At some point Great Blue Herons learn to fly. It must be interesting to see them jump off a 50’ perch for the first time. There are no pilot instructors or safety nets below. You just wing it,…

Rat-a-tat-tat. Showers of acorns hit the ground and tapped our heads as my husband and I hiked the Appalachian Trail. Thousands of acorns strewn across the path atop multi-colored leaves made for…

This Week in the Woods, we found the spiky seed balls of bur-reed in a beaver meadow. The plants (several species) grow in shallow water and wet soil; we often find them at the edge of marshes.…

As the Chittenden County Forester, Ethan Tapper works with landowners in Vermont’s most populous county. For Tapper, this work is as much about engaging the community as it is about managing the…

We found a bush covered in these fluff balls at the edge of a field. What plant is this?

I can’t seem to pass a hollow tree without stopping to snoop. If there is a cavity within reach, an investigation is in order. Wear and tear around a hole, evidence of food items on the ground,…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve noticed red osier dogwood along wetland edges. This shrub often grows in multi-stemmed stands, and its bright red, speckled stems are eye-catching in the late…

In your second gallery, AM Dannis captured spooky images of a Halloween “Hunter’s Moon,” Vin Lawrence withstood a bluebird invasion, and Kelly Stettner admired bright red winter…

Bent down in an apple field searching for a lost earring, I found a different treasure: a stout mouse-like animal, with a short tail and stubby ears. It gave me one quick look, then disappeared…

Rumbles of thunder have grown distant, and the pea-size raindrops that were slamming my face a short time ago have dwindled to a mist. With the rain easing, I notice trickles of water running down the…

This Week in the Woods, the evenings are cold, the morning meadows are frosted with ice. It’s time to get out the winter coats. In bogs, purple pitcher plants are even more eye-catching than…

Celebrate nature every day of the year with the Northern Woodlands perpetual Northeast calendar. It measures 5”/5”, spiral-bound at the top, it can stand like a pup tent on a windowsill or…

We received many submissions to our October gallery, and are therefore (once again) dividing them into two batches. In this first gallery, many of you documented beautiful autumn landscapes, from…

Reader Tammis Coffin snapped this photo of a curved, twisted-topped pod in western Massachusetts. What is it?

Jeanette Fournier spent much of her childhood in the woods around her home in Littleton, New Hampshire, or filling notebooks with drawings and sketches. Throughout a career in the corporate human…

For nearly a decade, I’ve been adding to a brush pile in the woods behind my home. A depository of pruned branches, dead flowers, discarded logs, old leaves, and an occasional Christmas tree,…

This Week in the Woods, we’re experiencing boomerang weather – a spate of warm days after snow. Now that most leaves are down, we’ve been noticing signs of black knot, a common and…

My approach to fish is strictly epicurean. The last fish I caught was unintentional; a smallmouth bass hooked itself while I untangled a line. I’ve never gone fly-fishing. And yet, I love a…

Pine barrens are certainly piney – but they’re not the least bit barren. They were so named not because they lack life, but because colonists found them unsuitable for raising cattle or…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve been noticing bright green knight’s plume moss, growing atop old stumps and other dead wood. It’s an exceptionally pretty feathermoss, with fern-like…