Dana Wilde lives in Troy. His writings on Maine’s natural world are collected in “The Other End of the Driveway,” available from online booksellers or by contacting the author at [email protected]. Backyard Naturalist appears the second and fourth Thursdays each month.
Latest columns
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Sometimes I get chills when my mind homes in on the fact that spiders are sentient, writes Dana Wilde.
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Every kind of suffering and joy seems upon us here in early summer, writes Dana Wilde.
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If you can’t remember ticks being much of a problem when you were a kid, it’s because they weren’t, writes Dana Wilde.
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While the coronavirus has your attention, a more catastrophic threat to the human race — climate change — continues to boil along in the background, writes Dana Wilde.
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Astrobiologists seem to just waiting for the very last piece of the 10,000-piece puzzle to tell us that there is, or at least has been, life on Mars, Dana Wilde writes.
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Seismologists who spend their days listening to the Earth for signs of tremors and quakes have noticed pronounced downturns in noise levels during the pandemic, writes Dana Wilde.
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The pandemic could subside during the summer, there could be a vaccine we can all get, but get yourself ready mentally, because this could be a really long haul, writes Dana Wilde.
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The coronavirus is an unavoidable natural disaster that can be lessened by deliberate, rational behavior and self-discipline, writes Dana Wilde.
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Since 1970, North America’s bird population has decreased by about 30%, with nearly 3 billion birds that used to be in the woods, grasslands and shore now gone, writes Dana Wilde.
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More and more people are recognizing the reality of effects on the environment by looking at the data right before their eyes, writes Dana Wilde.
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Trees seem to have a disposition in their bones, as it were, to cooperate with winter, writes Dana Wilde.
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Rising temperatures and resulting changes are happening faster and sooner than most scientists were predicting 30, 20, 10 or even five years ago, writes Dana Wilde.
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I remember reading long ago of 18th century settlers fleeing Maine-ward to escape oppressions in Massachusetts and many of them bouncing back because of “extremely harsh winters," writes Dana Wilde.
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The magic of finding a symbol in the Christmas woods provides a lasting memory more powerful than any scientifically nurtured tree.
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Of Farmington resident Phil Poirier's thoughtful camping stories, the story about a Canadian expedition was one to share with readers, writes Dana Wilde.
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This being Thanksgiving time, I’ve been thinking about my family, writes Dana Wilde.
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While the U.S. slashes its protection policies, our environment burns, writes Dana Wilde.
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Right at the end of October, when the woods and fields look this bare and lifeless, the ancient Celts saw the end of the year, writes Dana Wilde.
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Scientists are confident that something on the order of disastrous is going on with life on Earth, the full extent and implications not yet clear, writes Dana Wilde.
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Although nearly 10% of other hummingbird species worldwide are threatened with extinction, ruby-throats are not, writes Dana Wilde.
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