The Outside Story

Trees are about half water, maybe a little less in winter. And if the temperature drops low enough, the water in even the most cold-hardy tree will freeze. So how do trees survive…

The potential Christmas tree before you is conical, its cones dangling from skyward-curving branches, scaly bark covering its tapered trunk. Short, four-sided needles radiate spirally from…

“That’s a downy. No wait, it’s a hairy – definitely a hairy. Well, hang on...maybe it is a downy.” I admit it: I’ve had this happen to me more than once.…

“What a horrifyingly garish sight,” I said to my friend as we surveyed my Christmas tree last year. We had just finished decorating it and my eyes were sending messages to my…

Animals display a dazzling variety of colors, particularly in the tropics. But even here in northern New England where wildlife diversity is comparatively limited, we enjoy a rich palette of…

It seems each autumn, I start noticing sunsets more. They are so pink, so orange, so bright. I’ve always chalked up my autumnal sunset attention to my mood shifting with the changing…

Even if you’re not a deer hunter, chances are you’ve heard of “the rut” – slang for the white-tailed deer’s mating season. This event is going on right…

It's one of the pleasures of fall: walking in the woods on a warm day, scuffing my feet through a deep layer of newly fallen leaves. Looking down, I notice the gold coins of aspen leaves…

Many enjoy New England’s fall foliage for its aesthetics alone, and with good reason: it’s a spectacle that draws visitors from around the world. However, the unique progression…

If you’ve seen a well-developed clinker polypore (Inonotus obliquus) protruding from a tree, there’s a good chance that you remember it. This fungus causes large, black,…

We know that squirrels make the most of fall's plenty by hoarding nuts for the winter, but the fact that birds also store, or cache, food goes largely unappreciated. Through clever…

One autumn day, 15 years ago, I found myself perched on a ladder that was leaning against a highway sign on Interstate 89 somewhere in Vermont. There was a wooden box clamped to one of the…

When asked to name the fastest animal on earth, many people will respond “cheetah.” But it is the peregrine falcon – a cliff-dwelling raptor –that holds that title…

A quiz: The first society to make paper was: A. Egypt. B. China. C. Vespidae. Answer: C. Vespidae is the family that includes paper making wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets. Social insects,…

Where I live, the three warmer seasons are colored gold. In mid-May, the fields are covered with dandelions. Then come the buttercups, which turn the landscape into a real-life Monet…

There is nothing wild about most wild rice. Most was grown in a “paddy” in California, harvested by machines, processed in factories, and finally wrapped in packages of cardboard…

Most people, when they look at a tree, look up. Understandable. The trunk lofts limbs skyward, unfurling a shimmering sunlight-gulping net of leaves. But with a little imagination (and, more…

It was a late-May afternoon in central Oklahoma and big time thunderstorms were expected to form soon. I was there as part of a 30-person tornado research team – a Vermont…

If you’ve been to camp or a business seminar recently, you may have played an icebreaker called “Two Truths and a Lie.” The rules are simple: tell two truths and one lie…

Move over emerald ash-borer and hemlock wooly adelgid. There’s a new invasive pest in town, and it may be coming to a viburnum near you. The viburnum leaf beetle, (Pyrrhalta viburni)…