Winter Thaw at Eagle Bluffs

Entering Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area this morning, the windows down on my pickup, it looked like January but felt like April. The brown ...

Dividing Humanity

We have long become familiar with Christian colleges, Christian bookstores and, more recently, Christian dating services. Now, as advertise...

White-throat Serenade

Every winter evening, as the sun begins to set behind a woodland to our west, a flock of white-throated sparrows returns to our backyard fee...

The Purpose of Life

Throughout human history, man has pondered the purpose and meaning of life. Endowed with a large brain, we have convinced ourselves that th...

American Gators

Crocodilians, now represented by crocodiles, alligators and caimans, split from other reptiles and early dinosaurs back in the Triassic Peri...

Mixing Oil & Wetlands

Since I drive a car and heat my home, it would be hypocritical of me to renounce oil production in the U.S. or elsewhere across the globe. ...

Harney Basin

Harney Basin is a geologic and topographic basin in southeast Oregon; while it sits adjacent to the northwest corner of the Great Basin, it ...

Mt. Shasta

Towering above the landscape of Northern California, at the southern end of the Cascade Range, Mt. Shasta is a composite of four volcanic co...

Return to Winter

Ah, the wonders of modern travel. Strolling on a sun-drenched beach one day and trudging through an icy fog the next. No roseate spoonbill...

Along the Myakka

The Myakka River, in southwest Florida, one of only two rivers designated "Wild & Scenic" by the Sunshine State, rises in nort...

A Free Dolphin Show

Never a fan of Disney-esque human-wildlife bonding films and personally concerned about the new wave of ecotourism that baits wild creatures...

Smart Phone Stress

Always behind the curve when it comes to technology, I use a flip-top cell phone that I bought in 2004. It still provides clear voice commu...

Comb Jellies

On our regular trips to Longboat Key, Florida, we encounter a spectacular diversity of wildlife, including dolphins, manatees, stingrays, gh...

Lonesome Loon

Among the many seabirds that have graced Sarasota Bay this week has been a solitary common loon. Staying close to the seawall behind our co...

Subtle Racism

The courageous work of Martin Luther King and his colleagues drew our attention to the overt manifestations of racial discrimination in Amer...

From Snow to Surf

Once again, we have escaped the Midwestern winter for a week in South Florida. Leaving the cold, snowy landscape of Missouri yesterday afte...

Raptor Hunt

The farmlands of the American West attract a wide variety of raptors and winter is perhaps the best season to observe them. Buteos and larg...

Winter Plunges South

After a week of spring-like weather across much of the country, winter has returned with a vengeance, plunging southward along the east slop...

The Winter Forest

The winter forest does not offer the attractive wildflowers of early spring, the fragrant humidity of a summer morning or the brilliant foli...

Trumpeters at Riverlands

The Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary, north of St. Louis, does not occupy pristine natural landscape; transmission lines, with their huge...

A Frosty Floodplain

As I entered Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area this morning, the sun was just clearing the wooded ridge along the east edge of the Missouri Riv...

Trust & Doubt

As children, we humans trust everyone and everything. Of course, this reflects the fact that, at that age, we are entirely dependent on oth...

Snow Drought

So far, it's been a mild, snowless winter for much of the U.S. and many ski resorts, from California to Maine are desperate for a return...

The Raton Basin

Driving along I-25 between Walsenburg, Colorado, and Raton, New Mexico, one enjoys spectacular scenery, including lofty peaks, high mesas an...

The Arctic Falcon

Gyrfalcons are the largest and most powerful falcons on our planet, inhabiting Arctic and Subarctic regions of the globe. Those that live n...

Musk Hogs

Collared peccaries, otherwise known as javelinas or by their more colorful title of musk hogs, are native pig-like residents of the Sonoran ...

Dam Birding

The contruction of dams across this country (and around the globe) has produced a variety of positive and negative effects. On the positive...

The Arrogance of Certainty

As intelligent creatures, we humans are prone to the arrogance of certainty. We convince ourselves that we completely understand other indi...

The New Year Roars In

No longer keen on late night parties, my wife and I have not witnessed the arrival of a New Year for quite some time. Last evening, however...