hard to miss in local wetlands, and surprisingly, I’m a host plant for a small native butterfly, the broad-winged skipper.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

11.   Saplings are still sprouting from my roots, even though I’m long gone due to a blight that ravaged eastern forests more than a century ago.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

12.   I’m a lacy fern that stays green all winter in our local woods, thanks to sugars and proteins that act like antifreeze inside me.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

13.   You might notice a ring on my bill, but I’m a diving duck named for a ring that’s hard to see on a different part of my body.
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee

14.   I eat about 4 mice per day, and my mate and I and our three chicks eat 9,800 mice per year, so we do a much better job of controlling rodent pests than any poison you might use!
American chestnut Baltimore checkerspot Double-crested cormorant Evergreen/intermediate wood fern Gypsy moth Ovenbird Phragmites Red-tailed hawk Ring-necked duck Scarlet tanager Squawroot Sugar maple Wood thrush Wood-pewee