On a spring morning walk, I stop to smell a painted trillium and am greeted by a goldenrod crab spider (Misumena vatia). Bending down for a sniff of the white and pink blooms, I am face to face with…

This week in the woods, we found this yellow-headed looper moth hiding its titular head beneath a fold in a leaf. This moth also goes by the common names pitch pine looper and eastern pine looper,…

Lee Kantar is the moose biologist for Maine and has been with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife since 2005. In 2019, Lee was award with the Distinguished Moose Biologist Award at the…

These white arches can be found on the forest floor, emerging from the soil and reentering just a couple inches away. What are they?

There is nothing like the royal blue of an indigo bunting. In the Northeast, they arrive fashionably late to the spring fling, behind the vanguard of migrating warblers and other songbirds. On my…

Brent Haglund came to macrophotography almost by accident. When he purchased his first digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, it was to capture images of his newborn son. Spending time on the floor…

The Bauhaus (1919–1933) was a German art school founded on the principal of the unification of art, design, and technology. The school had three primary goals: to combine art and design into a…

During my first lecture in front of a large room of students, a small spider put me – and my 220 students – at ease. As I flicked on the overhead projector, I spotted a ¼-inch…

Owning multiple chainsaws is a bit of an insurance policy. If a saw breaks, or gets pinched, having a backup saw (or two!) can keep you cutting. Last winter, I visited a friend who was frustrated by…

We know that tree rings can reveal the age of a tree, but how do these rings form? And what else can they tell us about the life of a tree? In temperate forests, with distinct growing and dormant…

Dozens of people are involved in creating each issue of Northern Woodlands. These are a few of the contributors to the Summer 2025 magazine. {image2} Brent Haglund, who photographed “The…

Certain clusters of technology have earned a place in our cultural imagination. Detroit is Motor City. There’s Silicon Valley just south of San Francisco Bay, Research Triangle in North…

Every so often, we commission an artist for a wildlife illustration for a Northern Woodlands sticker. We hand out these stickers at conferences and to office visitors, make them available in our…

Juneberry – also called serviceberry or shadbush – is an unassuming native fruit in the genus Amelanchier with many common names. Members of the genus grow throughout most of North America…

Like the fledgling heron in the image on the page opposite this column, two of my own children are preparing to leave the nest this summer. And like the gangly bird in the photograph, my human…

For 12 years, my family has spent a week on the same property in Downeast Maine. In mid-June, with summer draped lazily before us, we travel east along Route 1 and bear right after Bucksport. Time…

Outside my window sits a grand old maple that I have grown to favor, not because it’s mine, but rather, I belong to it—despite our separate homes in nature. I see how it bears  …

“I have spent many seasons observing several great blue heron nests at this beaver pond in Amherst, New Hampshire. I look forward to these prehistoric-looking birds’ return yearly and…

In late June, the route to the 3,839-foot summit of Plateau Mountain remained closed following a late spring storm that dumped heavy snow and ice, leaving a trail of downed trees that devastated many…

A topiary garden. A dairy farm. A meandering river flanked by floodplain wetlands. Hundreds of thousands of acres of managed forest stitching together Maine’s North Woods. An iconic sledding…