I was having a drink in the back yard last weekend when a large black and gold dragonfly landed on my knee. It was fantastic looking, with a 4 inch wingspan, its shiny black head moving around to take in its surroundings. It reminded me of a biplane. I was surprised to [...]
The other day I came across the most ornery looking creature I have ever seen. It was 4 inches long, green and covered in blue, yellow, and orange knobs with little black spikes sticking out of each one – absolutely bizarre like some sci-fi genetics experiment gone wrong. This cecropia caterpillar is, however, a [...]
There is a blight on my land, and it just killed my favorite chestnut tree. The so-called chestnut blight, introduced a century ago, wiped out 4 billion American chestnut trees and is still a potent exterminator of all the new trees sprouting from the old roots. I had great hope that our 30 [...]
We had a big blow the other day, and as I went by the Wachusett Reservoir it was whipped up into big white caps. It was impressive to see the momentum these waves had as they cruised across the lake. It reminded me of the recent conference I attended where some 200 companies introduced a [...]
How does a plant grow from a rock? I was wondering this as I looked at the black birch seedling sticking out of the hunk of granite. Looking a little closer I could see that it had a toehold in a small crack, where it was able to summon the ingredients for growth. This is [...]
I was cross country skiing last weekend, enjoying a crisp winter afternoon, when I came across a flock of birds picking over a carcass. Rather than gather seeds peacefully from the millions of pine cones in the forest, these creatures chose to battle each other for a few scraps of coyote (or whatever the [...]
Standing on the top of Mt. Watatic last weekend with a view in all directions, it became clear to me why Google Earth is so limited. With wind in my face I could not only see distant lakes and mountains, but I had a sense of what they were like. It is this [...]