America's Natural Centerpiece

Located in the center of the country, at the junction of its three largest river systems, Missouri blends four geophysical provinces: the Gl...

Songbird Rest Stops

As they move northward in the spring, most songbirds migrate at night, stopping to rest and feed for a day or two between legs of their jour...

Midwest Swallows

Six swallow species inhabit the American Midwest during the warmer months of the year. All are graceful fliers and feed primarily on flying...

The Hop Hornbeam

A small tree has been growing in a flower bed on the southeast side of our house for ten years or so. Bearing lanceolate leaves with serrate...

Edge of the West

Driving westward across the Great Plains of North America, one notices that the woodlands thin out, the greenery diminishes and the air lose...

Spring Valley

The Spring Valley Wildlife Area, southeast of Dayton, is one of my favorite birding destinations in Ohio. Spreading across the Little Miami...

Four Books

Over the past 50 years, I have read hundreds of books that have inspired and sustained my interest in the natural sciences. But, looking ba...

Leaving the Den

Looking for early warblers several days ago, I noticed movement in our neighbor's large walnut tree; this turned out to be an eastern gr...

Earth Day

I applaud those who established the original Earth Day, in 1970, and those who organize and promote its annual commemoration. Today, we sto...

Birding Season

Bird watching is a popular, year-round activity and there are certainly birding highlights for any month of the year. But, for avid birders...

A Jolt of Reality

This week's earthquake and aftershocks in the Midwest were an unexpected reminder that we are all subject to natural catastrophes, no ma...

The Coastal Plain

About ten miles south of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, I-55 leaves the stream-carved, rocky terrain of the Ozark Highlands and drops onto the fl...

The Eastern Thrasher

A brown thrasher turned up in our yard this week, the first I've seen this spring. Breeding across southern Canada and the U.S., east of...

April at Eagle Bluffs

Back in Missouri, I decided to visit the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, southwest of Columbia, this morning. Purple henbit blazed on the o...

Cheyenne Bottoms

Internationally famous as a key staging area for migrant waterfowl and shorebirds, the vast wetlands of Cheyenne Bottoms, north of Great Ben...

Quivira

Named for Native Americans that once inhabited the region, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge covers almost 22,000 acres in the Arkansas Valle...

The Flint Hills

Americans who have never been to Kansas probably envision the State to be a flat plain covered with wheat and sunflower fields. But then, th...

Road Trip

My high school history teacher and swimming coach was a bachelor who loved to take weekend excursions. On Friday evening or Saturday mornin...

April Chill

The latest spring storm, now centered over Lake Michigan, is bringing cold, gray windy weather to the Midwest. Its massive windfield, rotat...

Boulder Mountain Parks

Adorned by the famous Flatirons, giant slabs of Pennsylvanian sandstone, the foothills west of Boulder, Colorado, offer some of the best hik...

Chaos in the Heartland

This morning, a massive spring storm, centered over southwest Kansas, is producing severe weather and travel problems across the Heartland. ...

The Mars Controversy

Man has always been a curious creature, eager to explore new areas. After all, this trait took him across the globe and to the moon. Yet, ...

The Chemicals of Spring

Ah, spring! The flowers, the birds, the balmy weather and a vast array of herbicides and pesticides coating American lawns. It is the seas...

Pied-billed Grebes

While almost never found in large flocks, the pied-billed grebe is the most widespread grebe in North America. This small, stocky bird pref...

A Gang of Garters

Yesterday's warm, sunny afternoon seemed to be a good time to start the spring yard work. Near some old timbers on the south side of the...

The Baobab Spark

There are moments in our life when we suddenly see our world in a different light, when our perspective changes and our life takes a new cou...

The Ringed Planet

Throughout April, Saturn, the sixth planet from our sun, will be high in the night sky. More than 9.5 times further from the sun than is Ea...

The Pantanal

The Pantanal, thought to be the largest, undeveloped wetland complex on Earth, covers almost 70,000 square miles at the junction of Brazil, ...

Nature's Solar Panels

In the Temperate Zone of North America, April is the month of the leaf. From blades of grass to maple leaves to the giant leaves of the cata...

Thunderstorm Season

Thunderstorms feed on warm, moist, unstable air and are triggered by lift; the latter is provided by an upper level low or an approaching co...