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It’s not just habitat for humanity
Polar bear strolling in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (©iStockphoto.com) . Wildlife habitat—what images come to mind when you hear those words? Sweeping vistas where windblown grasses...
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When a mess is a nest
Gray squirrel (© Jim Isaacs, used with permission) High winds and rain here in Virginia earlier this week have left once-vivid foliage tossed and trampled on the ground like Election Night confetti....
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The urge for going… or maybe not
Urban Canada geese flying through a neighborhood (©iStockphoto.com/Bruce Smith) See the geese in chevron flight, a-flapping and a-racing on before the snow They’ve got the urge for going, and they’ve...
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Wobbling waxwings
Cedar waxwing feasting on crabapples (©iStockphoto.com/Greggory Frieden) . A few weeks ago Pat in South Carolina mentioned she was watching the local songbirds get drunk on wild grapes, and I was...
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Wobbling waxwings (updated reprint)
By the end of winter, the fruit upon which cedar waxwings depend can pack a real punch (Photo: Eve Fraser-Corp, Creative Commons license) ....
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Appalachian Spring (repost)
Considered an emblem of spring, the American robin is a year-round resident in some parts of North America (Photo:Di Qiu, Creative Commons license) . [NOTE: Life has been rather hectic of late—I've...
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Tangled up in blue
A male Eastern bluebird personifies happiness, whether he’s happy about it or not (Photo: Jason Matthews, Creative Commons license) . Happiness is a shy little bird. Hiding from sight in life’s nooks...
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Border battles
Robert Frost said, “Good fences make good neighbors” but embattled red-bellied woodpeckers must find other ways to protect their territories. (Photo: Brian Peterson, Creative Commons license) ....
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Hammers and Hydrangeas
Sometimes green means stop, look, and pay attention. . Productivity. A word that has long enjoyed favored status in U.S. culture. Americans are always trying to do more work in less time so we can… do...
View ArticleLong-stemmed
Daddy longlegs are the jazz cats of the arachnid world! This realization came to me as I watched a single backlit note poised on a broken music staff bebop across the asphalt path in front of me. A...
View ArticleWingsuit
Is there any non-human skill people covet more passionately than the ability to fly? Understandably, early aviation experiments centered around mimicry of birds, complete with flapping arms that were...
View ArticleTreehuggers
I’ve been called a treehugger more than once in my life, and while I know the comments weren’t intended as such, I always take them as compliments. As a sobriquet it’s both true and false: true,...
View ArticleVice Squad
I was just trying to help, I swear. In fact, the primary directive in wildlife rehabilitation is: First, do no harm. But the indignant male northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) I had just lifted...
View ArticleBack Up!
“This is my favorite place in the whole entire world,” I murmured to myself. Admittedly, for then 6-year-old me, the whole entire world consisted of a 150 mile ring around two river confluences of...
View ArticleLearning Curves
Do you remember being 15 years old and walking out the door of your local DMV with a learner's permit in your sweaty hand? Perched on the edge of your family-of-origin nest with wings outstretched,...
View ArticleSlings and Arrows
I wonder if Henry knew that not everything shot into the air falls back to Earth. I'm not denying the sovereignty of gravity but if the arrow is a male common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) hoping to...
View ArticleBird is the Word
Hey all you Blueberry Hill Jacks and Jills! Check out this crazy crooner and his backup chicks with their keyboard-themed threads and choreographed grooves! Good Golly, Miss Molly, this nifty summer...
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