Back on the Bay

Our Longboat Key condo sits on the west edge of Sarasota Bay, offering views of the open water as well as mangrove islands that rise offshor...

11:29

Leaving Winter

Our first road trip of the new year will take us from the wintry landscape of central Missouri to the warm, marine environment of southwest ...

12:11

Nature's Year

As we approach the end of another human calendar year, we realize that it has no direct relationship to the solar cycle, which defines natur...

13:35

Harlan's Hawk

Harlan's hawk is a large, dark-plumaged buteo that breeds across Alaska and Northwest Canada.  Once considered a distinct species, this ...

06:17

Conceding Victory to Nature

Since moving to Columbia, Missouri in the late 1990s, we have watched as the Parks Department attempted to establish a prairie at Forum Natu...

11:04

The Expendable Species

Throughout the first 120,000 years of human existence, we were just another species in natural ecosystems, moving about and subsisting via a...

06:40

Life in the Big City

After more than a week of exploring the spectacular landscapes and natural ecosystems of southern Quebec, we are back in Montreal, awaiting ...

12:00

Parc National de la Gaspesie

Driving east from Mantane, Quebec, one soon encounters side ridges of the Northern Appalachians, some of which end abruptly at the edge of t...

11:47

Parc National du Bic

Leaving Quebec City this morning, we headed east on Route 20 through a landscape of dairy farms and hay fields, broken by riverine woodlands...

17:39

Arctic Sinkholes

Over the past few decades, climatologists have documented a gradual reduction in both the thickness and the expanse of Arctic sea ice, a res...

17:40

After the Rain

Following a night of rain with intermittent thunderstorms, we headed down to the Forum Nature Area this morning.  A mild west breeze had dev...

08:30

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 ...

14:37

Hummingbirds and Humans

When we bought our Littleton, Colorado, farm, that section of the Front Range urban corridor was still semi-rural.  Broad-tailed hummingbird...

08:16

Earth's Mass Extinctions

During the course of life on Earth, which began 3.6 billion years ago, the diversity of species on our planet has been determined by a myria...

08:06

Reducing Personal Consumption

Those of us who care about the welfare of natural ecosystems lend our support in a number of ways.  Most donate funds to local or national c...

12:27

Floating the South Platte

Among the wide variety of outdoor activities that are available in and near Metro Denver is the opportunity to float the South Platte River....

09:02

The Fountain Creek Valley

Fountain Creek rises on the Palmer Divide, north of Colorado Springs, and flows southward  to join the Arkansas River at Pueblo, Colorado.  ...

19:17

Paynes Prairie Basin

Just south of Gainesville, Florida, Interstate 75 crosses a broad valley covered by a shrubby grassland.  This is the western portion of the...

06:19

Red Bug Slough Preserve

Red Bug Slough Preserve is a 72 acre refuge in the southern suburbs of Sarasota, Florida.  Stretching along a drainage channel, it is charac...

04:42

In Rattlesnake Country

At the trailhead for the Sharptail Ridge Open Space preserve, south of Denver, a sign warns of rattlesnakes in the area.  Of course, similar...

04:30