This Week in the Woods

This Week in the Woods, lakes and rivers have opened up again, and hooded mergansers are back. As Michael Caduto notes in this Outside Story essay, hoodies are short-distance migrants and…

This Week in the Woods, the great spring melt is progressing rapidly. Even on shady, north-facing slopes, you can now see thaw circles – rings of bare ground around the trunks of trees,…

This Week in the Woods, the snow’s melting and the March winds roar. Spring is on its way. Out in the wetlands, pussy willow catkins are emerging from their buds. As noted in this…

This Week in the Woods, we’re seeing more dripping icicles and openings in frozen streams and rivers. The spring melt has begun. This seasonal change has profound impacts on aquatic…

This Week in the Woods, we found this chipmunk peeking out of its winter burrow. There were no dignitaries in top hats to greet him, but the chippie did seem to inspect his shadow before…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve been grateful for snowshoes with metal teeth. The walking conditions out there are difficult! Editor Cheryl Daigle discovered this perfectly shaped capsule…

This Week in the Woods, Northern Woodland’s assistant editor Meghan McCarthy McPhaul was “just skiing through the woods, lost in my thoughts, when a grouse burst out of the snow…

This Week in the Woods we watched a nuthatch seem to defy gravity while gleaning bugs upside-down, on the underside of an almost-horizontal branch, and it occurred to us that strong claws and…

This Week in the Woods we’ve reached the middle of winter (according to Farmer’s Almanac, the exact midway point occurs on Wednesday, February 3 at 4:49 p.m.), and over the…

This Week in the Woods, and more specifically this past sunny Saturday, we noticed how the new snow in the fields glittered. As Meghan McCarthy McPhaul notes in this Outside Story essay, 5 to…

This Week in the Woods, Meghan McCarthy McPhaul found tracks along a frozen brook. They were clearly made by a mustelid (member of the weasel family), but which species? Sliding marks and a…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve noticed three “fingered” yellow birch scales (bracts) and seeds that have recently fallen from their catkins onto the snow. Winter weather helps…

This Week in the Woods, we visited an old beaver pond which has drained out to become a damp meadow, surrounded by small tree stumps sprouting new stems. This is a natural example of…

This Week in the Woods, those of us who celebrate Christmas did so amid weather that seemed appropriate for 2020 - i.e., a heavy rain that washed away the snow. The rain left in its wake…

This Week in the Woods deep snow blanketed the region, and birds flocked to feeders. For mice, voles, and other small creatures, the snow brought protection from the cold, and cover from…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve been seeking out bright colors wherever we can find them, including on the edge of marshes, where winterberry often grows. The red fruits of this wild holly…

This Week in the Woods, we stumbled upon a patch of creeping snowberry. This ground plant’s tiny leaves (each about the size of raindrop) have white hairs widely spaced along the edges.…

This Week in the Woods, we found the spiky seed balls of bur-reed in a beaver meadow. The plants (several species) grow in shallow water and wet soil; we often find them at the edge of…

This Week in the Woods, we’ve noticed red osier dogwood along wetland edges. This shrub often grows in multi-stemmed stands, and its bright red, speckled stems are eye-catching in the…

This Week in the Woods, the evenings are cold, the morning meadows are frosted with ice. It’s time to get out the winter coats. In bogs, purple pitcher plants are even more eye-catching…