The yellow orange fly agaric (Amanita muscaria var. formosa) is common in the Northeast, especially where conifers grow. While this mushroom is often a bright red color in much of its range –…

Reader Kirk Gentalen shared this photo, snapped in the woods of Mid-Coast Maine after a rainy day in early fall. What is this?

About 11 years ago, Rebecca McCabe began volunteering at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, Pennsylvania, as a college biology student. After completing her studies, then earning a master’s…

This September, everything was coming up slime molds. And dragonflies, with a side of frogs. In New Boston, New Hampshire, Bill-lee Abbott discovered a beautiful specimen of Xanthotype moth. In…

Ben Cosgrove returned to the Lyme Congregational Church for a lovely night of music. A composer, pianist, and multi- instrumentalist from New England, Ben’s music straddles the line between…

This week in the woods, we were surprised to find American goldfinches feeding on something – we’re not sure what – among the dead leaves that had accumulated on top of a derelict…

On an October day years ago, my husband and I were canoeing on a pond in the Green Mountain National Forest. We heard crashing in the bushes along the shoreline just before a magnificent bull moose…

Young striped skunks such as this little one — photographed by a remote wildlife camera near a barn this week — disperse from their families in autumn. Skunks tend to be solitary, although…

In May of this year, when a cottonwood measuring nearly 3 ½ feet in diameter and more than 100 feet tall fell across a trail in the Saint Michael’s College Natural Area, I saw the event…

While walking along a forest trail in Strafford, Vermont, we noticed these charred zombie fingers poking out of an old hardwood snag – and took a photo before making a run for it. What are these?

Sam Cox has always been drawn to the woods near his family’s large grain farm. When the 17-year-old is not completing school work, competing with his robotics team, or helping on the farm, Sam…

This week in the woods, we found a young spring peeper – perhaps two centimeters wide – crossing a trail by a wetlands. If you’re out at twilight, you may hear peepers now, although…

As autumn begins and insect populations dwindle, many waterfowl species rely increasingly on seeds as a food source. Common buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), with its spherical bouquets of seeds…

I recently found myself sitting in the crawl space of my house holding a bioluminescent mushroom. I’d been on a quest to find one of these light-producing mushrooms and, on my birthday, had…

This week in the woods, we had the privilege of participating in a guided walk hosted by Northern Woodlands and led by mushroom expert and author extraordinaire, Meg Madden. One of the many specimens…

Join mycology educator, macro photographer, and author Meg Madden, on a mushroom curiosity walk to learn more about the lives of these fascinating organisms. On this walk we will explore the woods and…

Kirk Gentalen grew up in New Jersey, within sight of New York City. Since leaving home to attend college in California, he’s lived in several states, working as an environmental educator along…

Reader Mary Heide shared this photo of a maple leaf with “strange spikes sticking out of it,” which she found at her home in Taylor County, Wisconsin. What is happening here?

In August, many of you seemed intent on documenting the diversity of late-summer life forms on the forest floor. Berries, insects, snakes, and frogs all featured prominently (there was also an…

The early fall temperatures, migrating birds, and abundant displays of colorful fungi and berries make this week an especially nice one to be out in the woods. Tig Tillinghast photographed this…