Summer Doldrums

A visit to the Forum Nature Area this morning was a study in late summer doldrums. Following a coolish night, a heavy dew coated the vegeta...

Ahead of the Chill

Among the last of our summer residents to arrive, common nighthawks are also among the first to leave. Dependent solely on flying insects fo...

Gust Front

As a potent cold front pushed toward mid Missouri last evening, an arc of thunderstorms developed, moving southeastward at 30 mph or more. ...

Summer Revival

Though the college students are back in town and football starts this weekend, summer is not done with mid Missouri. High pressure, buildin...

The Political Taboo

As this political year continues to heat up, we will come to realize that Americans are willing to overlook many human frailties. A past hi...

The Buckeye Trail

Initially proposed as a trail from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, the Buckeye Trail loops through Ohio, connecting the varied geophysical regi...

Fay's Death Benefit

After meandering around Florida for the past week, Tropical Storm Fay, now a Tropical Depression, is about to be swept off her feet. A cold...

A View of Katahdin

Yesterday, our flight from Newfoundland took us just north of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and over the northern tip of Prince Edward Island. L...

The Postcard Province

My wife and I flew out of St. John's this morning after a week on the magnificent island of Newfoundland. It is truly impossible to rel...

The Gannets of Bird Rock

Cape St. Mary's juts into the Atlantic at the southwest corner of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula. Home to the second largest colon...

Water World

The magnificent landscape of Newfoundland has been molded by water and ice and, across its varied topography, waterscapes are ever present i...

A Piece of Arizona

On this water-logged island, adorned with numerous bays, lakes and bogs, it was a shock to encounter an isolated region of desert-like terr...

Gros Morne National Park

Named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987, Gros Morne National Park stretches along the northwest coast of Newfoundland. Among its varie...

Crossing Newfoundland

Leaving St. John's in a pea-soup fog, we picked up the Trans Canada Highway and headed north, toward Gander. Along the way, the fog waxe...

Witless Bay

Located on the Atlantic Coast of southeast Newfoundland, Witless Bay is famous for its large colonies of sea birds, including 300,000 pair o...

Newfoundland

Guarding the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, Newfoundland, in combination with Labrador, is Canada's easternmost Province. Over the ne...

Active and Passive Margins

As discussed in a previous blog, the geographic Continents due not often correspond to the borders of their respective tectonic plates. Sin...

Infidelity and Gay Marriage

The recent news about John Edwards places him in a long line of politicians, religious leaders and celebrities who have succumbed to the nat...

Sand, Water and Time

The Entrada Sandstone of eastern Utah was deposited during the Jurassic Period, when dinosaurs roamed the planet and the Atlantic Ocean was ...

Humans and Aging

Today is my 58th birthday, a notch closer to the end of middle age. But, having seen a few friends and many patients die young, I never focu...

The Ranchland Flycatcher

One of the most distinctive birds in North America, the scissor-tailed flycatcher is a summer resident of the Great Plains, from Nebraska to...

Tomatoes

With all the rain and heat, it's been a good summer for tomatoes in central Missouri. In fact, a friend who has a farm southeast of Col...

Fall Preview

A trough (a dip in the jet stream) has been pushing into the Midwest over the past few days and will continue to deepen through the coming w...

Hominids, Volcanoes and the Pleistocene

The Pleistocene Epoch, commonly known as the Ice Age, began 2 million years ago (MYA). Four major glacial advances occurred during this Epo...

A Heat Sandwich

The dome of high pressure that has brought intense heat to the south-central States over the past few weeks is beginning to flatten west to ...

Canyons and Time

Fifteen years ago, my family visited Mesa Verde National Park, in southwest Colorado. Exploring the Sun Temple, we were suddenly startled b...

Flash Flood Aftermath

Forum Nature Area, in Columbia, Missouri, stretches across the floodplain of Hinkson Creek. Covered by a restored prairie and seasonal wetl...

The Sounds of August

By August, the heat and humidity are taking a toll on most birds and mammals, including humans. The morning brings half-hearted tunes from ...

Summer Migration

Entrenched in the hot, muggy Midwestern summer, it is difficult to imagine that the fall migration is already underway. But, in fact, many ...