The Outside Story

Grab a handful of soil. Go ahead, step outside and scoop up a small amount in your hand. It’s hard to imagine all that’s going on in there. You’re holding trillions of creatures, though…

There were times, during Tropical Storm Irene, when the rivers in Vermont and New Hampshire seemed to be made out of something other than water. Whatever it was was viscous and liquid, sure,…

A number of years ago, when I was working in a New Hampshire mountain hut, a man walked in from the rain and saw a piece of paper thumb-tacked to the wall with the day’s weather forecast on…

No one has been bitten by a rattlesnake in Vermont in over 50 years. But that streak ended last year when a man in Fair Haven was struck between the thumb and index finger by a snake as he was…

While controversy rages over the reinstated killing of wolves in western states, these predators may be making a quiet comeback in the northeast, slipping across the border from Canada. And…

It’s the middle of August, and the heat and humidity have chased me to the relative coolness of Centennial Woods, a 147-acre patch of forest owned by the University of Vermont. There’s not…

Few activities in this world are better for the soul than taking a child fishing. Most anglers recall fondly the early days of their youth when that person, be it a parent, grandparent, or…

To be wet on a hot summer day is a glorious thing. On a steamy weekend, you don’t have to go far to find long lines of cars beside the road and people soaking in the river below. One of the…

To birders and meadow-walkers alike, the bubbling, exuberant song of the bobolink is one of summer’s highlights. Singing as it swoops over grasses, this black bird with a yellow cap, white…

One mid-summer day while out for a walk, I heard a loud buzz and looked up to marvel at a hummingbird moving methodically along the bark of a basswood tree, lapping up sap that oozed from…

At first I thought that the bee was attacking me. As I dashed out of our garage, the bee suddenly appeared and hovered before my face in a seeming challenge. It looked like a bumble bee with a…

We’ve become accustomed to constant improvements in the high-tech world. Computing power doubles every 18 month, new software upgrades become available by the week, and no sooner have you…

Last June, Rose Paul, The Nature Conservancy’s director of science and stewardship in Vermont, grasped a seven-foot-tall American elm sapling at the base of its trunk, slid a three-gallon…

Our reaction to the word ‘parasite’ is usually one of disgust. After all, aren’t parasites the creepy, revolting little creatures that burrow into animals’ bodies and spread through…

Invasive species don’t always arrive in North America in the bilge of a boat from Asia, in a shipment of wood from Europe, or from another distant shore. Some species, like the rusty…

Find yourself a sphagnum-covered bog in Vermont or New Hampshire, and you’re likely to find a pitcher plant. Peer a little closer, and you’ll find a miniature food web living within each…

Four years ago, researchers found a statistical link between Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus and Colony Collapse Disorder in honeybees. Three years ago, researchers at Penn State University…

On the fourth day of spring, fifteen kindergartners rejoiced in a sunny field a few blocks from downtown Montpelier, Vermont. It was Friday, a school day, and Mrs. Koch’s morning lesson,…

At the waning of Sogalikas, the “sugarmaker” moon, the traditional Abenaki season for gathering wild edible and medicinal plants begins. Abenaki culture has been handed down to the present…

Among the noisy throngs of blackbirds that are the earliest harbingers of spring in the Northeast, the rusty blackbird often escapes notice. Few birders encounter this enigmatic songbird…