The Warm Sector

Another major Pacific storm is bearing down on the Midwest and, this time, Missouri is in the danger zone. As of late this afternoon, the co...

An Invasion of Harriers

Northern harriers, formerly known as marsh hawks, fly low over grasslands, wetlands and crop fields, tilting, flapping and gliding as they s...

Snows and the Storm

My plan to drive back to Missouri from our Colorado farm was complicated by a monster storm on the Plains. By noon yesterday, the storm was...

The Flamboyant Magpie

For the birder who makes his initial visit to the American West, the black-billed magpie will likely be the first new addition to his life l...

Back to the Cretaceous

After being covered with ice and snow for more than two months, the recent warm weather has turned the plains of western Kansas into vast, m...

Snipe Crossing

While they inhabit much of the U.S. and Canada, common snipes are not often seen by the casual naturalist. They prefer wooded streams and ma...

Cold Mud

We've been hoping for a break from this long, frigid winter and it arrived three days ago with highs in the 40s and 50s. The snow and i...

The Awakening

An omen of spring was sprawled on the railing of our deck this morning: a groundhog. His appearance was rather surprising after only two day...

Birders and Conservation

Usually introduced to birding by a relative or friend, the novice birder begins with a focus on backyard birds, content to fill the feeders ...

Alberta Clipper

Alberta Clippers are relatively compact, high energy storms that drop down from central Canada and then race across the eastern U.S. Draggi...

Exotic Terranes

During the evolution of our planet, the continents have moved about and changed shape, governed primarily by the opening and closing of ocea...

Island Refuge

Marsupials are pouch-bearing mammals such as opossums, kangaroos and wombats. After fertilization, the fetus initially grows within the uter...

The Nature of Love

It's Valentine's Day, the annual Holiday of Love, sponsored by the jewelers, florists and confectioneers of America. But love is suc...

Italy and Africa

During the Permian Period, 250 million years ago, the continents merged into a single land mass, known as Pangea. Fifty million years later...

The Winter Warbler

Warblers are small, colorful birds with thin beaks. More than 50 species summer in or migrate through our country but, since they feed prim...

February's Gift

February is a maligned month, not even given its fair complement of days. While we cherish the frosty nights of October and welcome cold an...

Songs of Hope

Winter is nature's quiet season. Thunder is rare and the wind has few leaves to rustle. The raucous calls of crows, the shrill cries of ...

A Bad Rap

Like the cavemen on the Geico commercials, dinosaurs often get a bad rap. Any service or product that has gone out of favor or become obsole...

Geology on Edge

The Ancestral Rockies rose during the Pennsylvanian Period, when much of the Continent was covered with primordial swamplands and the first ...

Out of Africa

Modern DNA studies, coupled with decades of field work by anthropologists, have given us a fairly good understanding of early human migratio...

The Snows of Tug Hill

The Tug Hill Plateau rises to the east of Lake Ontario, between Syracuse and Watertown. Home to the largest unbroken tract of northern hard...

The Audacious Songster

Carolina wrens do not look like they belong in a Midwest winter. This small, rust-colored bird with a prominant white brow stripe and thin,...

Arctic Blast

The latest and perhaps last Arctic air mass has plunged into the heartland, dropping temperatures to seasonal lows. Much of the northern Mid...

Precambrian Domes

Precambrian rocks form the basement of the Continental plates. By definition, these ancient igneous and metamorphic rocks formed between the...

Settlers and Cardinals

When white settlers first reached America, northern cardinals ranged across southeastern and south-central North America and along coastal a...

A Real Winter

After a series of mild winters, we just experienced a more typical January. In fact, temperatures were below normal for most of the country...