Geology of the Baraboos

An elongated ring of hills and ridges rise in south-central Wisconsin.  Known as the Baraboos, they represent outcrops of ancient Precambria...

Boreal Owls

Boreal owls are small raptors that inhabit mixed conifer-aspen forests across Alaska, Canada and northern Eurasia; their range also extends ...

Fishers of the Forest

Fishers are large members of the mustelid (weasel) family; second in size only to the river otter, male fishers may weight up to 13 pounds. ...

Snow Disaster in Buffalo

The poster child for lake-effect snow events struck South Buffalo, New York, this week, dropping up to six feet of snow.  According to local...

American Mountain-Ash

On our recent travels through southern Quebec, American mountain-ash trees were abundant, their clusters of bright red fruit adorning both r...

Flying Blind

On my way to a family gathering in northeastern Ohio, I changed planes at Midway International Airport in South Chicago. Before we took off ...

The Eastern Snowy Owl Invasion

Snowy owls breed in the Arctic, where they feed primarily on lemmings.  Since the lemming population tends to crash every four years or so, ...

Memories of Canada

In September of 1973, I joined a group of friends for a canoe trip in Algonquin Provincial Park, in Ontario, Canada.  That was my first excu...

Waterspouts on the Great Lakes

Yesterday's outbreak of waterspouts across Lakes Erie and Ontario developed along a cold front that was moving over the warm lake waters...

The Maumee Torrent

Toward the end of the Pleistocene, a lobe of the Wisconsin Glacier pushed southwestward into northeast Indiana.  Its maximum extent was reac...

Cambrian Rock Exposures

Unlike strata from the other Paleozoic Periods, Cambrian rock exposures are relatively rare throughout the United States.  Deposited from 54...

Depth of the Great Lakes

Scooped from Precambrian and early Paleozoic bedrock by the Pleistocene glaciers, the Great Lake basins of North America have varied subsurf...

The Mesabi Range

The largest of four Iron Ranges that stretch across northeastern Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Mesabi Range is 110 mile...

Midwest Mountain Lions

Having once inhabited most of the United States, mountains lions were extirpated from eastern and central portions of our country by the ear...

Superior's Northwest Coast

Just north of downtown Duluth, Interstate 35 ends and becomes Minnesota Route 61 that hugs the northwest coast of Lake Superior, all the way...

Western Lake Superior

Facing an off-week and yearning to get back to the North Country after our memorable journey across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, last Se...

Eastern Sandhill Cranes

Most American birdwatchers associate sandhill cranes with the Great Plains and Western U.S., having seen large flocks at staging areas, such...

Thoughts on Lake Superior

True to its name, Lake Superior is a landscape of superlatives. Bounded by 3000 miles of shoreline, it is the largest freshwater lake (by s...

Elk in Michigan

North American wapiti, more commonly known as elk, are generally associated with mountainous regions of the West. However, before white set...

Falling Water

As we left the cabin this morning, on our final day in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a light rain was falling. The Porcupine Mountains we...