My children and their friends spotted some strange insects at Audubon the other day. They were dark steely blue, shining in the grass. Their bulbous round abdomens looked awkward compared to their skinny heads and thoraxes. These beetles crawled in an ungainly fashion through the grass, ...
Over the last 30 years I’ve written dozens of columns about feeding backyard birds. Based on my experiences, I’ve recommended specific foods (black-oil sunflower seeds, peanuts, and mealworms) and specific feeders (tubes, hanging bowls, and suet baskets). My mission has always been to write what I know, so I wrote about attracting birds to the 95-acre slice of West Virginia heaven my wife and I called home. During winter I kept 25 to 30 feeders filled and could often count 20 species of birds visiting throughout the day. On particularly cold snowy days, I might see a few more ...
Audubon did an exhibit in 2006 titled “Hooked on Nature.” One of the features was a corner in which the naturalists identified a person who inspired them to become a naturalist. I chose my dad. The text I wrote then reads as follows: This photo is one of my favorites. I don’t ...
I have fished on Chautauqua Lake each summer since I was five, but as I fished the lake in late summer of this year, I felt as though I no longer knew the lake. The lake has changed so much that it felt as if I were fishing on an entirely different lake. In the late 1970s, I caught quite a ...
One of the benefits of writing this column is that readers let me know when they observe unusual, unpredictable natural phenomena. For instance, when a brood of 17-year periodic cicadas emerges, I hear about it on day one. About two weeks ago readers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia began reporting “swarms” of green darner dragonflies hovering over hayfields, wet meadows, and large backyards. Because such events are ephemeral and unpredictable, it helps to have an army of nature watchers on duty. Though I’ve never seen a swarm of dragonflies myself, I first heard about ...
At this time of year, we both admire trees for the spectacularly colorful show they provide to our landscape and curse them for the constant supply of leaves they drop on our lawns. But trees add value to our lives, to our homes and to our waterways that we may not always appreciate. Fall ...
