The Outside Story

There are few things on this pulsing planet that appear less alive, and more adverse to life, than snow. It falls from the sky in sharp-edged crystals. It blankets the earth in white, silent…

A few summers ago, I saw a red squirrel skittering along the top of a stonewall with something in its mouth. I snuck in closer and discovered the headless body of a chipmunk dangling from its…

Cold got you down? Ready to trade in your hat and scarf for something a little scantier? While you’re waiting for that to happen – and good luck! – consider a visitor to these…

We take for granted that trees drop their leaves in fall and open their buds in spring, with a glorious burst of flowers and leaves. Indeed, florists know that apple branches cut in March and…

We lost money on sheep this year at our farm. In the grand scheme of things, we’re in good company: farmers in New Hampshire and Vermont have been losing money on sheep for going on 180…

It was with uneasiness that I accepted the little African violet a friend gave me for my birthday a few years ago. I had never had any luck growing the cute little furry things. To my dismay,…

Five years ago, chronic wasting disease (CWD) was spreading across North America like wildfire. It leapt from its stronghold in the Rocky Mountain states across the Mississippi River to…

Insects have evolved a variety of different strategies for surviving the sub-zero temperatures of winter. Many spend the winter in a simple life stage – usually an egg – which is…

Each fall day he appears with a skinny face and leaves with ballooned cheeks. Over and over, he fills his cheeks and runs away to empty them. Our eastern chipmunk, it seems, is living in a…

Moose are arguably the most novel of all North American large mammals, if for no other reason than their strange appearance. Whereas deer and elk are handsome creatures, rams majestic, and…

On an August day 15 years ago, eight Minnesota junior high school students on a field trip caught 22 frogs in a farm pond. At least half of the frogs had some abnormality, mostly in their hind…

In the simplest terms, an ecological niche is analogous to the basic “ice-breaker” question asked at social gatherings: “So, what do you do for a living?” Of course, outside of a few…

This afternoon, a 390-million-year-old thysanuran paid me a visit on my desk. It wasn’t really that old, just a little creature whose uninterrupted ancestry dates back at least that far.…

The rod was nearly yanked from my hands as a dark shadow tore out of the shallows and attached itself to my lure. When you’re 11 years old, this can be a life-changing experience. I…

One of the evolutionary adjustments whitetail deer have made is to reproduce early and often. A six-year-old whitetail doe can easily become a great-great-grandmother, and she can continue to…

Since long before Europeans began building permanent settlements in the Northeast over 400 years ago, Vermont, New Hampshire, Quebec, and the lands bordering this broad region have been…

In Pittsford, Vermont, a state-threatened sunflower nods in the breeze. Near Concord, New Hampshire, the tiny, federally-endangered Karner blue butterfly flits from one flower-spike of wild…

Inside our homes lives a collection of wildlife that is about as wild as life gets. Most of us are aware of the bigger stuff that wants to move in with us – pigeons, snakes, mice,…

In the English language, someone who overeats is called a “pig”; a coward gets labeled a “chicken.” If you raise pigs or chickens, you know that these barnyard associations are deftly…

Our lawn is a scruffy assortment of grasses and weeds that receives zero care apart from mowing. The beleaguered grass struggles in the face of competition. However, green grass persists in…