The rain and winds of Sandy couldn’t keep these birds away from a feeder in central Vermont. Identify all three by their full common names.

I took a walk before the rain from Sandy started early Monday morning. You could feel the low pressure and see an unusual pallor in the sky even in southern Vermont. One year and change past Irene, I…

Photographer Chris Mazzarella loves to capture the moment of nature in his photography, and the dispersal of cattail paracute seeds offered him the perfect opportunity to do this. "I took this photo…

If you’ve seen a well-developed clinker polypore (Inonotus obliquus) protruding from a tree, there’s a good chance that you remember it. This fungus causes large, black, cinder-like…

We milled a bunch of beautiful-looking white pine logs the other day and found that many boards had red rot in them. Can you tell me more about red rot? Red rot is the local name for a common wood…

We know that squirrels make the most of fall's plenty by hoarding nuts for the winter, but the fact that birds also store, or cache, food goes largely unappreciated. Through clever observation…

There were a series of public meetings this week in Vermont concerning a new industry-wide maple syrup classification system that will affect the whole Northeast. As it stands, each state has a…

Guess which animal sports these little feet.

American elms were once a favorite tree in urban landscapes across America, prized for their elegant shape. When Dutch elm disease found its way to the United States in the 1930s, it slowly moved…

Researchers from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are attaching high-speed cameras to pigeons to gain insight into how the birds navigate through dense forests and…

A new study of eastern red-spotted newts, by a biologist at Bennington College in Vermont, suggests that these amphibians are able to adapt to dramatically different aquatic conditions. Elizabeth…

One autumn day, 15 years ago, I found myself perched on a ladder that was leaning against a highway sign on Interstate 89 somewhere in Vermont. There was a wooden box clamped to one of the sign poles…

Two wings and a prayer will carry a blackpoll warbler on a remarkable journey to South America this autumn. Well, two wings, a prayer, and the energy packed into a scoop of Ben & Jerry’s…

When asked to name the fastest animal on earth, many people will respond “cheetah.” But it is the peregrine falcon – a cliff-dwelling raptor –that holds that title with the…

In the midst of like-minded company, like here in this blog, I often speak of the “woodlot” – the place my family goes to, among other things, cut firewood, make maple syrup, grow…

It's that time of year. Can you identify the trees and plants from whence these colorful leaves came?

“Excuse me. Is this . . . the peak?” This query, from a perplexed tourist whose family had traveled from Italy to enjoy New England’s world-renowned foliage last fall, rather…

A quiz: The first society to make paper was: A. Egypt. B. China. C. Vespidae. Answer: C. Vespidae is the family that includes paper making wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets. Social insects,…

Anyone in Maine who was paying attention knew that by the end of September 1947, a forest fire was likely. There had been almost no rain during the previous 10 weeks of high summer. Newspapers and…

Renewable Energy with the Convenience of Fossil Fuel It’s a scene you’ve undoubtedly witnessed many times: a fuel truck lumbers up to a house, the driver attaches a hose to the…