This Week in the Woods

This week in the woods, we had the good fortune of seeing a female American kestrel posing for us in Lyme, New Hampshire. While many other bird-of-prey populations have increased over the past…

This week in the woods, we admired some of our numerous lichen species, as well as resident and early-migratory birds, green groundcover plants, and some lingering signs of seasons past. This…

This week in the woods, male red-winged blackbirds continue to establish territories while they wait for their female counterparts to return from southern wintering grounds. The males arrive…

This week in the woods, snow melted beneath a dense cover of eastern hemlocks to expose three-leaved goldthread in West Fairlee, Vermont. While it will have star-like white blossoms later this…

This week in the woods, we had good initial sugaring days, with some daytime temperatures reaching the 50s, and even saw swelling buds on a red elderberry in Fairlee, Vermont. This forest…

This week in the woods, we encountered a cup lichen in the genus Cladonia, which includes reindeer moss and British soldiers as well as difficult-to-determine species like this one, with…

This week in the woods, we took a look at some zig-zagging weasel tracks after watching the culprit periscope its way out of deep snow, eyeball us, and scamper away. In these grainy smartphone…

This week in the woods, a ruffed grouse burst from its snow roost and startled a snowshoer, who had been inspecting the entry signs a few feet away. The bird left these wing impressions and a…

This week in the woods, we spied an immature bald eagle picking at a deer carcass on a frozen roadside pond. The United States’ newly designated national bird doesn’t always have…

This week in the woods, we observed a large flock of American robins feeding in a crabapple tree – and perhaps getting drunk. Because sugars in fruit can ferment over the course of the…

This week in the woods, despite the frigidity, we found this snowfly marching and tumbling across the snow on Black Mountain in Benton, New Hampshire. These members of the wingless cranefly…

This week in the woods, we observed indications of black knot, the fungal disease caused by Apiosporina morbosa or Dibotryon morbosum and only infecting species in the genus Prunus. It shows…

This week in the woods, we found the tiny, stalked fruiting bodies (or apothecia) of pink earth lichen. This colorful lichen prefers disturbed areas and the full sun of settings such as…

This week in the woods, we’ve observed a number of resident birds, as well as a loon that we hope has moved on to open coastal waters. Northern cardinals were uncommon in the Upper…

This week in the woods, the past year’s fruit and this coming year’s catkins persist on speckled alders, making these diminutive trees stand out. All alder species share the woody,…

This Week in the Woods, we came across a pileated woodpecker excavation, with large vertical, rectangular holes typical for this species. The blond wood and layering of woodchips over this…

This week in the woods, an eastern chipmunk paused with an acorn and retreated into its winter burrow beneath some tree roots in Fairlee, Vermont. This foraging trip was likely among the…

This week in the woods, we can take a closer look at some vacated nests, now more visible among the bare branches and withered greenery. We found this red-eyed vireo nest in Lyme, New…

This week in the woods, we start with where we can find some lingering green. When many other species’ leaves have browned or fallen away, striped wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata)…

This week in the woods, the landscape shows its skeleton, and we can see the true ridgeline beneath the now-leafless hardwoods. Also more apparent during the beginning of this bare month are…