Chickadees utilize various tactics to survive
One of the most loyal visitors to bird feeders are chickadees. No matter what the weather, chickadees quickly dart to a feeder, grab a seed…
Tag: Animal Adaptations
Molt, snowfall don’t always coincide for snowshoe hares
A flash of white darts across the road into a brown thicket of leafless vegetation. The snowshoe hare typically blends into its surroundings but with…
Animals prepare for winter by caching nature’s bounty
As gardeners were harvesting the bounty of their summer’s garden before the first frost, animals were harvesting nature’s bounty. Stockpiling food for winter is important…
Nocturnal animals specially adapted to life in the dark
Walking in the dark heightens our senses and imagination. The rustle of leaves at the edge of the clearing sounds like a bear or moose…
An insect’s view of the world
Motionless, a dragonfly perches on a twig seemingly watching every movement I make without a twist of its head. No pupils follow my movement, no…
American Dippers: swimming songbirds
Standing on an almost-submerged rock in the mountain stream, the chunky gray bird waded into the fast-flowing water and stuck its head underwater. Snorkeling, the…
Bats only mammal capable of true flight
As twilight faded, all eyes watched the bat houses mounted on the side of the building. Slowly, the bats flew one by one from the…
Golden-mantled ground squirrels often mistaken for chipmunks
Scampering among a rock pile on a high-alpine ridge, the golden-mantled ground squirrel stops to survey its surroundings from the highest rock. At first glance,…
Toad warts not contagious, just toxic
Movement in the garden soil caught my eye as I was preparing to plant seeds. Larger than the spiders, grasshoppers and other insects I had…
Killdeer protect eggs by faking injury
The loud piercing “kill-dee” or “dee-dee-dee” call of the aptly named killdeer alerts all to the presence of predators or a disturbance. The noisy vocal…
Who-Whoo is that calling in the dark?
A deep whoo, whoo, whoo-whooo, whooo-whooo resonates across the field as evening quickly fades away. The three to eight loud, deep hoots come from…
Masked bandit commonly strikes at night
Small, five-toed tracks in the snow that are suggestive of miniature bear tracks amble away from an empty dog food dish outside a door–the masked…
Molt, snowfall don’t always coincide for snowshoe hares
A flash of white darts across the road into a brown thicket of leafless vegetation. The snowshoe hare typically blends into its surroundings but with…
Animals prepare for winter by caching nature’s bounty
As gardeners were harvesting the bounty of their summer’s garden before the first frost, animals were harvesting nature’s bounty. Stockpiling food for winter is important…
Nocturnal animals specially adapted to life in the dark
Walking in the dark heightens our senses and imagination. The rustle of leaves at the edge of the clearing sounds like a bear or moose…
An insect’s view of the world
Motionless, a dragonfly perches on a twig seemingly watching every movement I make without a twist of its head. No pupils follow my movement, no…
American Dippers: swimming songbirds
Standing on an almost-submerged rock in the mountain stream, the chunky gray bird waded into the fast-flowing water and stuck its head underwater. Snorkeling, the…
Bats only mammal capable of true flight
As twilight faded, all eyes watched the bat houses mounted on the side of the building. Slowly, the bats flew one by one from the…
Golden-mantled ground squirrels often mistaken for chipmunks
Scampering among a rock pile on a high-alpine ridge, the golden-mantled ground squirrel stops to survey its surroundings from the highest rock. At first glance,…
Toad warts not contagious, just toxic
Movement in the garden soil caught my eye as I was preparing to plant seeds. Larger than the spiders, grasshoppers and other insects I had…
Killdeer protect eggs by faking injury
The loud piercing “kill-dee” or “dee-dee-dee” call of the aptly named killdeer alerts all to the presence of predators or a disturbance. The noisy vocal…
Who-Whoo is that calling in the dark?
A deep whoo, whoo, whoo-whooo, whooo-whooo resonates across the field as evening quickly fades away. The three to eight loud, deep hoots come from…
Masked bandit commonly strikes at night
Small, five-toed tracks in the snow that are suggestive of miniature bear tracks amble away from an empty dog food dish outside a door–the masked…