The vast majority (97%+) of the scientific community’s experts on Earth’s climate agree that our climate is changing, that this change will be enormously disruptive and that it is centered around humanity’s impacts on the planet. It isn’t just fossil fuel use that intensifies the ...
Life in the natural world can be harsh, especially when environmental conditions change. Species that specialize in certain foods or habitats or require particularly large expanses of land become rare or even die out. Passenger pigeons, Kirkland’s warblers, grizzly bears, and hellbenders come immediately to mind. Adapt or die is the law of the land. Species that can adjust to changes in habitat or food availability can thrive. Think white-tailed deer, coyotes, raccoons, opossums, song sparrows and chickadees. Among the most adaptable species are gray and fox squirrels. ...
When it comes to animals, I have a special spot in my heart for every creature. Whether it is a turtle crossing the road or a spider trapped in my bathtub, I have always been one to help an animal in need. Most of my life, I have interacted with mammals; I am fascinated by their diversity ...
Evidence of climate change is all around us. The lack of snow and increasingly wetter, warmer winters here in the Chautauqua region are troubling warning signs. I worry about the trees and the creatures dependent upon them, and about our seasonal economies based on recreation, tourism, ...
The grass, stiff with frost, crunches under my feet as I walk swiftly along the dimly lit trail. The sun isn’t due to come up for a few minutes. The birds are just starting to wake up, with lazy tweets and chirps coming from the trees and bushes nearby. A deer, startled by my early ...
About a week before Christmas my wife and I were back on the ridge in West Virginia getting the house ready for new owners. We planned to leave before dark. When we finally got into the car at about 6 o’clock, I cracked a window. At 6:03 a tremulous whistle rose from the woods below. As if on cue, an eastern screech-owl serenaded us. We knew it was simply talking to its mate, but we decided it had come to say good-bye. Five minutes later another nocturnal friend hooted from behind the garage. “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you-allll?” Barred owls have always been my ...
