Bobcats, the “phantoms of the forest” By Meghan McCarthy McPhaul The distinctively feline tracks through the snow in our woods last winter intrigued me. They would follow the narrow ski trail a ways, then meander into the trees or, sometimes, seem to disappear altogether. There was no way, I thought, a house kitty was so…

  By Declan McCabe In peaceful streams, aquatic macroinvertebrates such as crayfish, stoneflies, and caddisflies travel over and under submerged rocks, foraging for other invertebrates, leaves, and algae. When rain falls, their world turns upside down. At first only the surface is disturbed, but before long, runoff reaches the stream and increases its flow manyfold.…

By Rachel Sargent There is an all-natural material, produced at room temperature, that can be used to build homes, to make protective coverings, to hunt and trap, and even to swing through the air. It’s hypoallergenic, antimicrobial, and waterproof. On a per-weight basis it’s stronger than steel and more elastic than nylon or kevlar. What…

By Carolyn Lorié On a recent afternoon, I was driving along my road in Thetford when I saw a baby ruffed grouse about the size of a pincushion scurry into the bushes. I had the same impulse I did as a 10-year-old, when I scooped up a baby blue jay hopping around on a neighbor’s…

By Carolyn Lorié On a recent damp May morning I walked around Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., with arborist Brian Beaty. While he is responsible for all of the trees in the center of the campus, our visit focused on a small number of trees that require an inordinate amount of his attention. These were…

  By Declan McCabe Biologists sometimes field questions about a “huge scary bug” that appeared in someone’s home or worse yet, on their person. Most turn out to be benign organisms that ended up in the wrong place. For me, the most common questions come in July, when male dobsonflies emerge from the Winooski River…

  By Meghan McCarthy McPhaul When you think of foxes (if you ever do), you likely picture the ginger-coated red fox, like Mr. Tod from Beatrix Potter’s fantastical children’s tales, only without the dapper suit-coat and tweed knickers. It is the not-as-common gray fox, however, that has been wandering the woods and fields near my…

By Meghan McCarthy McPhaul Helicopters. Keys. Whirligigs. Samaras. Whatever you call the winged seeds released by maple trees, here’s one more word for them: delicious. Like many New Englanders, I have fond childhood memories of dropping maple “helicopters” from a height and watching them twist and twirl down to the ground. My children do the…

By Joe Rankin A while back I had a few hives of honey bees parked at a beef farm down the road, tucked up against a stone wall just outside a pasture. One day the owner called to say that my bees had invaded a building in a barn complex and were laying eggs in…

By David Deen Most people do not like sea lampreys even though they have never even seen one. The fish have a bad reputation as an invasive species in Lake Champlain. Their appearance is also alarming. These are the fish you occasionally see on the television news, with long, snake-like bodies and suction cup mouths…

By Susan Shea Last May, while out hiking, I came across a young fawn curled up in the ferns only three feet from the Appalachian Trail. My husband and our dog had already walked right by without noticing it. I quickly snapped a few photos as the creature lay motionless, its large eyes wide open,…

By Michael J. Caduto In the early 1960s, Euell Gibbons wrote “Stalking the Wild Asparagus” and introduced millions of North Americans to the virtues of harvesting wild foods. Since that time, gathering wild edibles has become increasingly popular, and in our region, woods-grown delicacies such as ramps and fiddlehead ferns appear in grocery stores each…

Alder and Willow Flycatchers: sibling species By Steven D. Faccio By mid-May each year I begin to look forward to the return of the alder flycatchers that nest in the willows along the stream near our house. Usually the last migrant to arrive on our property, this small, drab gray bird with its sneeze-like song,…

Go figure: how tree burls grow By Joe Rankin I’ve had my eye on this maple in my woods for some time. Not because it’s a beautiful timber tree. It’s only about eight inches in diameter, after all. But it has an interesting burl about 14 feet up the trunk. As a woodturner, I love…

Vernal pools: Hatch, grow and get out By Barbara Mackay Three things happened this week: bluebirds and tree swallows returned, my road was graded, and the red maple buds popped. It’s time to search for vernal pools. Vernal pools are small areas of wetland that form in the spring and dry up during the summer.…