What in the Woods is That?

Found in the woods: This piece of metal is a portion (maybe one-fifth) of a longer object that was a crucial part of an old piece of equipment. What is it?

What caused the growths and dead needles on these branches?

What caused this branch to break from the canopy of the tree above?

Is this a topping of black pepper on the hophornbeam (also known as hardhack) leaves, or something else? There’s a hint in the photo.

“I found this huge thingy in the remains of an old maple stump in my yard,” explains Pamela Wells. The accompanying photo shows a cross-section; what is it?

No, this balsam fir is not changing colors as part of fall foliage. What does explain its yellow needles, the undersides of which hold the answer?

Last week, a game camera in Strafford, Vermont, captured this wildlife selfie. What are we looking at? Or, rather, what is looking at us?

The photographer was drawn to this tree (in mid-July, on a rich site) by a loud hum coming from its canopy. What’s the tree species, and why was its canopy humming?

What does this hemlock branch, beech sapling, and hunting camp have in common?

Deep in a Vermont forest, we discovered these gift-wrapped tips of Christmas ferns, and only Christmas ferns, among other nearby growing fern species. Who did it?

This scene was seen the morning after a rain storm. What are the orange items on the hood of this vehicle? (Fun tiebreaker: guess the vehicle make and model!)

Sandy Dannis captured this photo back in May. The plant has since unfurled. What is it?

What caused the unusual cluster of growth on this ash tree? (Hint: it isn’t emerald ash borer.)

What caused the orange mark on this Ostrya virginiana tree (known by many common names, including hophornbeam, hardhack, and ironwood). It looks like a poor boundary blaze, but it’s not.

The Lyme (NH) Historians, located opposite our office on the Lyme Common, are currently exhibiting historical artifacts related to logging camps and log drives. And that is your hint for this…

Three tree flowers, all collected April 25 from one field in central Vermont. What are they?

This Bonsai-like oak forest was seen in east-central New York. What caused the seedlings to grow like this?

It’s that time of the year when woodpiles are nearly gone. We pulled a few pieces from what we have remaining: can you tell us (left to right) what species we still have left to burn?

Thanks to Sandy Dannis for sending along this artistic photo. Do you know what it is?

This group of trees grows along the shoreline of a lake in far northern New York. What species are we looking at?