Often enough each October, Maine’s upland-bird hunting offers woodland wanderers a magical experience that may include agreeable temperatures, snapping dry air and cerulean skies splotched with fleecy white clouds. Nature’s touches prove really enticing up north, where lighter development means more open land for hunting grouse and woodcock.

The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) hosts a Coyote Hunting and Trapping Workshop on Sept. 29 from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at SAM’s headquarters on 205 Church Hill Road off Route 3 in Augusta. For info, please call (207)-623-4589 or check www.sportsmansallianceofMaine­.org.

Recently, Tom Seymour of Waldo spotted a 24-inch black snake on bare gravel by his home and assumed it was a black racer, rare in Maine, so rare that state official’s have placed it on the Endangered Species List.