The Tehachapi Range

The Tehachapi Mountains stretch for almost fifty miles across Southern California; oriented southwest to northeast, this relatively low rang...

A Trough of Winter

A broad dip in the jet stream encompasses the western half of the U.S., bringing much needed snow to the mountains and the Front Range urban...

Cassin's Finch

A close relative of the purple finch, Cassin's finch inhabits open, coniferous forests of the Mountain West.  The male, which obtains hi...

Booming Ice

After more than a week of warm days and cold nights, the Colorado Piedmont lakes have been especially noisy.  The sharp pops, high-pitched w...

Cuomo's Nod to Nature

According to an article in the New York Times, Governor Cuomo of New York has proposed using Federal relief funds for Hurricane Sandy to ass...

Buffleheads

Buffleheads are a favorite of many birders; even I, a healthy adult American male, must agree that they are cute.  These small ducks with th...

The Society Islands

The Society Islands of the South Pacific mirror the Hawaiian Chain, 2700 miles to their north.  They too are a linear archipelago that forme...

The Guiana Shield

Two billion years ago, the Continent of Columbia included what are now the Amazonian Platform and the West African Craton in addition to oth...

Too Warm, Too Dry, Too Soon

While ponds and lakes remain frozen along the Front Range and the brown landscape speaks of winter, a mild, southwesterly wind pushed aftern...

The Painted Desert

The entire Colorado Plateau, from Dinosaur National Monument in northwest Colorado to the San Rafael Swell in central Utah and southward to ...

Te'o and Us

Whether Manti Te'o, the star linebacker for Notre Dame University, was the victim of a cruel hoax or was, to some degree, complicit in h...

Winter Dusk

Our farm in Littleton, Colorado, sits on the west wall of the South Platte Valley and commands a broad view to the east.  At dusk, I often g...

Coyotes on the Farm

Over the past year, coyotes have successfully extirpated the red fox from our Littleton, Colorado, farm and are now using their abandoned de...

Downslope Rescue

After enduring frigid, Arctic air for much of the past week, Colorado's Front Range urban corridor is about to be rescued by a down-slop...

Jury Duty

There are few human endeavors that expose our nature better than jury duty.  Gathering with a large number of strangers, all responding to a...

Climbing through Time

Our journey from Columbia, Missouri, to Littleton, Colorado, climbs through geologic time.  In greater Columbia and along I-70 to its immedi...

A Walk on the MKT

Determined to enjoy this spring-like afternoon, I headed to the MKT for a walk.  This rail-to-trail greenbelt follows a series of stream val...

Winter Rain

Thanks to an upper level low, parked over Oklahoma, we have received a steady plume of Gulf moisture since early this morning, producing a g...

The Nature of Viruses

Viruses are sub-cellular agents of infection that must utilize the cellular machinery of bacteria, plants or animals in order to reproduce. ...

San Juan Volcanism

The San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado overlie the remnants of Uncompahgria, the western uplift of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains that ...

Earth's Ice Ages

Over the 4.6 billion year history of our planet, five major ice ages have occurred in addition to other periods of climate cooling.  The spe...

Mallard Invasion at Eagle Bluffs

Yesterday morning, under a gray overcast and scattered snow, I headed down to Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, southwest of Columbia.  Never ...

Major Meteor Showers

As we hurtle through space on our annual journey around the sun, the Earth is constantly impacting debris from asteroids and comets.  Igniti...

The English Channel

Back in the Eocene, some 50 million years ago (MYA), as mammals exploded in number and variety,  the English Channel did not exist.  England...

Unexpected Raptors

On our recent trip to Ohio, following a monotonous, eight-hour drive across the flat Glaciated Plain, we turned north on I-71, angling towar...

Europe's Grand Canyon

Flowing northward through Montenegro, the Tara River has carved a spectacular canyon through the Mesozoic limestones and dolomites of the Di...

The Keys to Longevity

On New Years Day, we pause to remember those who died over the past year and then look to the future, making resolutions that, we believe, w...