In northern New England, acorns ripen in late summer and normally drop from oak trees from September through October. They may fall earlier, however, for a host of reasons, from eager squirrels…

Arborist Fred Breglia has a lifelong fascination with big trees. As a child, he often heard his mother speak about a great oak tree near their home in the Catskill Mountains. When he was old enough to…

On a recent hike up Eagle Mountain in Milton, Vermont, we climbed to a ledge overlooking Lake Champlain. Turkey vultures soared overhead, tilting back and forth on the breeze. A sheer cliff dropped to…

This week, we found a migratory flock of Nashville warblers, notable for their bright white eye rings, hunting insects in a hedgerow along a waterway. Despite their name, these warblers are common…

Growing up in the Bay Area in California, Dallas Huggins had “minimal exposure” to the natural world. She started hiking as a teenager, but really dove into exploring the outdoors when she…

We’ve been spotting some monarch butterflies lately as they sip nectar from late summer blooms. Can you tell if this one is a male or a female? How? And – for bonus points – how is the…

Until 65 million years ago, huge reptiles dominated our planet – and every summer I think they might be making a comeback. The sight of a snapping turtle hauling herself onto a sunny log or…

This past weekend, we were lucky enough to be standing in the middle of a field when a migratory flock of twelve common nighthawks came flying down the Ompompanoosuc River Valley. Nighthawks are…

I’m trying to promote regeneration on a woodlot that had been high-graded before I took over management of it, leaving mainly diseased beech behind. Deer over-browsing is also a challenge here.…

This article is the third in a series focused on forest carbon. Alexandra Kosiba is a forest ecologist, tree physiologist, and assistant professor of forestry at the University of Vermont Extension.…

Woodcarver George Calef has fond memories of sitting at his grandmother’s knee, almost 80 years ago, as she looked out the window at the birds flitting around her birdfeeder. “I’d…

For those of us who worry about the decline of monarch butterflies, milkweed species have special status as the butterflies’ obligate larval hosts. Early autumn – as the pods of common…

During the summer, in addition to stocking five cords of firewood for the colder months, I spent time preparing for an autumn moose hunt in the forest of northern Maine. My hunting companion will be a…

A note from the editors: An abridged version of this photo essay appears in the Autumn 2023 print issue of Northern Woodlands magazine. We were fascinated by Steven Arcone’s detailed study of…

As autumn days shorten and insect food supplies dwindle, migratory songbirds must prepare for their impending southward flight. This typically involves completing the post-breeding molt (providing a…

Open a hydrology map of a northeastern watershed, and you’ll see networks of blue lines: delicate threads of headwater streams starting high in the mountains, crossing contours to merge with…

Your beloved chainsaw engine is essentially a fiery air pump. The process starts by drawing in fresh air, compressing that air, and then adding a dose of fuel and a spark – resulting in…

About 20 years ago, when my wife, Rita, and I were still renovating our Maine farmhouse, we did much of our refurbishing with materials scrounged from old buildings that were falling to the wrecker.…

Susan Sawyer is a New England naturalist who draws and paints to further her understanding of the natural world. She has taken on a lifelong project to explore and record her experience on two 3-acre…

A favorite of foragers, shagbark hickory nuts can be used in recipes ranging from granola and cake to cookies and fudge – or simply, as Tami Gingrich notes, for snacking straight from the hull.…