MONTPELIER – By early April I start to get impatient for full-blown spring. I’m ready for the treetops to be full of warblers and the understory to be crowded with blooming flowers. But when mud season lingers, I pick up my paddle. Kayaking and canoeing in floodplain forests is a[Read More…]
The Outside Story
Why did the frog cross the road?
NORWICH – In spring, when temperatures rise above 40 degrees Fahrenheit and usher in gentle rains, a plethora of life emerges from the forest. Last year, I went out on such a night to catch the spring migration of amphibians. I could feel the rain coming before it hit the[Read More…]
Hummingbird migration map available now
U.S. – Hummingbird Central offers crowd-sourced interactive maps tracking the northward migration of hummingbirds each spring. They had been sighted as far north as south-eastern Pennsylvania on April 4. Tracking of the annual spring hummingbird migration is done with the help of viewers as they submit their first hummingbird sightings[Read More…]
Cellar holes and old foundations
BURLINGTON – As I kneel digging in the dirt of the gently collapsing stone foundation, birds singing, knees aching and dirt permanently embedded under my fingernails, I try to imagine life here in Vershire, in the 1880s. I’ve been excavating the bottle caches and midden heaps of this foundation for[Read More…]
The lengthening days of spring
STANFORD, Calif. – Light in the evening brings the first sign of spring’s arrival. Before the snow has fully melted or any scraps of green start to appear, those lengthening days are a promise. Just when I’ve forgotten the world was ever anything except cold and gray, I’ll step outside[Read More…]
Gobbling, strutting: wild turkey mating season
WASHINGTON, D.C. – At this time of year, wild eastern turkeys are still congregated in the flocks of 20 or so birds with which they spend the winter. Groups of hens, mature female turkeys, will generally winter with the broods they raised the previous summer. Toms, mature male turkeys, spend[Read More…]
Backyard neighbor: the song sparrow
Brookfield – In early March, birds that have been gone all winter begin appearing at my feeder. One of the earliest of these spring migrants is a brown-backed sparrow with a white breast coarsely streaked with brown. The streaks converge in a dark central breast spot, an easy identification mark.[Read More…]
Two fishers meet in the winter woods
DEER ISLAND, Me. – Fishers (Pekania pennanti) have a reputation as the northern forests’ ultimate misanthropes. These mesocarnivores are so territorial that within six to eight months after their birth, young fishers are unceremoniously pushed out of their mother’s home range to fend for themselves. This forced eviction leads to[Read More…]
Seeds, frazil, and flocs: the story of ice
HANOVER, N.H. – Mile-long Trout Brook cuts downhill through heavily bouldered glacial moraine in the Indian Ridge area of western New Hampshire. Like any woodland brook, it features waterfalls, cascades, pools and coves. By mid-December it is usually frozen over, with audible water running under the ice and snow. Only[Read More…]
Tiny king of the winter woods: Golden-crowned Kinglets
MILLBROOK, N.Y. – The morning after a nighttime snowfall evokes feelings of newness and wonder. If the air is calm and the trees still retain their coat of fluffy white, I immediately bundle up and head out to explore. I trudge into the woods looking and listening for signs of[Read More…]
Bundling Up: Soil Microbes in Winter
VERMONT – Like any good animal, we sense the change of seasons through a hundred subtle clues. Leaves change and shed, becoming crispy piles underfoot. Geese cross the bright sky. Other signs of winter are harder to define: the morning chill deepens its bite, the afternoon light becomes pale. Although[Read More…]
Phantoms of the North: Great Gray Owls
BURLINGTON – The great gray owl (Strix nebulosa) is a northern raptor that only occasionally graces our northeastern states. Also called the phantom of the north, these owls have large facial discs with alternating areas of light and dark gray, creating a concentric ring pattern around their yellow eyes. Beneath[Read More…]
