“Fool me once…BZZZZZZZ!” Bumblebee buzzed angrily as she whizzed past. As she bumbled on through the bracken fern and around the blueberry bushes, I think I heard her mumbling, “Why does everything have to have hardly any nectar and pollen?…”
Issues
Woodpecker Word Search
Can you find all fifteen woodpecker species hidden in the puzzle?
End of the Trail, May 2025
View the full issue in the Magazine Archive These beautiful, rare snow trilliums are smaller than you think. They stand 3-4 inches (8 cm) tall. The flower is about the diameter of a quarter, to a...
Study Guide Puzzles, May 2025
Reinforce nature facts from the May issue with the Study Guide puzzles!
Eastern Hydra and Corvus
The eastern part of Hydra doesn’t hold quite as many outstanding deep-sky targets as the western half of the constellation, but there are several objects here that are worth taking the time to find…
Dealing with Deer
When I began gardening on my own over a decade ago, I never imagined that my greatest difficulty in achieving a harvest would be the herds of beautiful white-tailed deer that rambled through our farm…
Camp & Cabin Cookin’, May 2025
Chicken Breast Deluxe… Stuffed Mushrooms… Tiger Bread… Apple Cinnamon Jelly
Photograph the Series
One of the most rewarding mornings I’ve spent photographing wildflowers happened not because I photographed a lot of species, but rather because I took a series of photographs…
Favorite Focus, May 2025
View our readers’ favorite photos from the past month!
Western Hydra
Hydra holds a diverse array of telescopic targets. The constellation contains several beautiful double stars, as well as a fairly bright planetary nebula, a globular star cluster, a bright open star cluster, and a fine barred spiral galaxy…
In Search of Ducks!
After some awkward minutes trying to figure out flippers—how to secure them to wading boots, walk with them, and maneuver them through the tiny leg openings in “the boat”—I was back in the water. A few feet from shore my feet could no longer touch the bottom. I was off…or was I?
Covers, April 2025
April 2025 covers, featuring contest photo winners: a juvenile Northern Saw-whet Owl and beautiful frost patterns!
Let’s Take a Hike, April 2025: Ruffed Grouse
A male Ruffed Grouse drums expectantly…
Wacky Woodcock
Does it seem to you that the woods is full of hidden eyes…like, there are things in the woods watching you that you can’t see? I encountered a pair of those hidden eyes one day while I was sitting in a blind hoping to photograph a drumming grouse.
From the Editor’s Quill, April 2025
I’ve been eager to read the submissions that came in for the Trails and Tales contest. Finally, the deadline came and it was time to dig in…