A yellowthroat warbler sang, “witchety, witchety, witch,” as I carefully made my way through the tangle of an alder swamp one afternoon not long ago. I looked about, hoping to…
The Outside Story
The Outside Story is a series of weekly ecology articles that has been appearing in newspapers across New Hampshire and Vermont since 2002. The series is underwritten by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation - Upper Valley Region and edited by Catherine Wessel at Northern Woodlands. To suggest a topic for a future article, inquire about writing for the series, or learn how to bring the series to your local paper, contact Catherine.
Some of our favorite articles from the series have been collected in The Outside Story - local writers explore the nature of New Hampshire and Vermont and The Outside Story Vol.2, available in the Northern Woodlands online shop and at bookstores across the region.
“This is the finest, and most timeless, almanac I’ve ever seen. For those of us who cohabit northern New England with the bear and the grosbeak and the trillium, it is the single easiest (and most charming) introduction to our neighbors, to our place, and to the passage of time that’s yet been written.” - Bill McKibben
Turtlehead Tests Bumblebees’ Mettle
Among the blooming perennials of late summer is one that guards its secrets closely. The lockbox blossoms of white turtlehead (Chelone glabra), a native plant in the plantain family, are an…
The Hidden History of Cyanobacteria
Perhaps you saw the flyers at your town office or a warning sign posted at your favorite swimming hole. The smell might have driven you home, but maybe you crept closer – unable to see…
Syrphid Flies Puzzle and Pollinate
Survey the insects orbiting a globe of milkweed blossoms or the delicate blooms of a chokeberry, and you might spy an apparent chimera. It looks a bit like a bee, perhaps a tad like a wasp,…
On the Edge, But Not on the Brink: Northeastern Bulrush
Twenty years ago, at this time of year, I found myself walking the margin of a marsh in east-central Vermont with Bob Popp, Vermont’s state botanist at that time. We had traveled to that…
Finding a Baltimore Checkerspot
A few summers ago, I was walking my dog in a pasture near my house when a butterfly landed on my bare leg. It was a medium-sized black butterfly with orange crescents along the margins of its…
What Makes Blueberries Blue?
Every summer I go blueberry picking and I notice the many colors of blueberries, from the luminous indigo of unpicked berries on a bush, which turn nearly black after handling, to the deep…
The Real Story of the Viceroy and the Monarch
On a warm summer morning, you’re sitting in your yard enjoying a slow moment, when a flash of color catches your eye. Bright orange and black wings dance through the air before alighting…
Treetop Gem: The Brilliant Blackburnian Warbler
One recent morning, trying to find the source of a warbler trill high in a white pine tree, I was rewarded with a brilliant flash of orange. It was my first sighting of a Blackburnian warbler,…
Fish Mouths: How Anatomy Suggests Ecology
The river roars in the heat of the summer. The water is clear and cool, and a respite from the high sun. An angler leans back, fly-fishing rod in hand, and casts it forward. The fly drops and…
Life in a Shell: Eastern Box Turtle
As a budding naturalist growing up in the concrete-heavy environs of Boston, I would regularly thumb through my family’s collection of nature books and daydream about the creatures…
The Dapper Sparrow of the Underbrush: Eastern Towhee
From forest edges and thickets on late spring mornings in the Northeast comes what sounds like an exhortation from across the pond: drink-your-tea! This is not a British parent’s plea,…
Goldenrod Crab Spiders: Masters of Disguise
On a spring morning walk, I stop to smell a painted trillium and am greeted by a goldenrod crab spider (Misumena vatia). Bending down for a sniff of the white and pink blooms, I am face to…
Celestial Creature: Indigo Bunting
There is nothing like the royal blue of an indigo bunting. In the Northeast, they arrive fashionably late to the spring fling, behind the vanguard of migrating warblers and other songbirds. On…
Against the Flow: Spring Alewife Run
One of the most exciting rites of spring is the alewife run, an annual event where throngs of fish race upstream from the ocean to inland water bodies on a reproductive journey. These…
Mosquitoes in the Rain
If you’re a mosquito and it’s a warm spring afternoon, you’re out cruising the air currents on your tiny wings. But as you buzz around, the sun warming your exoskeleton, the…
How Growth Rings Chronicle the Seasons
The longer, warmer days of spring spark phenological changes in trees, from root to tip. As the limbs of trees stretch and twist toward the sky in search of sun, their trunks grow wider to…
Hepatica: Ephemeral or Evergreen?
As the days get longer and the sun warms the forest floor, hepatica flowers start emerging. These charming early bloomers captivated the writer and naturalist John Burroughs, who extolled…
Of Ferns and Other Fantastic Fractals
Fractals are sometimes referred to as a “visual representation of math.” They can be observed in the spatial arrangements found in many familiar forms, patterns, and shapes in…
Mating Rituals of Muskrats
Muskrat mating is so sensational that songs have been written about it. Fans of 1970s pop music might be familiar with a certain ballad, written by Willis Alan Ramsey and popularized by bands…