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. Here’s an…
Mystery in Miniature
We found this tiny bird cage – just a few inches high – on a trail in central Vermont. What is it?
Randy Kimball Stays True to his Logging Roots
Randy Kimball has logging in his blood. He grew up in Poland, Maine, in part on the log landing as his father worked the woods. He now works with his dad and is raising three sons with his wife and…
Issue 105: Summer 2020 $6.00
North Country Calling, Creating Pathways for Pollinators by Susan Shea, Call of the Nightjar by Logan Parker, The Space Between by David Dobbs and Richard Ober, Axes and American Ingenuity by Brett R.…
Creating Pathways for Pollinators
Amidst the historic homes, posh estates, and manicured lawns of southwestern Connecticut, a new, almost radical, movement is gaining strength. In a growing number of Fairfield County communities,…
North Country Calling: Finding Home in Northern New Hampshire
Northern New Hampshire exerts a strong pull on millions of people attracted to its deep woods, cold ponds, and rugged terrain. Riverside towns add to the draw, combining historic charm and…
The Biltmore Stick: A Family Story
A while back I needed to take down a big dead sugar maple. I wanted to figure out the height and how much wood was in it. It was close enough to the road that I ended up getting an arborist to fell…
Returning
The fog was just loosening its hold on the craggy summit as Sarah and I reached the top of Monument Mountain. As forest thinned to clearing, rays of sunlight reached down to welcome us. A few other…
Editor’s Note
While packing up for my move back to northern New England, I came upon a photo taken in March 2002, during my last semester of graduate school at the University of Maine. I am standing next to a Super…
From the Center
In the final week of August, in the last light of day, common nighthawks come whirling over our field and continue down into the Ompompanoosuc River floodplain. Two miles downriver, they encounter the…
Fourth Week of May
This week in the woods, the forest floor has become noticeably darker. It is also getting drier. As trees and other plants unfurl their leaves, they’re pulling up a lot of moisture from the…
Trillium: A Beauty of the Spring Woods
Once, when I was little, I was so thrilled to come across a gorgeous, dark-red trillium that I picked it and placed it in a vase in the house. I was disappointed when it quickly wilted. Not only that,…
Call of the Nightjar
This engraving shows all three of the Northeast’s nightjar species: the common nighthawk (figures 1 and 2), eastern whip-poor-will (3 and 4), and Chuck-will’s-widow (5). Explore audio…
The Space Between
History of Berlin, New Hampshire and a Northern Forest Photo Gallery Sally Manikian, the conservationist featured in The Space Between, found home in the Androscoggin Valley region after finding…
Pollinator Pathways
Resources for Boosting Pollinator Habitat in Your Backyard and Community There are several online presentations by Doug Tallamy regarding the importance of pollinator habitat and what you can do at…
Third Week of May
This week in the woods, we’ve been noticing the new, bright green leaves of young quaking aspen. This is an early successional species, meaning that it quickly colonizes cleared areas and other…
Bats Emerge From Hibernacula
As spring arrives, so do… bats? Like many other naturalists, I spend lots of time during this season looking for migrating salamanders and blossoming bloodroot. I’ve never thought much…
April 2020 - Part One
You sent us a bumper crop of April photos – so many, that we couldn’t decide which of these to publish. So instead, we’re sharing selections in two photo galleries this month. Common…
Mystery Chippy
Early on the morning of April 15, at the edge of Silver Lake in New Hampshire, Mary Holmes noticed a chipmunk with its paw resting on a dead vole. What’s going on in this picture?
Into the Woods with Jim Hayner
Jim Hayner is an Army veteran, a new dad, and a student at Paul Smith's College in the Adirondacks, where he’s majoring in ecological forest management. He’s also the veteran…