It’s Only Natural: Autumn’s burst of blue
Nature’s last burst of colorful blossoms before flowering plants close down for the winter includes one of its most beautiful flowers—bottle, or closed, gentian.…
It’s Only Natural: Yellow-bellied sapsuckers
Most woodpeckers make holes in trees, but there’s something special about how yellow-bellied sapsuckers go about it. Only the yellow-bellied sapsucker creates horizontal rows…
It’s Only Natural: Fatal attraction
There are more than 20 species of plants in New England that trap insects, mites, and spiders to supplement their nutrient intake. Some of…
It’s Only Natural: Spring brings lady’s slippers
Lady’s slippers, moccasin flowers, whip-poor-will’s shoes—these are some of the common names given to certain members of the orchid family whose lowest petal is…
It’s Only Natural: Painted turtles
One of the rewards of enduring a long, snowy, cold winter is the joy of going outside and basking in the May sun. Warm-blooded…
It’s Only Natural: The midnight mating of spotted salamanders
On the first warm, rainy night this month hundreds, in some locations thousands, of subterranean-dwelling, six- to nine-inch shiny black salamanders with bright yellow…
It’s Only Natural: The wood duck
As March progresses there is much to anticipate seeing that has been either under snow or absent from Harvard during the winter months.…
It’s Only Natural: Small mammals, Part 1
Mice, voles, lemmings, moles, and shrews—we tend to lump these small, furry creatures together. While these small mammals resemble one another, they have significant…
It’s Only Natural: Uncommon visitors from the North
If you don’t have a bird feeder, you may well want to set one up, as this winter promises to bring many unusual seed-seeking…
It’s Only Natural: Multicolored Asian lady beetles
Are you finding your home inundated with tiny, colorful, uninvited six-legged guests? Fear not, for as far as company goes, these beetles are fairly…
