Last July, Rich Kelley posted a most unusual photograph to the Vermont Birding Facebook group with the caption, “Someone bit off more than he could chew.” The photo, taken in the…
105 results for declan
August: Week Three
This Week in the Woods, we’ve noticed bright green lungwort lichen, which grows on the trunks of both conifers and hardwoods. Because of its lettuce-like appearance, it’s easy to…
Fascinating Fishing Spiders
Large fishing spiders walking on water can be fascinating – or terrifyingly unnerving. The latter reaction is common among Saint Michael's College students as we sample…
First Week of July
This week in the woods, the spring chorus has simmered down, but there is still plenty of bird sound out there, including the “chick-brrr” of scarlet tanagers. The males appear as…
First Week of June
This week in the woods, we’ve noticed three different species of crane fly resting on leaves. At first glance, crane flies look like giant mosquitoes, but they’re harmless.…
Fourth Week of April
The spring ephemeral wildflower show continues. Red trillium (wakerobin) and round-leaved violets are just coming into bloom, while bloodroot is continuing (notice how it folds up its leaves…
Life at 39 Degrees
On a picture-perfect winter morning last year, 20 Saint Michael’s College students and I visited Vermont Fish and Wildlife scientists for ice fishing at Knight’s Point on Lake…
Springtails: Tiggers of the Invertebrate World
As we leaned over the Colchester Bog boardwalk, a student asked, “What’s that black stuff on the water?” I suggested gently poking it with a twig. This elicited the expected…
If It Looks Like A Snail, It Might Be A Caddisfly
While sampling in the LaPlatte River, students noticed what looked like rough black pebbles about the size and shape of well-worn pencil erasers. I suppressed my mild distress as they started…
Flat as a Pancake
Imagine for a moment that you travel on all fours like other self-respecting quadrupeds. Extend your imagination yet a little more, and with it your body, so that a large dome-shaped…
Mosquitoes: Life Under Tension
A good friend was in touch; her son was enduring allergic reactions to mosquitoes and, like any good parent, she sought solutions. I told her that the most practical, non-toxic way to deal…
Life, Death, and Black Flies
I was in southern Connecticut a few weeks back to pick my son up from college. While he took his last exam, I took myself up a local hiking trail. Connecticut black flies are as bad as their…
Caddisflies: Underwater Architects
If you live near water, then beginning in late spring, you likely will have some fascinating insects flocking to your porch. Caddisflies might pass for gray, brown, or black moths, but they…
Issue 100: Spring 2019 $6.00
Cobbling Together a Living by George Bellerose; A Quest to Save Wild Orchids by Susan Shea; Harvesting Wood in the Big City by Joe Rankin; Caddisflies: Underwater Architects by Declan McCabe…
Ice Capades
Come mid-January, when I’m acclimatized to Vermont’s winter, I enjoy an occasional stroll on the icy surface of Lake Champlain. I favor bays sheltered from the brunt of winter…
Winter Waterfowl
I have yet to hear of any snowy owls nearby this winter, although they’re on the move in the Northeast; Cornell’s eBird site includes recent sightings along the New England coast,…
Flight of the Flunker Moth
In early November, I flicked on the porch light and took out the trash. In the brief time it took, a couple of late-season moths found their way to my porch light, and as I slipped through the…
Four Eyes on You
“What’s this shiny black beetle with four eyes?” asked Erin Hayes-Pontius, a visiting UVM student, from her microscope. Without glancing up from my own scope I answered,…