Some catch their prey while in flight; others sit and wait for prey to come near. They’re a group of birds known as aerial insectivores, and they’re in trouble. In our region, this…

I went to Wyoming two weeks ago – it was my first visit as an adult. Vague childhood memories of Devil’s Tower and Yellowstone didn’t prepare me for just how different the landscape…

Ten inches wide and bumpy all over, this melon-shaped mass was discovered in Church Pond in the Adirondacks. What is it? Photo by Judy Brook.

If Richard Jagels had a casebook like Sherlock Holmes, the titles might be: “The Case of the Twig in the Mirror”, “The Case of the Killer Ship Mast”, “The Case of the…

Do you remember your answer to that youthful question: if you had to be one or the other, would you rather be deaf or blind? Most of us believed we’d never have to be either, though my answer…

In the case of Snake Fungal Disease, if the Jedi Knight from Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi, summoned the power of nature by uttering, “The spores be with you,” he would be spot on. This…

Recently, I have been hiking with my infant son. It’s hard to know what, if anything, he takes from these forays. At two months, it’s a safe bet he’s not counting the chickadees,…

Consider the ubiquitous woodchuck (also known as the groundhog); an animal found from Labrador to Alabama; throughout all of the eastern U.S., west to Kansas, Nebraska, and the northern tip of Idaho;…

One of the rarest plants in New England is also one of the hardest to see, even if you know where to find it. That’s because it takes a bit of paddling on the Connecticut River to find each of…

This tree seems to have had a branch or a second tree growing from it, then it died, but then it seemed to have grafted itself back. Would appreciate learning more about this. Jackie Lyman, NH When…

Bella was first to find the old well. A border collie mutt with a heavy coat, she made it her business to sniff out water. On a hot day’s walk, she inserted herself tail first into its opening…

These ears perked up for a camera click in Holderness, New Hampshire. Who owns these ears?

When I was ten, I carried a tin can of worms and a battered fishing rod to the wild shores of Brickyard Pond, in the woods behind our subdivision. We caught mostly scrappy sunfish and white perch,…

The New England settlement story is a familiar narrative. We all know the tale: farms hacked out of daunting woods in the eighteenth century, rolling Agricultural lands in the nineteenth century, and…

Northern Woodlands is pleased to announce that the winner of our Orvis HELIOS 2 fly rod and reel raffle is Betty J. Dobson of West Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Congratulations Betty! Thank you to everyone…

Photographer John Timmis captured this image on Wilson Pond in Greenville, Maine. “She would disappear underwater going after aquatic vegetation,” he remembered, “causing the flies…

Let’s start out with a riddle: What animal has 16 toes and a tail that breaks off when grabbed by a predator? Not sure? Here’s another clue: It’s the smallest terrestrial vertebrate…

Reader Judy Brook took this picture while kayaking the LaPlatte River in Shelburne, VT. What is it?

I’m holding my daughter up to a jar. It’s a quart jar, initially used for syrup, more recently serving as my improvised coffee-to-go container, and now in its third career as the parsley…

While the difference between a deer trail and a hiking trail may be obvious, what makes a trail good for feet is not always what makes a trail great for tires. Whereas hikers (and deer) tend to be…