No, you don’t have maggots in your house
Not a single fly buzzes through the house all winter and on a sunny spring day they all seem to come out of the woodwork–quite…
Tag: Outdoor Column
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…
Room to roam: Home range fluctuates with food supply
Fences, stakes and lines on a map define my property from my neighbors’s property. Animal’s have property lines too but they define them differently. Some…
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…
Have you had tree bark for breakfast lately?
Visible everyday, all year long is tree bark. From the white birch bark slowly peeling away from the trunk to the fibrous reddish strips…
Do duck’s feet get cold standing on ice?
Staying warm in winter is crucial for animals to survive. Mammals have thick fur and birds fluff their feathers but their legs often have little…
Looking inside a black bear den
Carefully I crawl into the entrance of a bear den to take a look at the black bear. Laying on a bed of dried ferns,…
Several ways fur can keep animals warm
Deer don’t check the thermometer in the morning when they wake up to determine how many layers to put on. Humans are the only mammals…
Nature’s seed dispersal inspiration for Velcro
From the cuffs of coats to children’s shoes, Velcro has made our lives easier but it has existed in nature longer than we can imagine.…
Teeth tailored to animal’s diet
Moose nip the young growth from willow trees in the winter while wolves tear meat from a freshly-killed deer. Neither could eat what they do…
Chattering red squirrels also known as pine squirrels
When walking through the woods the silence is often pierced by the rapid chatter of a red squirrel as I intrude upon its territory. But…
Only cartoon turtles can remove their shell
Burrowed in mud at the bottom of a pond are turtles waiting out winter. Come spring, they will be basking on logs and rocks soaking…
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…
Room to roam: Home range fluctuates with food supply
Fences, stakes and lines on a map define my property from my neighbors’s property. Animal’s have property lines too but they define them differently. Some…
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…
Have you had tree bark for breakfast lately?
Visible everyday, all year long is tree bark. From the white birch bark slowly peeling away from the trunk to the fibrous reddish strips…
Do duck’s feet get cold standing on ice?
Staying warm in winter is crucial for animals to survive. Mammals have thick fur and birds fluff their feathers but their legs often have little…
Looking inside a black bear den
Carefully I crawl into the entrance of a bear den to take a look at the black bear. Laying on a bed of dried ferns,…
Several ways fur can keep animals warm
Deer don’t check the thermometer in the morning when they wake up to determine how many layers to put on. Humans are the only mammals…
Nature’s seed dispersal inspiration for Velcro
From the cuffs of coats to children’s shoes, Velcro has made our lives easier but it has existed in nature longer than we can imagine.…
Teeth tailored to animal’s diet
Moose nip the young growth from willow trees in the winter while wolves tear meat from a freshly-killed deer. Neither could eat what they do…
Chattering red squirrels also known as pine squirrels
When walking through the woods the silence is often pierced by the rapid chatter of a red squirrel as I intrude upon its territory. But…
Only cartoon turtles can remove their shell
Burrowed in mud at the bottom of a pond are turtles waiting out winter. Come spring, they will be basking on logs and rocks soaking…