A very large egg? Or a very small boy? This mystery orb was photographed in a southern woods, but it's also often found in the Northeast. What is it?

This whiplash weather we’ve been experiencing has made for some treacherous walking conditions up in our woods. A recent snow and thaw cycle produced layers of ice and powder – soft enough…

Your December photos (with a few last November ones snuck in) showed birds enduring the cold, people working in the woods, and intriguing ice formations. A bluebird peered through the falling snow, a…

Snow day! The announcement draws squeals of joy from students throughout the school district and groans from parents who must scramble to provide care for their kids and face a treacherous commute.…

Though it’s often called “fisher cat” or “black cat,” the fisher (Pekanis pennanti) rarely fishes and is not a cat. The fisher’s only likeness to the domestic cat…

This map represents typical winter destinations of nine species that nest on Karl and Kathy Ross’s 126-acre woodlot in Wallingford, Vermont. The Ross property includes a mix of northern hardwood…

Two chipmunks vie for seeds on our front lawn. One lives directly underneath the bird feeder. Another hails from the far side of the house, address unknown. The chipmunks appear identical to me: same…

“Logging and fishing are still a big deal in Grand Lake Stream and we protect it as much as we can.” With these words, Kenny Sprague introduces this story of an unlikely coalition that has…

Jennifer Blake-Mahmud often thinks of plants and trees as being somewhat like Lego building blocks. Sometimes what they become looks nothing like the picture on the box. For instance, they might…

Ever since last fall, I’ve been working on a tree. Chainsawing it up. Splitting it. Stacking loads of firewood. It’s a monster tree, about three-and-a-half feet across at the stump. An old…

I’ve always found slender, sharp, yellow-ochre beech leaves alluring, and it’s endearing how they cling onto saplings late into the fall. However, Fagus grandifolia, the American beech,…

A couple of decades ago, I spent several winters living in Crested Butte, Colorado, where I learned to peer into the cottonwood trees between Route 135 and the East River on the rare occasion when I…

Pam Ames has been an educator for more than 30 years, the last 13 of them at Killingly Intermediate School in northeastern Connecticut, where she teaches seventh grade science. She brings to her work…

While in the woods following one of our recent winter rainstorms, a few yellow stains were spotted around trees. What caused the staining of the snow? Thanks to Mike White for providing this photo and…

Tucked behind a stonewall on the edge of a hardwood forest, my six-year-old students and I spy on an Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) as it climbs out of a tree cavity and scurries down to…

Black-capped chickadees are one of the most frequent visitors to our bird feeders in winter, but do we really know them? This common bird exhibits some remarkable behaviors and winter survival…

The making of a Charlie Brown tree: this white pine was observed among a thicket of shrubs on a wet site. In addition to the shade and wet soil, what other major factor has limited the growth of this…

Back in the old days, there were printed field guides. The more comprehensive the guide, the heavier it was to lug around the woods. People left them at home. When they were out in the woods and…

Your November photos showed people (and Josh the dog) outside, enjoying the late autumn landscape. Ice and water featured prominently, as did the bright red berries of hawthorn, winterberry and…

Walking through the woods on a crisp December day, I spotted a flash of green amongst the rocks, snaking up through the snow. Greenery in a forest full of gray and white is a treat, and so I stooped…