April 15, 2016 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers Springtime means—finally—warmer temperatures along with visits from a host of migrating birds, including yellow-bellied sapsuckers. Please enjoy this column, which first ran in April 2010. My dad was a big fan of the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners. (So big a fan, in fact, that when he began seeing my mom,
Birds, Fly, Spring, Yellow Bellied SapsuckersApril 8, 2016 Mourning Doves A few weeks ago at Hickory Knolls we held a program called SuperHeroes of Nature. We looked at how real-life turtles’ talents compare to those of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; how the special skills of spiders stack up against Spiderman’s superpowers; and how bats’ ability to echolocate rivals any aspect
Birds, Fly, Mourning DovesApril 1, 2016 Leaf Litter “What the heck??” That was my first thought the other day as I awoke to a sound that was familiar, yet foreign—especially to my sleep-fogged brain. The noise was loud, for sure, and mechanical in nature, like someone was vacuuming with a vengeance just outside my window. Lawn mower? Nope,
Environment, Leaf Litter, Organic MatterMarch 25, 2016 The virtues of moles Mole. It’s a word that has several meanings, depending on pronunciation and context. It can describe a skin growth; a spy; a unit of measurement in chemistry; or the national dish of Mexico. It’s also the common name for Scalopus aquaticus, an animal we’ve been talking about quite
Critter, Insectivore, MoleMarch 18, 2016 Chinese Mantids Everyone knows that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. But what I need to remember is to also not put them all in one tennis ball canister, nor leave them all on one desk. Or any desk, actually. Our current situation got its start about a month
Bug, Chinese Mantids, Insect, Praying MantisMarch 11, 2016 The Geneva owl legacy continues Among nature nerds, there’s an unwritten code of conduct surrounding sensitive organisms. If there are rare orchids growing in a natural area, you don’t advertise the location. If someone poaches prairie seeds, you don’t publicize the act, lest others come with similar mal intent. This code extends
Bird, Fly, Geneva OwlsMarch 4, 2016 Great Horned Owl She’s ba-ack. Our neighbor, that is. The quiet one who keeps to herself. I don’t mean to sound like we’re disrespectful, or unobservant, but frankly it took us a while to notice her. Only within the past few weeks has it become apparent that, indeed, Mama Great Horned Owl
Bird, Great Horned Owl, OwlFebruary 26, 2016 American Coots You just gotta love a coot. An American coot, that is. American coots are water birds that many folks would classify as ducks. They do, after all, look an awful lot like dark-colored ducks – from a distance. But if you take the time to observe more closely, you’ll notice
American Coot, Bird, FlyFebruary 19, 2016 Red Winged Blackbirds Every year about this time, people start getting itchy for spring. With the weather warming up, they look for signs that winter’s winding down: a swollen leaf bud, a green sprout, a red, red robin bob, bob bobbin’ along. But as we learned last week, robins aren’t the sure
Bird, Fly, Red-winged black birdFebruary 12, 2016 Robins can do well in the Tri-Cities during winter When we receive an email with a question about any sort of nature-related phenomenon, I usually think something along the lines of, “Yippee! Someone’s paying attention to something besides their tablet, smart phone or television.” I write a response and life goes on.
Birds, Fly, Robins