Parts of the arid West are so biologically different than the temperate East that they seem like they’re on a different planet. Even places that sound like they should be familiar – a…

Many people who profess to know nothing about wild plants forget that they enjoyed eating wood sorrel (Oxalis spp.) greens as children. It’s a common childhood experience and I can think of no…

As a birder for nearly 60 years, I’ve managed to enrage a few nesting birds. Arctic terns in New Brunswick once drew blood from my scalp. Canada geese in Ohio charged and hissed at me. And a…

The first time that invasive plant specialist Jeff Taylor laid eyes on the Mink Brook Nature Preserve in Hanover, New Hampshire, he didn’t want the job. “I couldn’t even see the…

Located in the scenic foothills of northwest Connecticut, Enders Falls is a unique, quarter-mile-long chain of five waterfalls and associated pools, ledges, and gorges. The waterfalls are the main…

To the delight of all who revel in the grace and beauty of nature, bald eagles are soaring above New England in numbers unseen for over a century. We’ve come a long way since the days when poor…

What is hiding beneath the leaves?

I am walking backwards in the woods, wearing a bicycle helmet, and experiencing an intense surge of cowardice. In one of my hands is a stick. On top of that stick, held aloft like a knightly pennant,…

From a den full of fox kits to fledgling owls, a common theme of your May photos was young life in the woods. Turtles basked, birds showed off their mating plumage, and a swarm of hot bees cooled off…

Our dying orchard was demolished during a frigid February storm that exposed the earth’s bones. My daughter, who had studied environmental science in college, suggested we not worry. Nature, she…

I’ll never forget my first encounter with lady’s slippers. While hiking the Long Trail in southern Vermont one June, we camped near a remote pond. Our tent site beneath an evergreen canopy…

Wuk-wuk-wuk-wuk! With a rattling call, a large bird took off from a tree and flew in an undulating fashion across our field towards the woods. It was black and the size of a crow, but flashes of white…

It’s the beginning of another mowing season, and green is only one of many colors found on most rural lawns. While yellow dandelions are seemingly everywhere, these small white and purple flowers…

It was a gray May day, and at the town forest in Fairlee, Vermont, a patchcut hummed with industrious students and volunteers. At the base of the hill teenagers plucked trees off a car-trailer, the 5-…

May is turkey season in the Northeast, a time when the sight and sound of a strutting tom is sure to stir a bird hunter’s heart. In this series of photos, a hot tom dances with himself. He…

To call the hurricane that pummeled the Northeast on September 21, 1938, “New England’s Katrina” might be to understate its power. Without warning, the storm plowed into Long Island…

Gabriel Tempesta’s home and studio are perched high on the edge of a Vermont meadow, overlooking rolling forests and fields. This sublime location is reflected in his artist’s statement:…

On summer evenings, Sam Jaffe has a tendency to loiter in gas station parking lots. This behavior has resulted in a continued acquaintance with the local police. Fortunately, he has the perfect…

One morning in mid-March, I opened the door to discover a dark-eyed junco frenetically battling another bird. Or at least it thought it was another bird. His nemesis was, in fact, his own reflection…

I’ll never forget the day I learned that certain bees nest on the ground. At nine years old, I was the self appointed neighborhood nature guide. One summer, as we entered the woods, a bunch of…