The calendar has flipped to 2021, and the coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate daily life. Social gatherings are in many cases on hold, and leisurely pastimes have been replaced or altered. Fortunately, the night sky has your back, with a number of mesmerizing spectacles set to unfold …

Learn about the birds you see at your feeder and what to feed them with Thom Smith's helpful tips. 

Learn to identify common feeder birds with these helpful tips and identifying features. Each week, I’ll submit three new birds to learn about.

Dominated by shades of gray, the landscape appears bleak in winter. Look closer and you may glimpse muted mauves in the distant mountains or the warm glow that envelopes the land at the golden hour.

Last June my wife, Marie, and I encountered a mature wood turtle while walking through a forest near our home. We admired the intricate topography of its shell, inspiration for this species’ scientific name: Glyptemys (“carved turtle”) insculpta (“sculpted”). The 9-inch adult had brownish-bl…

MONTPELIER — Start the new year on the right foot with a hike in a Vermont state park. On Jan. 1, Vermont State Parks is inviting everyone to celebrate the New Year by heading out on the trails at one of Vermont’s 55 state parks. Park entry is free on New Year’s Day (and all winter long), an…

MONTPELIER — Final deer harvest numbers will not be available for a few more weeks, but the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says the final tally will be around 18,000 deer, the second highest total since 2000. Those deer will provide approximately 3.6 million servings of venison.

Mornings are quiet now. Gone is the loud chorus of bird song outside my window that I awoke to in spring and summer. While we brave the cold, snow, and bitter winds of winter by donning extra layers or throwing another log on the fire, most of our summer birds have departed for the warmer te…

LYNDON — Seven miles of trails in the heart of the popular Kingdom Trails network have been secured after a major community effort, the Vermont Land Trust and Kingdom Trail Association announced. The Kingdom Trail Association today acquired 271 acres on Darling Hill Road, and conserved the l…

Checking stored seeds, stored summer bulbs and roots crops, and proper care for moth orchids are some of the gardening activities for this month.

If you are out walking on an early winter morning, you might be lucky enough to see some of nature’s most beautiful and ephemeral sights: hair ice and frost flowers, both snow-white and delicate against the dull forest floor.

When planning a foreign adventure, adding a garden to the itinerary is an ideal way to be outside, avoid large crowds and leisurely explore on a budget.