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The Outside Story Archive
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Snug as a Snow Bug
One frosty winter’s day, while tracking a mink along the edge of a stream, I discovered some tiny winter stoneflies creeping on top of the snow. Unaccountably, the stream-dwelling larvae of these insects metamorphose into adults and emerge in the depths of winter. Feeding on algae, they move along the rocks, snow, and tree bark. After mating, females lay eggs… (more)
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Jurassic Fluff?
A New England January would be hard to bear without that winter essential: the puffy down jacket. It’s a great accessory for leisurely walks, but when we exert ourselves and speed up the pace, a down jacket quickly gets too hot. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a jacket with adjustable insulation, plus wind and waterproofing? Well, birds have all… (more)
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North Country Pig Out
Ever wonder why those Angry Birds on your smartphone app are so mad at those pigs? It’s probably because the pigs are feral. According to estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are about five million free-ranging, feral swine living in the U.S. and they’re wreaking havoc on native ecosystems. If you were a ball-shaped bird, all that… (more)
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Winter Raptors From the Far North
Winter can be a lean time for birders. The vast majority of our avian diversity has moved south, and watching the few species that visit our birdfeeders from the comfort of a cozy living room often seems like the best option, compared to birding in a frigid north wind. However, periodic invasions of raptors from the far north can often… (more)
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The Ecological Effects of Road Salt
Spreading salt to make treacherous ice disappear must have seemed brilliant in the early days of its use. Naturally occurring, abundant, and cheap, road salt allows people to get to work on time and to get home again, even when slippery snow or sleet pelts through the total darkness of a typical winter evening commute. But the price of this… (more)
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Going Sweetly Into Winter
As the landscape settles into winter, one of the things we notice (and likely enjoy) is the virtual absence of insects. As small, cold-blooded creatures, insects cannot stay active at low temperatures; they quickly chill, their metabolism stops, and they freeze to death. To escape an icy demise, insects in northern latitudes employ many tactics for winter survival, such as… (more)
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The Secret Life of the Mourning Dove
There was a time when I considered the mourning dove to be too commonplace and familiar to be worthy of much attention. All of this changed one winter when I began to notice that some birds at my birdfeeder had frostbitten toes and missing toenails. I looked into the matter and learned that mourning doves were originally a southern bird,… (more)
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A Holiday Nature Lesson
There are few symbols of the holiday season more universally recognized than the Christmas tree. Selecting it, chopping it down, trimming it, and placing on the star are traditions anticipated year after year by those celebrating the season. There are songs to sing around the Christmas tree and parties to celebrate its decoration. There are December nights spent around it… (more)
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The Butcher Bird
While most common songbirds migrate south for the winter, our part of the world is “south” for several birds of the far north. Snow buntings, common redpolls, and rough-legged hawks, among others, regularly move into our region in the winter months. These northern visitors make cold-weather birding interesting, but one bird – the northern shrike – stands out because of… (more)
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Tree Cavities: Whose Hole is That?
Many years ago I developed the habit of locating a stout walking stick whenever bushwhacking through the woods.The stick’s primary purpose isn’t for balance or support, it’s for whacking the occasional tree.When I encounter a tree with a cavity larger than about three inches in diameter, I often check to see that there are no dead branches above my head… (more)