The great gray owl (Strix nebulosa) is a northern raptor that only occasionally graces our northeastern states. Also called the phantom of the north, these owls have large facial discs with…

Like any good animal, we sense the change of seasons through a hundred subtle clues. Leaves change and shed, becoming crispy piles underfoot. Geese cross the bright sky. Other signs of winter are…

This week in the woods, we heard the sharp, harsh jip calls from a gregarious flock of red crossbills and watched them alight on this red spruce and begin to forage. While a medieval European legend…

We found this dried husk of a scape while skiing in Shelburne, Vermont. What flower was this?

Matthew Largess is an arborist and old-growth forest enthusiast in Jamestown, Rhode Island. He studied forestry at Paul Smith’s College in the mid-1970s before leaving to work as a logger. After…

While many of our region’s colorful birds fly south for the cold months, resident woodpeckers offer a reliable contrast to this season’s monochrome palette. A pileated woodpecker’s…

This week in the woods, we encountered a pair of bald eagles that had begun rebuilding a nest in Lyme, New Hampshire. Many overwintering birds, like the bald eagle to the left, fluff up their feathers…

For hundreds of years, people believed that, come autumn, barn swallows would dive under the surface of ponds and lakes, swim to the bottom, and bury themselves in the mud for the winter. We now know…

This week in the woods, we shared a moment with a boreal chickadee, the more reclusive, higher-elevation cousin of our familiar feeder bird, the black-capped chickadee. Through the winter, the boreal…

Jessica Pierce is a service forester at Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in the Bureau of Forestry. She has been with the Department for 14 years and has worked across…

This pile of scat was found in an early-successional stand of hardwoods in Kingfield, Maine. Who produced it?

Delicate ice art, bold snow tracks, and brilliant birds were among the subjects of December’s photo submissions. Dawn Brooks discovered bear tracks in Monterey, Massachusetts; Ken Dickerman…

On an early winter walk with my three-year-old in a local town forest, we heard our steps crunch on the frozen ground. The dirt of the trail had been pushed up on delicate columns of ice that looked…

This week in the woods, the familiar cigar shapes of cattails’ pollinated female flowers waved over a beaver pond in West Fairlee, Vermont. These cylinders are densely packed with hundreds of…

Last autumn, I was canoeing in a quiet saltwater cove on the Maine coast when I realized I had a tiny stowaway onboard. A masked shrew (Sorex cinereus, also called the cinereus or common shrew) was…

This week in the woods, we’re watching the bouncy, undulating flight of the American goldfinch, which has earned comparison to a rollercoaster, a stone skipped across a lake, and a sine/cosine…

On a fine gray afternoon in late October, I came across an impressive cone midden beneath a towering red spruce. While it was surely the work of an industrious squirrel – perhaps a family, given…

Few plants evoke winter holidays in the north more dependably than the Christmas holly (Ilex aquifolium). The plant’s handsome evergreen leaves and red berries have enjoyed a sacred place in…

Forest Magic for Kids: How to Find Fairies, Make a Secret Fort, and Cook Up an Elfin Picnic is an enchanting guide to 50+ imaginative, hands-on activities that invite children to explore the wonder of…

This pendant features two delicate, tiny mushrooms thoughtfully positioned in front of graceful fern fronds. Each Woodland Pendant is a one-of-a-kind treasure, crafted with real natural specimens…