September slips in over a glorious weekend reflecting less the coming of fall but more the arrival of summer. Blue, blue skies with drifting clouds, brilliant sunshine and steamy heat. We are not ...

It has been a long, wet, raw May, and my outdoor time has been curtailed by rotten weather on the weekends. So, it was with the utmost enthusiasm that I capitalized on a rare rain-free Saturday ...

If you’ve ever doubted that water is the wellspring of life, pay attention the next time it rains. Birds flock to puddles and birdbaths to drink and bathe. Box turtles become active and can be seen ...

There are some people that can remember the exact moment they knew what they were going to do with the rest their life. Me, I think I’m one of those people. I remember the exact moment I knew I was ...

While hiking in the Blue Hills this fall, my friend Tim Beaulieu and I stopped to flip over a few logs along the side of a trail. As herpetologists — biologists who study reptiles and amphibians — our ...

You’re probably familiar with the basic amphibian life plan: Start as a wriggly, water-breathing tadpole, transform into an adult that breathes air. This is the pattern followed by all our frogs and ...

The red-spotted newts are on the move at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville. The National Park Service shared photos of the bright orange creatures crawling around the memorial, telling ...

One of my favorite memories is hiking up Mount Kearsarge with my dad and finding tiny red newts climbing along the trails with us. These are the “teenage” stage of the Eastern red-spotted newt, a type ...

After a dry spell we finally had two days with a combination of passing showers, an evening of steady rain and then heavy downpours by the bucket-full for 10 to 20 minutes or so. The following day was ...