Escape to North Park

Not facing any major problems on the farm this trip, I decided to visit North Park, my favorite area in Colorado. Drained by the North Plat...

Evicting the Hunter

What first drew my attention was the frenzied squabbling of house finches in a large elm near the back of our property. As I grabbed my bin...

Our Resident Mule Deer

A young doe mule deer has lived on our Littleton, Colorado farm over the past year and, this summer, presented us with a spotted fawn. Like...

The Human Era

When the Earth formed, 4.6 billion years ago, the Universe was already 9 billion years old; in other words, the Universe is three times as o...

Irene's Welcoming Party

After several uneventful years and a slow start to the current season, the hurricane stuntmen from the Weather Channel have taken up posts a...

Powder River Basin

On my recent journey through Nebraska and eastern Wyoming, I was amazed at the number of coal trains that were streaming eastward; each more...

Crescent Lake NWR

Crescent Lake NWR, in Nebraska's western panhandle, is certainly one of our more remote National Wildlife Refuges. Take your pick: 28 m...

The Eastern U.S. Quake

Since we tend to associate earthquakes with active plate margins, as occur along the Pacific Rim, in southern Asia and in the Mediterranean,...

A Road Less Traveled

Heading back to Colorado, I decided to take a different route from Columbia since the landscape along I-70 has long been committed to memory...

Morning Nighthawks

Over the past week, I have noticed an increasing number of nighthawks on my walks to work, flapping and calling in the cool morning air. An...

North American Porcupines

Favoring mixed woodlands, the North American porcupine is found from Alaska to New England, southward through the Appalachians (to Tennessee...

The Largest Fish on Earth

Compared to its marine cousins, the whale shark, the largest fish on Earth, is a relative newcomer to the ocean ecosystems of our planet. W...

Geology of Australia's Blue Mountains

The beautiful city of Sydney, Australia, sits on a thick slab of Triassic Hawkesbury sandstone, some 200 million years old. Below this bedr...

Glacial Lake McConnell

Near the end of the Pleistocene, about 11,800 years ago, a massive lake formed across the Northwest Territories of Canada, extending southwa...

Gust Fronts

The tragedy at the Indiana State Fair this weekend, in which at least five persons were killed, was caused by a gust front. As many of us h...

An Evening Buffet

Granted a mild, sunny evening, we headed down to the Forum Nature Preserve, a local, prairie-wetland refuge that we ignored in recent weeks ...

Backyard Crustaceans

Mention crustaceans and most of us think of aquatic creatures such as lobsters, crabs, shrimp and crayfish. But, unless you reside in an ar...

The Suburban Hibiscus

As the color of spring and early summer begins to fade and the greenery looses its luster, Hibiscus syriacus, commonly known as Rose of Shar...

The Tree Fox

Favoring woodlands, the gray fox is found east of the Great Plains, from southern Canada to the Gulf Coast, along the Pacific Coast, from Br...

Nature's Birthday Gift

Turning 61 is hardly a milestone but Mother Nature has sent along a magnificent birthday gift, the first stretch of mild weather in months. ...

Wall Street & Somalia

Tuning into the PBS News Hour last evening, one of the few television shows of any value, I watched two stories that highlighted the vast an...

Ritual of Exclusion

It's that time of year in Columbia. Sororities and fraternities have initiated their annual Rush, a noble tradition to some, just anoth...

Flocking Season

By August, most North American birds have completed their breeding cycle; there are exceptions, of course, including goldfinches that take a...

Rock Creepers

Having a low center of gravity and equipped with relatively large, sharp-toed feet, canyon wrens comfortably negotiate the steep walls of ca...

The Nature of Bamboo

Though often referred to as bamboo "trees," these widespread plants are actually members of the grass family. Represented by more...

Phoenix, Missouri

As I walked home late yesterday afternoon, the temperature in Columbia was 108 degrees F, the highest I have ever experienced in the America...

Geology of Mt. Etna

The interaction of the African and Eurasian Plates is complex, with areas of compression, subduction and transform-faulting (lateral slippag...