Most people know that tree species vary in their ability to tolerate shade, with shade-tolerant species often found growing in the dim light underneath the shade-intolerant canopy trees they may one…

Primal, elemental, and evocative of the wild recesses of the human spirit, the “common” loon is among our most beloved birds. Its rapacious ancestors swam with dinosaurs and snared…

What is diatomaceous earth, you ask? Quite simply, it is the naturally occurring remains of Bacillariophyceae algae, unicellular organisms that have been abundant in the world’s oceans, lakes,…

If warblers have nightmares, they are probably about their cousin, the loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus). An elegant little bird, the shrike’s appearance is not what makes it so fearsome.…

I’ll make one prediction about this coming summer: the floor of the dry storage above our garage will become covered in bat guano. How do the culprits of this mess – likely little brown…

Ebola, SARS, avian flu. All of these are horrifying diseases. They have all attracted quite a bit of media attention lately. And, luckily, they seem to be diseases that are more of a concern to people…

Yesterday a warm mid-March sun shone upon a few inches of fresh snow. By nightfall, it was cold again and starry clear – perfect for bobcat courtship. Evidence of last night’s wildcatting…

Several years ago, I attended a talk by a Seattle man who described how civic leaders, after much consideration, had adopted the Pacific salmon as the key indicator of quality of life in their region.…

“Good weather for ducks.” How often have you heard a drizzly spring day described this way? But how about if the weather is 15 degrees Fahrenheit, with a stiff wind and light snow? Could…

Ten years ago, I led a field trip to Silver Lake State Park in Barnard, Vermont. A few parents and a gaggle of children – bedecked in flippers and waterwings – lugged our gear to shore.…

I was drinking around four gallons per year before I realized I had a problem. I should have kicked the habit right then, but instead I started making my own and was soon up to six gallons per year.…

As anyone who has ever planted a few apple trees knows all too well, growing apples can be a perplexing and frustrating endeavor. The trouble is that apples are very attractive to many of…

It’s a pleasant Saturday morning, and a small suburban park is filling with people. While the adults set up lawn chairs and dig out soccer equipment, the youngsters frolic on the grass. Just…

Trees of New England by Charles Fergus is not another field guide, and thank goodness for that. If I were to lug around all that are available these days, or even a selection of those of most…

In our Autumn 2004 Discoveries, we reported on research suggesting that friction and gravity constrain evapotranspiration in trees and thus limit tree height – to 426.51 feet in the redwoods…

The prices reported here are those that log buyers—mostly sawmills and wholesalers—are paying for logs. Because these are prices paid for delivered wood, landowners need to adjust the…

In last summer’s Discoveries, we reported that overly abundant white-tailed deer are inflicting great damage on forest understory plants, like ginseng. What are the implications of a forest…

Well before first light on an icy winter morning, a tractor-trailer unit wheels out of the yard at the Claire Lathrop sawmill in Bristol, Vermont, and heads for Barre Town Elementary and Middle School…

Last fall, I went to a nearby wetland with a pair of clippers and cut twigs from one willow shrub after another. It wasn’t hard to tell the willows from the non-willows because willows are the…

Odell, a biologist and wetlands specialist, is Wildlife Manager of Region 8 of the New York State Bureau of Wildlife, and we were looking for signs of successful wood duck breeding in a section of…