Salamanders are most conspicuous in early spring, when a number of terrestrial species migrate en masse on rainy nights, moving through the forest and, all too often, crossing roads to access breeding pools. Yet terrestrial salamanders have other, less spectacular seasonal movements, including summer and fall migrations, and those that are vertical, up and down in the earth.

My yard is full of eastern white pine trees, and every three years or so, it is full of pine cones. This is one of those years. 

Of all the non-native, invasive plants in the Northeast, buckthorns are among the most hated by forest stewards.