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Nature

Respecting The Desirable ‘Undesirables’

These past few months have really opened my eyes to the beautiful area just footsteps from my front door. And I literally mean footsteps. Instead of spending my free time kayaking because of the deplorable conditions in Burtis Bay, I have been running. Starting off the summer barely able to ...

‘Old Growth’ Forests

A common misconception about trees is that the bigger they are, the older they are. This is not always true. Using size to gauge tree age is very similar to comparing people’s age to their size. Humans start small, hit a growth spurt, and remain mostly the same in size as they age; very hard ...

Birds Get As Drunk As Skunks

It doesn’t happen very often, but a few weeks ago a flock of song birds made national news on radio and television broadcasts and in major newspapers. Back in early October, residents of Gilbert, Minnesota were alarmed by flocks of birds behaving erratically and flying into traffic. The ...

What’s That Good For?

It’s a question I get all the time, especially when showing people something about nature. What’s that caterpillar good for? Why is that mushroom important? What is good about that insect? Why does it matter if I kill that? Sometimes, if I am honest, I just want to say “ . . .. and ...

What’s That?

I don’t always look for scientific names when I’m learning about plants and animals, but when I stumbled across meaning of the Eastern Newt’s scientific name while working on my last article I had to see what else I could learn about scientific names. I have to be honest, I didn’t ...

Introducing The ‘Social Climbers’

Mixed flocks of gregarious, acrobatic, arboreal (tree dwelling) birds frequent feeders during the fall and winter. Chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, creepers and woodpeckers make up the group of birds I call the “social climbers.” Offer suet and sunflower seeds and learn to identify this ...