by Gretchen Uhrinek Pittsburgh, Pa. – It’s evening, and you’re in the forest. You close your eyes and inhale the sharp, sweet, turpentine scent of pine. The air is still, yet the branches overhead seem to nod at your presence. You shine a flashlight and catch a glimpse: a fleeting,[Read More…]
The Outside Story
Doodlebug, Doodlebug, Are You at Home?
by Timothy Loftus AUBURN, Mass. – The doodlebug waits. It is patient. It is silent. And it is hidden under a fine layer of dry, loose, sandy soil at the bottom of a small conical pit. Soon, a wandering ant will slip down the side of the pit, where the[Read More…]
Total Eclipse of the Duck
by William von Herff CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — For most of the year, it’s hard to find a pond without at least a few mallards swimming around. These ducks, with their green-headed drakes and streaky brown hens, are among the most common water birds throughout the Northeast. In spring and fall,[Read More…]
Spicebush Swallowtails are Beautiful and Defensive
by Colby Galliher At first, I suspected it was the deer that had almost completely defoliated the northern spicebush sapling I had planted just weeks earlier. Only days prior, it had been brimming with new growth, and now all that remained were two leaves wrapped into cigarlike cylinders. Curious, I[Read More…]
Spotted Turtles are Rare and Reclusive
by Susan Shea BROOKFIELD – Named for their polka-dot-like markings, spotted turtles have declined throughout most of their range, which stretches from Maine south along the Atlantic coastal plain to northern Florida, and from western New York into the eastern Great Lakes states. This species is listed as threatened or[Read More…]
Spittlebugs Hide in Plain Sight
by Liz Dengate MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Spittlebugs are the color of a new spring leaf, their bodies both tiny and so fat that you hardly notice their six miniature legs underneath. This plumpness makes them an appetizing snack for various insect predators – or would, anyway, if spittlebugs didn’t have[Read More…]
The Northern Mockingbird is a Master of Mimicry
by Laurie D. Morrissey HOPKINTON, N.H. – When I worked on a college campus, a northern mockingbird often accompanied me on the walk between my car and my office. This slender gray bird darted from the hedges, flashing white wing patches and outer tail feathers before landing on a crabapple[Read More…]
Flying Tigers Feed on Lilac Nectar
by Susan Shea RANDOLPH – When our lilacs bloom in late May, pale yellow butterflies with black stripes arrive to feed on their nectar. These are tiger swallowtails. These exquisite butterflies have a broad black band along the edge of their forewings bordered with yellow dots. They also have small[Read More…]
Spawning Sunfish, Satellites, and Sneakers
by Doug Facey BURLINGTON – In the shallow margins of many lakes and ponds in June and July, you may spot male sunfish guarding their nests. The sunfishes (family Centrarchidae) comprise many well-known species – including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, rock bass, and black crappie – but the most visible[Read More…]
It Takes a Village to Raise a Veery
by William von Herff CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — If you take a walk through a thick, broadleaf forest on a cool summer morning, you might recognize the cascading, metallic song of a thrush called a veery. It is an ethereal sound that echoes through the understory, like the ring of a[Read More…]
Summer Lights: It’s Firefly Season
by Laurie D. Morrissey HOPKINTON, N.H. – Here come real stars to fill the upper skies, / And here on earth come emulating flies, / That though they never equal stars in size, / (And they were never really stars at heart) / Achieve at times a very star-like start…[Read More…]