Noah & Natural History

Like Cecil B. DeMille's past epics, the new film, Noah , brings a Bible story to the big screen.  Initial reviews praise its special ef...

Formula for a Landslide

The landslide tragedy in Oso, Washington, occurred in a region of North America that is especially prone to such events.  Landslides general...

The Nature of Hail

While we dodged tornados in Columbia yesterday, we did experience strong thunderstorms, one of which dropped penny-sized hail.  Fortunately,...

Tornado Season

Most of Missouri is under a tornado watch today.  As a Pacific storm approaches from the Southern Plains, it is pumping warm air and Gulf mo...

Formation of the Indian Ocean

About 200 million years ago (MYA), the Tethys Sea split Pangea into Laurasia (the northern continents) and Gondwanaland (the southern contin...

The Phoebe's Leap of Faith

Yesterday, on a cloudy and chilly day in Columbia, an eastern phoebe foraged across the restored prairie at Forum Nature Preserve.  Among th...

Teal Days

As the tide of spring gains momentum, blue-winged teal have returned to Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, on the Missouri River floodplain.  L...

A Delayed Chorus

Though another chilly air mass has dropped into the American Heartland, the loud, rising calls of upland chorus frogs echoed across the Gart...

Cancer & Human History

Whenever a science-related segment appears on the evening news, it immediately grabs my attention.  Unfortunately, unless it appears on PBS,...

The Nature of Obsession

When tragedies occur, as with the recent disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370, the cable news networks take advantage of our obsession with...

South with the Upslope

Yesterday morning, as a cold, north wind raked the Front Range urban corridor, sweeping snow flurries across Metro Denver, I headed south, c...

Cranes on the Platte River

One of the greatest birding spectacles in North America and, indeed, on the planet, is the staging of up to 600,000 sandhill cranes along th...

Birding from a Barn Roof

Granted a summer-like day in the middle of March, I could find no excuse to avoid repairing our barn roof, damaged by a recent wind storm.  ...

Faith, Hope & Charity

Faith, hope and charity are three human "virtues" that are often mentioned in tandem, implying that they are interconnected.  Whil...

Cooper's Hawk Upstages Ducks

On this morning's monthly waterfowl count, the last of the winter season at South Platte Park, ducks were represented by a fair number o...

Birding Hotspots near Denver

Denver is one of the best birding destinations in North America.  Within a 40 mile span, east to west, one can explore five life zones, with...

The Watersheds of Texas

The State of Texas, stretching from the Southern Plains and the Desert Southwest to the Gulf of Mexico, is drained by numerous streams and r...

Thoughts on Assisted Suicide

Many Americans have "living wills" which, in most cases, limit aggressive care should their chance for a meaningful recovery be de...

A Summer Drive in March

Returning to Colorado today, I left Columbia just before dawn.  A steady south wind was sweeping warm air into the Heartland and high temper...

To Spook an Owl

This morning, after hiking across a ridgetop meadow south of Columbia, I decided to return to my pickup along a valley trail which cuts thro...

The Gobi Desert

The Gobi Desert, covering more than 500,000 square miles, is the largest desert in Asia.  This vast and varied ecosystem stretches across so...

Dietary Habits: Food for Thought

The human diet varies dramatically across the globe and, in developed countries, has changed over the years.  As one who grew up in the Amer...

A Welcome Mourning

Over the past week, the melancholy song of mourning doves has wafted through our neighborhood.  While mild weather has finally enveloped mid...

Duck Clouds at Eagle Bluffs

As the tide of spring begins to accelerate, the number and variety of waterfowl at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, on the Missouri River flo...

A Grassland in Early March

South of Columbia, Rock Bridge Memorial State Park harbors a large grassland, hemmed in by forest and broken by woods that surround marsh-li...

The Ugly Weeks

The first few weeks of March in the Temperate Zone of the Northern Hemisphere are generally less than pleasant.  Chilly waves of winter stil...

Return to Riverlands

Yesterday, a friend and fellow birder invited me to visit the Riverlands Preserve, north of St. Louis; he was hoping to find Thayer's an...