One night just before Christmas last year, my youngest daughter and I opted to walk the short distance home from dinner at my parents’ house...
We were touring the neighborhood backroads one summer evening when the kids noticed a sleek movement through a small pond. At first, we thought it...
Whenever I spy a pileated woodpecker traversing the sky, I pause to watch its weird undulating flight. The jerky rise-and-drop movement of this...
A couple of decades ago, I spent several winters living in Crested Butte, Colo., where I learned to peer into the cottonwood trees between Route...
Woolly bear caterpillars seem to be everywhere these days — creeping across the lawn, along the road when I’m walking the dog, hidden in the wilted...
There is a broad, craggy precipice in Franconia Notch, not far from my home, called Eagle Cliff. It was named in the 1800s for the golden eagles...
A few winters back, there was a doe who frequented our compost heap. The garden fence around it proved an inadequate barrier, as she simply hopped...
“Mom, there’s a really big crow in the compost,” my son said one day early this spring, followed closely by, “Wait. What is that bird? It’s huge...
The fields around our home are something of a bear buffet from mid-summer through fall: wild blueberries in July followed by blackberries, then...
This time of year, I keep the windows cracked open on even marginally warm nights, savoring the sweet air that sifts through the screens. On that...
The first time I saw the fox last February, I did a double take. It was late morning when I glanced out the window on my way from one task to the...
A few autumns ago, one of the frequent visitors to our gone-wild apple orchard was a lopsided, one-point buck. We often see does and young...