The Outside Story

More than 70 years have passed since a mountain lion was hunted and killed in New England. In 1938 a Quebec trapper caught the last one on record—in Maine. New Hampshire’s last…

Last Sunday, I gave in. I hung my head, gassed up the chainsaw, and walked into the woods. Not into deep woods, exactly, but to a spot on our hillside where a summer windstorm, hard on the…

Two winters past a pair of Carolina wrens frequented our bird feeder. The male greeted the dawn with an ebullient “tea-kettle, tea-kettle, tea-kettle.” After sunset, the intrepid…

Snow: Love it if you ski, but hate it if you have a long driveway. I happen to cross-country ski and like lots of snow, and so far, two weeks into the new winter, I have few complaints. Maybe…

The other day I noticed snow fleas dusting new snow around a maple trunk. These minuscule creatures — broadly known as springtails — are out early this year, and I didn’t…

They are essentially introverts, yet they hunt and feed and breed in plain view in our own backyards. They can be ruthless predators, merciless vandals, or unwitting comediennes. Sure,…

Wild swings in the price of home heating oil and propane have caused many residents of Vermont and New Hampshire to dust off and fire up their old woodstoves. Those who have looked into buying…

With patches of snow on the ground and wood smoke drifting in the air, late-autumn changes are everywhere. Many species of birds have left for southern warmth; weasels and hares have put on…

Creators of fabulously rich wildlife habitats or nuisance animals that cause flooding and property damage? It all depends on how you perceive the beaver, North America’s largest rodent.…

From hickory nuts and beechnuts to hazelnuts and acorns, nut-bearing trees and shrubs produced a bounty this year. Local wild nuts are free and healthy to eat. Plus, they don’t require…

They soar and glide with the grace of our most elegant birds. They are content exploring the high seas for fish or picking through dumpsters for fast-food leftovers. They are approachable and…

On many mornings I share my shower with a long-legged friend. In fact my friend has eight very long legs and the same number of eyes. She usually hangs upside-down in a loose web above the…

Around this time of year drivers are more apt to notice dead deer along the sides of highways. You may have heard that hunting is the cause – that hunters scare deer from the woods and…

Evolution among tree and bug species is something of a cat-and-mouse spy game: One side discovers a strategy that earns it the upper hand, at least temporarily, then the other side counters…

For the past six months they flickered among us—tiny flashes of red, orange, yellow and blue floating above hayfields and dancing in flower gardens: spring azures, great spangled…

It’s easy to assume plants just sit there and do little, while animals run around busying themselves. Not the case: Plants often are on the move, or at least their seeds are. A plant…

On a remote mountaintop in the Dominican Republic just before Christmas, a group of Vermont biologists crouched in the undergrowth and played recorded bird calls hoping for an early holiday…

Once the world discovers you know something about nature, the questions never end. Odd phone calls come from people you’ve never met asking about the identity of this or that plant or animal…

Bim … bim … bam. This late-summer sound announces that our oak tree produced acorns this year and is dropping them onto the metal roof of our shed. Along our road in Thetford, Vermont, and…

Didymo in a river looks like many gross things: trailing wisps of toilet paper, goopy brown blobs, a coating of slime. It’s commonly referred to as “rock snot” and for good reason. If…