Arctic Blast

On this last day of the human calendar, the coldest air of the season is poised to drop into the Plains and Midwest. A center of low pressu...

Riverlands

Established in 1988, Riverlands Environmental Demonstration Area is north of St. Louis, just across the Mississippi River from Alton, Illino...

Irruptives

Most birds adhere to predictable migration patterns, wintering and summering in specific geographic ranges. However, some birds, known as i...

The Florida Platform

The peninsula of Florida is the exposed, "high ground" of the Florida Platform, a broad, southward extension of the North American...

Swamp Ghost

The possible rediscovery of ivory-billed woodpeckers in eastern Arkansas sent a wave of hope through the conservation community in 2004-2005...

Tale of Two Lows

Yesterday afternoon, a low pressure center, associated with a cold front, sat over southeastern Colorado. Its counterclockwise winds, draggi...

Christmas Moon

While a "star" plays a central role in the Christmas story, it was the moon that dominated the night sky this year. Rising on Chri...

Postcard Morning

Walking to work this morning was like a stroll through a winter postcard. A full moon glowed in the cold, clear, western sky while Venus be...

Great Blues over Snow

Driving through Missouri farmland this afternoon, I saw two great blue herons fly across the highway, seemingly out of place in the snow-cov...

Solstice Storm

On this shortest day of the year, a powerful winter storm is sweeping across the Plains and Midwest. This morning, the center of the storm ...

The Milky Way

Some 1.7 billion years after the Big Bang, galaxies began to form, appearing in clusters across the expanding bubble of the Universe. Hydrog...

Morning Fog

Dense fog shrouded much of the Midwest this morning; the visibility in Columbia was less than a third of a mile. Extensive fog is most comm...

The Winter Nuthatch

Just outside our family room window is a large, deciduous magnolia, a single feeder filled with black sunflower seed and a hanging block of ...

December at Eagle Bluffs

On this sunny, December morning, I headed down to Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, southwest of Columbia. Stretching along the Missouri Rive...

The Permian Extinction

Today, as global warming threatens the welfare of many species, including humans, we tend to believe that this is a unique, man-induced phen...

Secondary Low

After blanketing Kansas and Missouri, the latest winter storm was centered over southern Illinois last evening, dropping heavy snow across t...

Birding in the Snow

Conditions were not ideal for Columbia's annual Christmas Bird Count this morning. Snow had fallen through the night and the temperatur...

Our National Scavenger

Once endangered, the bald eagle has made a dramatic comeback over the past few decades and is now fairly common along the larger lakes and r...

Christmas and Conservation

Christmas, at least in its western, secular form, is not conservation friendly. Though it was established to celebrate the birth of a man w...

The Resilient Cottontail

After denning up through the ice storm, the cottontails were out in force this morning, moving about in the predawn light. Yesterday's ...

Cousin Hairy

Downy woodpeckers range throughout most of the U.S. and are common in residential areas throughout the year. These small, black and white wo...

The Unnatural Salton Sea

Created by faulty irrigation engineering in 1905, which triggered a 2-year flood from the Colorado River, the Salton Sea covers 376 square m...

Ice Storm

As a cold front settled across Missouri last night, a series of sleet thunderstorms dropped over an inch of ice on Columbia. This morning, ...

The Darkest Month

We are now entering the darkest month of the year, the two weeks before and after the winter solstice. During this period the Northern Hemis...

A Weddell's Winter

Should the cold, gray Midwestern winter begin to depress you, think of the Weddell seal. This large pinniped, the southernmost mammal on the...

First Snow

Columbia's first significant snowfall of the season began at noon today, about a month later than usual. Though only a few inches fell b...

Inland Gulls

Most Americans associate gulls with coastal beaches, seaports and, perhaps, the Great Lakes. However, gulls are fairly common inland, someti...

Mattamuskeet

While almost all wildlife refuges are interesting throughout the year, some were established for specific, seasonal reasons and, thus, are e...

The Wildlife Advantage

In dealing with the harsh conditions of winter, wild creatures have a definite advantage (both mentally and physically) over we humans. Equ...

Thunder in December

While we usually associate thunderstorms with warm seasons and warm climates, they can occur at any time of year. In fact, snow thunderstor...

Winter Storm

After forming off the coast of Southern California and bringing much needed rain to the Desert Southwest, the first major winter storm of th...

Solitary Hunter

As the cold, dark season envelops the land, hikers are more likely to encounter our resident carnivores; stirred by the cold and intent on s...

Clouds and Heat

Clouds, as beautiful as they can be, are nothing more than water vapor suspended in the air. Their formation requires the presence of adequa...

The Pleiades

As earth hurtles through space, on its annual journey around the sun, we are treated to an ever-changing view of the night sky. For any giv...

Below the Jet

On its annual push to the south, the jet stream has settled down across the northern States this week, guiding a series of Pacific storms ac...

Fear of Winter

Many humans despise winter, blaming the season for their blues and inactivity. But I suspect that a true "fear of winter" resides...

