Divisions of Hunting

To my knowledge, all States have a Division of Wildlife or a Department of Natural Resources, charged with protecting that State's nativ...

Caught on the Track

For the past 24 hours, a stationary front has stretched from the Southern Plains to the Great Lakes, separating cool, drier air to its north...

The Illinois Basin

Like the Michigan and Permian Basins, the Illinois Basin is a structural bowl of Precambrian basement rock within which younger layers of se...

Sage Grouse Saga

Greater sage grouse, the largest grouse in North America, inhabit sage grasslands of the Intermountain West, from Colorado to the Columbia P...

The Nature of Dissent

Dissent is the fortitude to challenge established doctrine, whether formulated by governments, religious organizations, industry or other so...

Back from Argentina

Swainson's hawks are back from their winter in Argentina. Working on our Littleton, Colorado, farm today, I observed several of these l...

Warfare, Stress & Atrocities

Yet another story of U.S. military misbehavior in Afghanistan has surfaced today, at least the fourth revelation in the past year. Deplored...

Long-Billed Curlews

While crossing the stormy Plains yesterday afternoon, I encountered a small flock of long-billed curlews, attempting to fly into the teeth o...

Crossing the Storm

After stewing in the warm sector of our latest Pacific storm for 36 hours, enduring periods of heavy rain, intense thunderstorms and interlu...

Nostalgic Birding

When I pull out my old Birds of North America, by Robbins et al., words such as Lonoke, Keo and Scott appear in the margins, indicating firs...

A Stormy Morning at Eagle Bluffs

Veteran birders know that high winds and heavy rain are the least favorable weather conditions for productive birding since most birds will ...

Bald Knob NWR

Many nature buffs are familiar with National Wildlife Refuges such as Horicon, Squaw Creek and Aransas. But there are many others that evad...

White River NWR

The bad news? White River NWR is currently flooded and almost totally inaccessible to humans without boats. The good news? White River NW...

From Ozarks to Coastal Plain

Leaving Columbia this morning, I headed south on U.S. 63 and crossed the Missouri River at Jefferson City. After jogging east to cross the ...

White River of Arkansas

Just over 720 miles long, the White River heads on the north slope of the Boston Mountains in northwest Arkansas. Flowing north and gatheri...

Easter Awakening

By the spring of my 28th year, I was bored with the rituals of the Catholic Mass and had come to renounce the vindictive God of Western reli...

Bombay Hook NWR

One of the most renowned birding locations along the Eastern Seabord, Bombay Hook NWR stretches along the northwest shore of Delaware Bay, a...

Mountain Bluebirds

By April, mountain bluebirds are returning to Colorado, having wintered on the Southern High Plains or in the Desert Southwest. The sky blu...

April Encore

April, last seen in central Missouri back in early March, has returned to the Heartland. Cool and showery weather, more typical for this ti...

Urban Tornadoes

Most Americans over age 50 associate tornadoes with open country, posing a risk to cropfields, barns and small, rural communities. We long ...

The Western Ibis

Cousin to the glossy ibis of the Southeastern U.S., the white-faced ibis winters along the Gulf Coast (from Louisiana to Texas), in valley w...

Lake Missoula & the Channeled Scablands

Near the end of the Pleistocene Ice Age, about 13,000 years ago, a lobe of the Cordilleran Glacier that covered the Rocky Mountains blocked ...

Fooled by March

This may be April Fools Day but March did the fooling this year. April first is so thirty days ago! Thanks to our exceptionally warm weathe...