Nancy Patch knew from a young age that she wanted to be a forester. Her work in the field has spanned four decades – including two years in Argentina with the PeaceCorps. But she’s…

We found this oak twig, sporting a cluster of interesting growths, behind the Northern Woodlands office in Lyme, New Hampshire, last week. Those are definitely not acorns. What are they?

Your July photo subjects included summer butterflies and moths, forest flowers, and everyone’s favorite: insect egg slime (Leocarpus fragilis), which is actually the fruiting form of a slime…

This young Virginia opossum was skulking around the bushes near a house at night, as opossums often do. Despite sometimes being mistaken for large rats, they aren’t closely related to rodents at…

It’s evening, and you’re in the forest. You close your eyes and inhale the sharp, sweet, turpentine scent of pine. The air is still, yet the branches overhead seem to nod at your presence.…

By early August, many birds have completed their parenting duties, and many migratory species will soon be heading south. However, second-brooding birds, such as house wrens, may still in the process…

The doodlebug waits. It is patient. It is silent. And it is hidden under a fine layer of dry, loose, sandy soil at the bottom of a small conical pit. Soon, a wandering ant will slip down the side of…

We’ve found many examples of this funky fungal form along trails this past week, ranging from pale orange to brick red in color, all having the basic mushroom cap and stem shape, but none having…

Erica Holm grew up in what she describes as a typical suburban neighborhood in southern New Hampshire. Although she wasn’t a particularly outdoorsy kid, she pursued a degree in natural…

As a friend recently commented about living in the Upper Valley, where the Northern Woodlands office is located, “I am still a little amazed at how calm people are with all of the wildlife…

For most of the year, it’s hard to find a pond without at least a few mallards swimming around. These ducks, with their green-headed drakes and streaky brown hens, are among the most common…

Many years ago, I visited a small stand of virgin white pine older than the Declaration of Independence in Bradford, New Hampshire, not far from the Warner River: 20 or so trees much more than 100…

Susan Hand Shetterly arrived in Prospect Harbor, Maine, as a young woman, a self-described “back-to-the-lander who’d never learned from the land, but was about to.” Along with her…

This week in the woods, we were tempted to devote the whole blog to mushroom photos, because the Summer 2023 fungi display continues to be epic. Case in point is this exuberant colony of Xeromphalina…

At first, I suspected it was the deer that had almost completely defoliated the northern spicebush sapling I had planted just weeks earlier. Only days prior, it had been brimming with new growth, and…

How Gifford Pinchot, Frederick Law Olmsted, and a Band of Foresters Rescued America’s Public Lands In This Land Was Saved for You and Me: How Gifford Pinchot, Frederick Law Olmsted, and a Band…

What we in the Northeast sometimes call a “Town Forest” is known elsewhere as a “Community Forest.” Although common and cherished by local residents, these publicly accessible,…

From nature notes to firewood stacking tips, there’s always more to learn about the woods. Sign up for Northern Woodlands News, our free, bi-weekly offering of seasonal nature images and info,…

We spotted this moth on a tree in Concord, New Hampshire. What species is it? What is it doing? And what’s with the dead caterpillars nearby?