The Outside Story

We could hear the pond before we could see it. The shrill “oak-a-ree” of red-winged blackbirds could be heard well into the surrounding forest. Closer to the pond, the loose banjo-string…

On a visit to the Galapagos Islands a number of years ago, I quickly became used to the daily “shoe dunk in the bucket” ritual. Traveling from island to island on a boat, we made sure our…

Traversing both the north- and south-bound lanes of Interstate 91 is an achievement for a turtle, particularly an irascible thirty-pound snapping turtle whose sense of appropriate timing had…

What makes a forest healthy? And can logging improve forest health? Perhaps you’ve seen ads – from paper companies, loggers, and sometimes foresters – with this message:…

A couple of summers ago, while working in my garden and enjoying the company of bumblebees buzzing in the tall, ferny asparagus, I noticed something strange. Each of the bees appeared to have…

You can hear the whine from across the room, higher in pitch and more ceaseless than the whine of a toddler, and even more annoying. If it has roused you from half-sleep, you have two choices:…

I mark the progress of spring by the succession of frogs that raise their voices to court and reproduce. My favorite, gray treefrogs, pipe up in late May, long after the wood frogs, peepers,…

When I used to think of water pollution, I imagined an industrial building with a pipe spewing smelly, vile-colored liquid into a river. I’ve never witnessed such pollution, but I do…

Deep down, most of us know that fireflies have a life, but a good firefly night brings such a flood of amazement and gratitude that questions about their larval phase, their diet, and their…

The first dawn volley of a yellow-bellied sapsucker on our metal roof is exciting because it signals spring. The twenty-first volley is a little harder to be enthusiastic about, but I forgive…

When the male bluebird first arrived in my front yard, I adopted a new routine. Whenever I reached the living room, I would glance out the big window to the north end of the garden, where a…

For those of you who view geology as a confusing bunch of stones from the ancient past, try this: Vermont has an income tax and New Hampshire doesn’t because Vermont is landlocked while New…

Thankfully, most northern trees aren’t dead in winter. They’re dormant – very much alive but relatively inactive. They still burn energy maintaining life, but little goes on in the…

A white pine weevil close up or, even better, seen through a hand lens, is so silly looking it will make you laugh. This plump, quarter-inch-long beetle (Pissodes strobi) has a tapering head…

When April temperatures reach 45 degrees Fahrenheit and a long rain extends into the evening, spotted salamanders are awakened by water trickling through the forest soil. They push their way…

If Vermont’s natural advantage in the twin-state rivalry is soil quality, New Hampshire’s is surely hydropower. It is easy to forget in today’s fossil fuel-powered economy…

Today’s vernal pools are a gift of the most recent glacier, the Wisconsin, which retreated 10,000 years ago. The soil beneath them is impermeable, either because it has been compacted by the…

In late March or the beginning of April, trembling aspen flowers, like those of the familiar pussy willow, are among the early signs of spring. The gray-green catkins open well before the…

Given an estimated around-the-globe average of 100,000 per cubic meter of soil, it seems astonishing that springtails (the tiny creatures often called “snowfleas”) are frequently…

Like Town Meeting, which coincides roughly with the season’s start, making maple syrup is a perfectly democratic activity. It attracts farmers and loggers, quarrymen and surgeons,…