Bill Danielson

Picture this: It's a beautiful day in May and the weather finally decides to cooperate. It's a weekend, the sun is shining, the temperature is in the 60s and you decide that it is time to take a walk in the woods. Leaf-out has happened and the woods are filled with filtered light that glows green as it passes through the fresh green leaves of the trees above. You can smell the damp forest soil and you pause to consider the delicious aroma produced by the decay of the leaves on the forest floor. You look down at your feet and suddenly see the smallest little dash of color; a feast for eyes that have had nothing but monochrome winter to look at for months.

Fringed polygala has a specialized pollination and seed dispersal strategy found in Massachusetts forests each spring.

The teenaged son of one of my school colleagues was exploring the woods near his house when he came upon a curious situation. The melting of the winter snow combined with the limited rains that we've had this spring worked to form pools on the forest floor. Some of these pools were nothing more than puddles that had formed in the ruts of an old logging road and in one of these pools, he discovered several egg masses that had been left there by an overly optimistic amphibian.

The teenaged son of one of my school colleagues was exploring the woods near his house when he came upon a curious situation. The melting of the winter snow combined with the limited rains that we’ve had this spring worked to form pools on the forest floor. Some of these pools were nothing more than […]

Though they might initially look like baby fish, these creatures are most likely the larvae of the spotted salamander. The red arrow is pointing at their external gills, while the

A rare symbiotic relationship between salamander embryos and algae comes to light in a shrinking forest pool.

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Every spring, when the grass begins to grow, the property owner is faced with a choice: mow the lawn and keep everything tidy, or leave it be … for the bees. For many the choice is simple, but I imagine that mowing is generally the choice that is made. I have attempted the “No Mow May” idea and have felt both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat as a result.

Every spring, when the grass begins to grow, the property owner is faced with a choice: mow the lawn and keep everything tidy, or leave it be … for the bees. For many the choice is simple, but I imagine that mowing is generally the choice that is made. I have attempted the “No Mow […]

To mow or not to mow in May, that's the question. Bill Danielson decides to mow in patches that leave room for wild strawberries to thrive.