For those of you struggling to learn bird identification, here’s an innovative system to help you name any species you encounter. That’s right. No more pesky field guides. Your avian…

When an insect develops on a single host, and kills the host in the process, it is called a parasitoid. Parasites, on the other hand, tend to nibble on their hosts without killing them. And predators…

Stewardship Stories - Readers Share Their Ideas and Projects In the fall of 2007, with support from the U.S.D.A.’s Wildlife Habitat Improvement Project (WHIP), we installed seven vernal pools of…

Once upon a time, forest stand structure meant age structure. Areas of forests containing similar-aged trees were called even-aged stands, and areas with trees of multiple ages were considered…

Let’s go back to the good old days. Let’s go back to the days when all was well, when life was pure, when music filled the air. Chances are good that every one of us is drawn to an image…

As communities in the Northeast look for green fuels to replace coal and oil, they are exploring options in woody biomass, including plantings of shrub willow. Our forests will certainly play a key…

They’ve been compared to oversize antlers, bones, or fantastic teeth. If you’ve ever seen the remains of a stump fence, you probably have your own description. The stump fence is an…

The onset of spring brings many changes to our part of the world. The longer days and higher temperatures entice plants to emerge and trees to bud. On our lakes, the ice begins to melt. We anticipate…

Who knew? David Allan Sibley’s natural history interests do not end with birds. Nearly a decade after the appearance of the landmark Sibley Guide to Birds, we now have a bookend volume - same…

For some time now, the board and staff of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education have been working on a plan to increase our organization’s capacity so that we can reach many more people…

Two wildlife biologists in Rhode Island studying how forest-dwelling game birds make use of their habitat found that the birds unexpectedly exhibited what one described as “the bar scene…

Red maple trees are becoming increasingly dominant in forests throughout the eastern United States, and that worries Kim Steiner. A professor of forest biology at Penn State University, Steiner said…

Eastern hemlock forests are under siege by the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid, but a University of Massachusetts researcher thinks there is reason to be optimistic that the invasion may be brought…

Each of these cones was collected in the woods around our office in Corinth, Vermont. Name all five species.

Keeping chickens at the edge of a forest is always a gamble. Foxes, raccoons, skunks, weasels, fishers, and coyotes can sally forth at any time from the shadows of the woods in search of a chicken…

A friend of the magazine contacted me recently with a deceptively simple question: how do I know when to start tapping my maple trees? The literal answer, “whenever you can take time off from…

Bats on the Brink Spring Flower Show in the Woods Should you Manage your Maple for Timber or Sugar? Why Trees Grow Where They Do On the Job with a Biomass Buyer, Forgotten Stump Fences, Sharpening an…

Our brook in February is not yet in flood stage, nor is it in full throat, although now I can hear it from the house. If I could stir myself sufficiently, I’d approach the brook’s icy edge…

Each winter morning, like thousands of other New Englanders, my wife and I feed the birds before we feed ourselves. For us, it’s like a field trip around the property as we restock two sunflower…

By now you’ve all had a chance to read Bernd Heinrich’s wonderful story in our winter issue on identifying bird’s nests. You have read the story, right? Put your newfound skills to…