Alicia Daniel is a naturalist and educator in Burlington, Vermont. She is the founder and director of Vermont Master Naturalist, has taught at the University of Vermont in the Field Naturalist Program…

This week in the woods, we observed a large flock of American robins feeding in a crabapple tree – and perhaps getting drunk. Because sugars in fruit can ferment over the course of the year,…

Reader Jackie Robidoux shared this image of a tree snag marked by...something? What is at the opening here? And what does it indicate?

In the starkness of winter, squirrel dreys reveal themselves in the tree canopy. They’ve been there all along — just screened by trees’ leafy crowns for much of the year. Dreys are…

This week in the woods, despite the frigidity, we found this snowfly marching and tumbling across the snow on Black Mountain in Benton, New Hampshire. These members of the wingless cranefly genus…

As the winter sun set on February 3, 2023, the Caribou, Maine branch of the National Weather Service (NWS) was flooded with reports of seismic activity. James Sinko, the office’s hydrology…

Heath Bunnell has worked in the woods since he was a kid, stacking wood and tagging along with his father and grandfather, although as a young man, he briefly lived in Alaska, working longline fishing…

We spotted this bitternut hickory, bedecked in wart-like baubles, in Foley Park in Norwich, Vermont. What are all these bumps on the tree’s trunk and branches?

Birds, ice, and frozen objects take the lead in this month’s collection. Sandy Dannis of Dalton, New Hampshire, submitted an image of ice feathers, Timothy Loftus photographed a northern…

This week in the woods, we observed indications of black knot, the fungal disease caused by Apiosporina morbosa or Dibotryon morbosum and only infecting species in the genus Prunus. It shows up on a…

Walking along a dirt road last winter, I heard a collection of pleasant, sputtering trills coming from a stand of conifers and hardwoods nearby. I’m used to the winter conversation of chickadees…

This week in the woods, we found the tiny, stalked fruiting bodies (or apothecia) of pink earth lichen. This colorful lichen prefers disturbed areas and the full sun of settings such as roadsides…

When I think about winter survival, my mind first goes to wildlife: field mice curling up in nests, chickadees flocking to bird feeders, and amphibians burrowing into the mud. Rarely do I think about…

During winter, I often hear gnawing and the scurrying of little feet inside the walls of our house. Mice have taken shelter in our old farmhouse again. Although I hate killing the cute creatures,…

Halloween is long past, but you may notice devilish figures hanging out in scrubby fields and open areas this winter: horned larks. These birds are North America’s only true lark species. They…

Reader Anjelica Carroll found these clumps of white hair just off a path at the Retreat Trails in Brattleboro, Vermont. What is this? (There’s a hint at the bottom of the photo!)

Todd Davis is the author of eight full-length collections of poetry, including his most recent collection Ditch Memory: New & Selected Poems (Michigan State University Press, 2024). He has edited…

Your November photos captured colorful fungi in the stick season landscape, creatures still active in water, and early winter scenes. Sheri Larson saw stunning yellow fairy cups in Milton, Vermont,…

This week in the woods, we’ve observed a number of resident birds, as well as a loon that we hope has moved on to open coastal waters. Northern cardinals were uncommon in the Upper Valley as…

Tromping through our woods in December in search of a Christmas tree, I often notice an evergreen fern, one of the few green plants on the forest floor this time of year, other than young conifers. An…