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Magazine Series

Art Review: Hillary Waters Fayle

Hillary Waters Fayle is a Virginia-based textile artist known for her delicate botanical constructs. Working with found leaves and rudimentary tools – needle and thread, and Exacto…

Getting the Hang of It

Tips & Tricks for Hanging an Axe, Part 2

In the Spring 2022 issue, we tackled the task of removing a broken axe handle from the eye of an axe or maul. Now we’ll begin the process of hanging (or hafting) the axe. 1. Fit the eye.…

Hitchhiking Beetles

While I was photographing pollinators on a patch of meadow near a bike path, a bumblebee caught my attention. It appeared to have an enormous, clubbed antenna, as well as a normal-size one.…

The Importance of Legacy Trees

Legacy trees are trees of an older generation that persist in a younger forest. The ecological benefits of legacy trees are many. Their complex bark provides habitat for mosses and lichens,…

The Bobolink: Emily Dickinson’s Rowdy of the Meadow

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – I keep it, staying at Home – With a Bobolink for a Chorister – And an Orchard, for a Dome – Emily Dickinson A bobolink circled…

New Insights on the Spread of an Avian Eye Disease

In the mid-1990s, bird-watchers near Washington, DC, began to notice something alarming. House finches at their feeders appeared to be sick, with red, swollen, watery, or crusty eyes. Some…

Albany Pine Bush: Gift of the Glaciers

It’s just after sundown in the deep, evergreen forest of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve outside Albany, New York, a time when rarely seen creatures emerge from the shadows. Somewhere in…

The Dazzling Diversity of Birds’ Nests

As spring gives way to summer, the crescendo of birdsong in northern forests, shrublands, and fields begins to fade. Procreation replaces territory establishment and courtship, as the vital…

Gathering Sheep Sorrel

When my daughter was 2 years old, she and I would walk through the winter woods and she learned the trees by their bark. In the spring, she learned the birds by their calls. Throughout the…

Graphic Natural History: The Stench of the Hunt

Carrion is a great place to find insects, especially beetles and flies. Specific insects are attracted to dead animals as they decompose, with a predictable progression of visitors each…