Discover More from This Category: The Outside Story

Striped maple provides food, shelter in understory

May 11, 2022
By Susan Shea Beneath the forest canopy, or overstory, of towering trees is a second layer of vegetation known as the understory. It is composed of shrubs, saplings, and understory trees that grow in the dappled shade of the overstory. One understory specialist is striped maple, a small tree that seldom grows more than 20…

Healthy Vermont forests benefit stream salamanders

May 4, 2022
By Steve Faccio The life cycles of the three species of stream salamanders native to New England – northern two-lined, northern dusky, and spring – are closely tied to the small streams where they are found. All three species belong to the Plethodontidae family, which are lungless salamanders that breathe through their skin. Stream salamanders…

Bloodroot — An early bloomer

April 27, 2022
By Meghan McCarthy McPhaul Every spring, after the last of winter’s snow has completely melted and as I start the wonderful, dirty work of turning the soil of my vegetable beds, I find myself gazing often to the just-greening-up ground beneath the old apple tree behind the garden. It’s a rather unruly tree, sprouted at…

Birds nest using lichen as camouflage

April 20, 2022
By Rachel Sargent Mirus Birds use a wonderful variety of materials and techniques to create their nests. Some nests are small and tidy, like grass baskets lined with cozy feathers. Others are large and messily blobbed with mud. Some species build their nests in trees, some on the ground, and others woven into wetland plants…

 It’s a game of survival for eggs underwater

April 13, 2022
By Dan Lambert  Each year, soon after ice-out, torpedo-shaped fish slip into the lake’s weedy shallows from that offshore zone where the bottom falls away. First comes the female, her flanks green and gold, and her ovaries swollen with eggs. The male swims alongside, alert for an opportunity to mate. Over the course of a…

Colorful wood ducks returning to area

April 6, 2022
By Laurie D. Morrissey I’ve seen all kinds of birds on the wooded New Hampshire hilltop where I live, but never – until recently – a duck. So when I spotted a pair of wood ducks loitering in my yard one spring morning, I reached for the binoculars. A closer look revealed these were indeed…

Bobcats’ cache is insightful to study

March 30, 2022
By Elise Tillinghast On a cold November 2020 day, my daughter Lucy and I detected a strange floral scent in our woods. I challenged her to find its source, and promised a reward of chocolate cake. After some sniffing, she led the way several feet upslope, stopping at a rotting log which bridged the air…

Sharp-shinned hawks are agile hunters

March 23, 2022
By Susan Shea One late winter day, I heard our dog barking fiercely from the yard. I went outside to find him standing about 6 feet away from a hawk that was on the ground beside our house. I grabbed the dog’s collar, brought him in, and observed the hawk through a window. It was…

Cozy cattails feed bugs and birds

March 16, 2022
By Rachel Sargent Mirus On a winter day, I drove down to a nearby wetland bisected by a town road and walked carefully onto the ice. I was looking for cattail heads to dissect so I could meet the caterpillars who overwinter inside the seed fluff. Many of the cattails I found that day had…

The under-ice food web is alive, well

March 9, 2022
By Declan McCabe Earlier this winter, I took to the pond ice — not to skate, but to peek below the surface. Although lake ecologists once considered the plankton in frozen lakes to be dormant during winter, recent studies reveal that the plant-like, microscopic phytoplankton (which move with the lake’s currents) and animal-like zooplankton remain…

Ruffed grouse: Our unexpected winter visitor

March 2, 2022
By Tim Traver A few weeks ago, I noticed a dark, football-shaped shadow skulking quietly among the stems of honeysuckle and lilac by our driveway. I was throwing seeds to the blue jays that wait for it in the morning, and I tossed a handful into the border for the stranger in the shadows. Out…

Crows in winter

February 23, 2022
By Susan Shea During winter, I catch glimpses of crows as they fly swiftly over our valley, cawing, or gather in small groups to feed on roadkill along the highway. Sometimes I find their wandering tracks leading to holes in the snow where a crow probes for food. These sightings have made me curious about…

Western conifer seed bugs come inside

February 16, 2022
By Declan McCabe I was settling in to answer a few emails when I heard, “Dad, some huge bug just flew into the lamp shade!” As the designated bug catch-and-releaser, I pressed into action. A western conifer seed bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis) had made its way into our house, and movement of boxes from the basement…

How birds weather winter

February 9, 2022
By Rebecca Perkins Hanissian Were it not for compelling evidence to the contrary, I’d believe I descended from birds – migratory birds in particular. So familiar to me are the urges and behaviors of migratory birds, I’m pretty sure I blushed, or at least looked around sheepishly, when learning of them in my undergraduate ornithology…

Mushrooms in winter

February 2, 2022
By Frank Kaczmarek Winter is far a far cry from being prime mushroom hunting season. Most fungi stop producing mushrooms, or fruiting bodies, in early autumn, and their hyphae (filamentous structures that are the main part of the fungal body) are out of sight, inside wood or in the ground. However, you can still find…