Remarkable Reptiles!
Elusive “blue-tailed” western skink
A boa constrictor in Idaho!
Garter snakes most common snake in Idaho
Discover nature on a deeper level
What’s that protruding from your head?
Often I catch myself using the terms antler and horn interchangeably, such as “I’m going horn hunting”, even though I know they are different. One…
Howling at the moon reveals coyote’s presence
As the light fades over the alfalfa field, the nighttime serenade begins with a long call, then a tremolo of howling. With all the howling…
Incredible, edible cattails
A common sight in any shallow water around the Kootenai Valley is stands of cattails. They line irrigation ditches, lake-shores, swamps and the majority of…
Look for spruce grouse on gravel roads this autumn
A frenzy of flapping bursts from the shrubs no more than 10 feet away, quickening my heartbeat until I realize it’s only a spruce grouse.…
Brooks Range not on the map until 1911
Two-hundred miles of flying and we only crossed one road 15 minutes into the flight. The rest of the flight was ridge after ridge of…
Lichens: Like’em or leave’em
I’ve noticed lichens before on rocks, trees and high alpine ridges before but didn’t look closely at them until recently. Peter Nelson, a lichenologist who…
Autumn arrives early in the Arctic
As I walked towards the water-filled gravel pit early one morning last week, a sound filled the air that I hadn’t heard since spring–the honking…
Pondering the puzzle bark of ponderosa pine
One of the first conifers I learned to identify after moving to Boundary County was the majestic ponderosa pine, mainly because of the bark. I…
How can a weed smell so sweet?
Do you remember the first time you smelled the pleasant aroma of alpine fir, labrador tea or cottonwood sap? I won’t forgot the first time…
White-tailed deer a far ranging species
Grazing in fields in early morning, seeking shelter in the woods during mid-day, browsing in city parks in the evening and crossing highways at night,…