The Katy Trail

One of the best Rail-to-Trail projects in the country, the 200-mile Katy Trail hugs the north edge of the Missouri River floodplain, from St...

Santa Ana Winds

The Santa Ana Winds are scouring Southern California once again and destructive wildfires have reignited. These hot, dry, powerful winds typ...

The Common Stranger

Suburban residents are generally familiar with most of our common bird species. They know cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, robins, mournin...

Thanks to Gramps

All of us who are fascinated by nature have someone in our past who instilled and fostered that enthusiasm. For me, it was Gilbert Siegel, ...

Feeding the Birds

As cold weather grips the country, many Americans will begin filling their backyard feeders. Some will perform this ritual purely out of co...

The Tularosa Basin

Looking at a satellite map of New Mexico, one is struck by two prominent features in the south-central part of the State. The first is a nar...

Warm before the Storm

Strong southerly winds are pushing temperatures into the mid seventies across the Plains and Central Midwest today. When such unusually mil...

Saved by Wildlife

Long drives can be tedious, especially when they cover familiar terrain. On my frequent, I-70 treks, between Missouri and Colorado, I rely o...

Waterton Canyon

Waterton Canyon, southwest of Denver, represents the South Platte's final journey through the Rockies before rumbling onto the Colorado ...

Earth's Brown Cloud

After a day in the clean, clear air of the Front Range mountains, I returned yesterday afternoon to find Denver enveloped in a brown haze. M...

North Fork Valley

Leading southwestward from Metro Denver, U.S. 285 climbs through Turkey Creek Canyon and then undulates across the foothills. After descend...

Vertical Migration

Almost everyone knows that birds fly south for the winter. Even those who have no interest in nature have heard of this phenomenon in songs...

River Walk

Though snowy peaks rose to the west, it was warm and sunny in the South Platte Valley this morning. The River, high for most of the spring ...

The Highway Hawk

The most common and widespread buteo in North America, the red-tailed hawk is especially abundant on the farmlands of the Midwest. Favoring ...

Crab Orchard Mountains

On my recent trip to Florida, our flight crossed Tennessee just west of Knoxville. From my east side window on that clear, sunny after-noon,...

Hibernation

Mammals of the colder latitudes prepare for winter in a number of ways. Some, including whales, elk and caribou, migrate to wintering areas ...

Climate Cycles

The Pleistocene "Ice Age," which began 2 million years ago and ended 10,000 years ago, was just the latest of at least six glacial...

The Mogollon Rim

The Mogollon Rim is a prominant escarpment that curves across Arizona from the western end of the Grand Canyon to southwest New Mexico. More...

North Winds

Yesterday dawned with sunny, mild conditions in Columbia. A gentle breeze from the south had pushed the temperature into the low 50s and the...

Winter Song

For the first time this season, the song of white-throated sparrows rang through the neighborhood as I walked to work this morning. Natives...

The Beloved Bluebird

One of the more beloved birds in North American, the eastern bluebird is common east of the Rocky Mountains and is the State Bird in both Ne...

Tropical Storm to Nor'easter

After forming in the eastern Caribbean and bringing deadly rains to the Dominican Republic, Tropical Storm Noel crossed Cuba and lost some o...

Waterfowl Highway

Rising along the Continental Divide in southwestern Montana and northwestern Wyoming, the Missouri River exits the Rocky Mountains at Great ...

The Nature of November

Were it not for Thanksgiving, November would not be welcomed by many Midwesterners. Usually depicted as a gray, windy month, it often brings...

Pumpkins

On this day of the Jack-O-Lantern, it is interesting to look at the natural history of pumpkins. Native to Central America, the pumpkin is ...

Fishing Frenzy

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Longboat Key was the development of a feeding frenzy on Sarasota Bay. The event began when a sca...

Quarryland

Enroute to Tampa last week, my flight made a stop in Louisville, Kentucky. As we descended across the forested hills of southern Indiana, I ...

Flying South

Like many birds, I will be flying south this weekend. But, unlike the feathered travelers, I will be coming back next week. And, as one wh...

April in October

Yesterday felt more like late April than mid October. A potent Pacific storm had pulled out of the Rockies and, by late afternoon, was cent...

Rocks on Ice

Those of us who have hiked through forest or traveled across plains in the northern U.S. or Canada have occasionally noticed a large rock or...

Isolation Lost

The land that would become New Zealand formed along the western coast of Gondwanaland throughout the Paleozoic Era. Beginning 500 million y...

The River Otter

As the days shorten and the weather begins to cool, most of us feel energized and become more active. This is also true for wildlife; stirr...

Red Heads

Found throughout southern Canada and the eastern two-thirds of the U.S., red-headed woodpeckers favor open woodlands. While often seen on f...

Collision Zone

Looking at the weather map this morning, sunny skies dominated the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest. But here in the Heartland...

Life in Perspective

Current scientific evidence indicates that life first appeared on Earth 3.6 billion years ago. To put this evolutionary span in perspective,...