The only regal thing about the golden-crowned kinglet is the crest of yellow-orange feathers atop its head. Everything else about this speck of a songbird’s appearance and behavior would make…

Well-managed forestland provides a host of benefits to society, from flood mitigation to wildlife habitat to carbon sequestration, and there’s long been talk about finding ways to compensate…

How conservation groups got into managing forestland, and the lessons they've learned. The Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy never planned to get into the forestry business. All it wanted…

This is a piece of antique maple sugarmaking equipment (coffee cup is for scale). What was it used for?

On a walk through a still, snowy sugarbush, the peacefulness can be overwhelming; everything looks to be in good order. But all may not be as perfect as it seems. In any sugarbush, there is a good…

I’ve been lucky enough to have met a lot of interesting people in my life. I’ve known some wonderful characters in the New York film business, and I’ve traveled the world to meet…

Many times I’ve been wandering through dense forest only to stumble on human artifacts like old cellar holes, a well, or rusting farm equipment. Then there are the miles of stone walls running…

Chainsaws, despite their blunt appearance, are precision tools that need to be carefully maintained to work properly. The chain is no exception to the rule. There are two parts to maintain on a saw…

The transition from late winter to early spring is my favorite time for wildlife photography. The warming snow pack is pock-marked with tracks everywhere; some creatures are seeking mates, some are…

While it’s pretty audacious to reduce the Northeast, a region with hundreds of unique ecosystems, to three generalized parts, if pushed, you can do it. There’s the North Woods, stretching…

Among the many priorities crowding school budgets, environmental education often gets short shrift. Many educators see the value of bringing more nature into the classroom, but the reality of other…

If Sting saw this photo, he’d likely sing, “There are little black specks on the snow today.” What are those black specks? Photo by Jenna Gersie.

A common species of moss (Ceratodon purpureus) that lives in weedy and forested habitats has been found to use an unusual strategy to reproduce: it produces a chemical scent to recruit tiny…

“I’ll be darned; the little critter is sharper than I give him credit for,” writes now-retired Maine Game Warden John Ford of a young warden recruit. Together, with another warden…

It’s a guidebook, but hardly one to slip in the backpack or back pocket while hiking. With its glossy color photos, New England’s Natural Wonders: An Explorer’s Guide, by John S.…

Genevieve Jones was ahead of her time. Born in 1847 in Circleville, Ohio, into a tight-knit and nurturing family, she grew up observing the natural world with her father, Nelson, and her brother,…

We’re used to tracking spring’s progression through flowers (colt’s foot to purple trillium to columbine) or bird sightings (phoebes to sapsuckers to warblers). Spend time near a…

In summer, you always know when a striped skunk has been around. But in winter, these animals make themselves scarce, hunkering down to wait out the onslaught of ice and snow. Unlike most rodents and…

If you’re considering building a log structure, you’ll need to learn to scribe logs. In most cases, you’ll be scribing for a saddle notch, used to join two logs perpendicularly,…

Where the Wild Things Go: How Young Animals Disperse The Ballad of Amos Congdon A Gym Floor from Local Trees Old Logging Films, Squirrel Sap Taps, Chainsaw Sharpening, and much more