Prairie Crayfish

Most of us associate crayfish with southern bayous, shallow rivers and rocky creeks; some of us also recall the blind, albino crayfish that ...

Signs of Summer

After a long, cool spring, summer has taken control in mid Missouri. The canopy has closed in, the tulip trees (yellow poplars) are in bloo...

The Piedmont Puzzle

The Southeast Piedmont is a geophysical province that stretches from the Mid-Atlantic region to central Alabama. This broad swath of rollin...

The Death of Orphans

Earlier this week, my wife and I saw three baby opossums in our yard. They were clearly younger and smaller than those I have seen clinging...

An Explosion of Life

After a few days of heavy rain and sultry weather, there has been an explosion of life at the Forum Nature Area, a local wetland-prairie pre...

Rio Grande Rift

Ten million years ago, as the Miocene-Pliocene Uplift of the Intermountain West continued, fracture lines developed from southern Colorado t...

A Wedge of Summer

It has been a cool, cloudy, breezy spring in Missouri, with highs often below 70 F and lows near 50. Plants are a good week or two behind s...

Polar Bears and Extinction

Polar bears and humans both evolved late in the Pleistocene Ice Age; the bears evolved from terrestrial species about 300,000 years ago whil...

Black Skimmers

Attractive yet comical in appearance, the black skimmer is one of our more interesting coastal birds. Identified by its black and white plum...

Yellowwood Trees

In central Missouri, flowers color the landscape from late winter through mid fall, even later in some years. But the peak of fragrance occu...

Mingo

Located in southeast Missouri and spreading across the abandoned channel of the Mississippi River, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge covers alm...

The Great Equalizers

The recent natural disasters in Myanmar and China highlight the devastation that such events can bring. And, despite the political and bure...

Craziness at Dark

It began about 10 PM last evening. A mix of hissing, piercing cries and hysterical hoots rose from the backyard. Initially thinking that i...

Dinosaurs and the Grand Canyon

Mention geologic history and most people think of dinosaurs or famous landforms, especially the Grand Canyon. No doubt, many visitors have ...

Last Day on the Farm

It's the last day on our Littleton, Colorado, farm before returning to Missouri, where my real job awaits. Despite some rainy weather (...

A Walk in Waterton

Waterton Canyon, the South Platte's final slice through the Rockies, is an excellent destination for a nature walk in any season; howeve...

Air Show

Yesterday, warm sunny weather provided a good opportunity to remove winter's debris from our Littleton farm and prepare the trees and sh...

Spring on the Front Range

Most Americans who have never lived in Colorado likely picture the Front Range urban corridor as a winter wonderland for nine months of the ...

Driving Through the Seasons

Anyone who has traveled I-70 between Missouri and Denver knows that it is not the most interesting trip in this magnificent country. While ...

Motherhood and Abortion

As we all know, not all pregnancies are planned. And, conversely, desired pregnancies are not always achieved. Animal studies have demonst...

The Hair Bird

Most Midwestern sparrows are permanent or winter residents. Among "summer sparrows," the small, slender chipping sparrow is perha...

Paleozoic Life

When the Paleozoic Era dawned, 600 million years ago (MYA), the Earth was already four billion years old and life had existed in the primord...

Stems

In this verdant month of May, a diverse assembly of trees, shrubs, vines, flowers and grasses carpet the landscape. Since our species evolve...

More Like May

After a sluggish start, it's beginning to look and feel more like May. The canopy is closing in, lilacs and honeysuckle are in bloom an...

From Southern Cal to Alaska

Much of western North America is composed of land segments that were welded to the primary craton as the Atlantic opened and the Farallon oc...

A Reluctant Spring

Patience is being tested across the American Midwest as spring is dragging its feet this year. Heavy snows in the north and cold rains in t...

Reno's Quakes

Fifteen million years ago, during the Miocene Period, an uplift of the Intermountain West began. This geologic process continued into the P...

Tiny Visitors

Several ruby-crowned kinglets have been flitting through our woodland border for the past few days. These tiny birds, with an olive-gray ba...