by Rachel Sargent Mirus DUXBURY – Bright red, soft, and velvety: no, I’m not describing a Valentine’s Day decoration, but a red velvet mite. Built like eight-legged, scarlet Beanie Babies, red velvet mites are hard to miss, even though most of them are no bigger than an eighth of an[Read More…]
The Outside Story
Discovering the Science Behind Orion
by Timothy Loftus You know Orion always comes up sideways. Throwing a leg up over our fence of mountains, And rising on his hands, he looks in on me… WEBSTER, Mass. – So wrote Robert Frost in his poem, “The Star-splitter.” The aesthetic wonder of this easy-to-find constellation and its[Read More…]
The Phenomenon of Winter Light
by Michael J. Caduto READING – In mid-winter 1988, I went contra-dancing at the Congregational Church in Lyme, N.H. During intermission, I joined other dancers who stepped out of the overheated hall into a star-studded night alive with shimmering waves of color, from blue to pinkish-red. We stood in awe,[Read More…]
American Tree Sparrows: Hardy Winter Visitors
by Susan Shea RANDOLPH – Most winters, a few sparrows visit my yard, feeding on the seeds I scatter on the ground near my bird feeder. These particular sparrows have long tails, rusty crowns and eye-lines on their gray heads, and a distinctive dark breast spot. Looking more closely, I’ve[Read More…]
Thundersnow: A Rare Type of Winter Storm
by Colby Galliher NEW ENGLAND – It’s deep in winter, and a nor’easter is dumping snow outside. In between the howling winds you hear a boom! Maybe a heap of snow fell from the roof, you think, or a giant icicle crashed from the eaves. A few minutes later, another[Read More…]
Six-Legged Creatures of the Winter Stream
by Michael J. Caduto READING – One winter day, while teaching a winter ecology class, I pulled on waders and rubber gloves, grabbed a catch net, and led my “Minibeasts of the Stream” program, discovering a rich variety of insects in the frigid waters of Kedron Brook in South Woodstock.[Read More…]
How Trees Prepare for Winter
by Rebecca Perkins Hanissian LYME, N.H. — Of all life’s synergies, I appreciate most the one between my propensity for domestic procrastination and my love of moving through the outdoors: countless adventures are born of it. During a late November weekend, when faced with a day spent winterizing our home,[Read More…]
Otters Among Us
THETFORD – In winter, river otters head upstream into the uplands, seeking areas of fast-moving water that remain open, – at least open enough for an otter to slip into a stream in pursuit of fish. You might catch a brief glimpse of an otter along one of these smaller[Read More…]
Looking Up for the Geminid Meteor Shower
by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul FRANCONIA, N.H. – I’ve always loved the idea of watching the sky for shooting stars. But I’m much more likely to be up to watch the sunrise than I am to stay awake past midnight, when most meteor showers happen. Lucky for me, the upcoming Geminid[Read More…]
Canada Yew is a Native Evergreen
by Susan Shea BROOKFIELD – For thousands of years, people have decorated their homes with evergreen boughs, a symbol of eternal life, during the darkest time of the year around the winter solstice and Christmas. In addition to common species such as spruce and fir, I’ve noticed another evergreen in[Read More…]
Pine Siskins Irrupting
by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul FRANCONIA, N.H. – If you are prone to looking up as you walk (or pedal or drive) among trees, you may have noticed a bumper crop of cones clinging to the highest branches of white pine trees this summer and fall. Around my yard, the red[Read More…]