Nose-to-rock on the summit of Wheeler Mountain, just west of Lake Willoughby in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, I was attempting to unravel the microecology of granite ledges when I stumbled across…

And so do the spiders, the springtails, the beetles, and the wasps. If you’ve ever been out for a walk in the woods on a balmy day in late winter or early spring, you’ve probably strolled…

With trees stripped to their skeletons, winter is a good season for noticing the shapes that make hardwood silhouettes so distinctive. It’s a relief to put away the hand lens and twig guides and…

Before you start reading this, grab a nickel out of your piggy bank and hold it in the palm of your hand. Golden-crowned kinglets are the smallest birds to winter in the New England woods. They weigh…

How do animals cross the road safely when traffic speeds by at 80 miles per hour? Hopefully, they don’t have to. Officials from both Vermont and New Hampshire are working to make it easier for…

Anyone who grew up in a large family knows how much time is expended competing for food, space, and attention. Who is going to get the best seat at the movies, be served dinner first, or enjoy the…

Right around this time of year, when the mercury decamps to the far side of zero, the car won’t start, and the trip from woodshed to woodstove starts to feel Sisyphean, a little global warming…

Michael Walsh remembers seeing his first Carolina wren many years ago, a sighting that would not be so noteworthy if it happened today. It’s not that the plump, brown bird has become less…

In most of the animal kingdom, it’s the same story: egg meets sperm, embryo forms, and life emerges a set number of weeks afterwards. In humans, birth happens approximately 40 weeks after…

Wouldn’t it be great to doze off at work and still get something done? If you had a bird brain, you just might be able to pull it off. Studies have shown that birds regularly keep half of their…

Remnants of summer’s tall goldenrod don’t look like much in November, yet they harbor unseen lives. Globular swellings partway up the stems suggest a strange departure from the normal…

The author of this remarkable book states that his goal is “to present an accurate account of the seriousness of today’s global environmental challenges…and to offer a strategy for…

Through his books and his work as an educator, Tom Wessels teaches people how to observe and interpret ecological landscapes. His latest book, The Myth of Progress, reflects something of a new…

Like no other element of the New England landscape, stone walls relentlessly remind us of the challenging existence faced by those who settled this corner of the world. Stone walls chronicle the…

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…

Dave Bowman is both timber framer and woodlands philosopher. He seems to enjoy the solitude of his shop as much as a visit with the people that come by with a delivery, order, or consultation. With…

Extensive wetlands often have masses of winterberry. From afar, its abundant, bright red berries sometimes cause large areas of wetland shrubbery to glow with a reddish orange color well into the…

Last winter, I went on a photography binge, trying to get as many pictures of common and good looking fungus specimens as I could find in my neighborhood. I knew at the start that I was attracted to…

“Windsor furniture is, I believe, the most characteristically American and the most historically significant furniture style to emerge from eighteenth-century America. It is a democratic style,…

In most of the animal kingdom, it’s the same story: egg meets sperm, embryo forms, and life emerges a set number of weeks afterwards. In humans, birth happens approximately 40 weeks after…