Scott Shalaway

Scott Shalaway: What’s causing mysterious dragonfly swarms?

Over the last several weeks I’ve received many emails and letters from readers reporting large aggregation of dragonflies, usually hovering above the grass in wet meadows and hayfields.

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Young birder gets thrill of a lifetime with hawk

Children are never too young to develop an interest in birds. By age three, my daughters could identify towhees and cardinals by sight and sound. Watching birds at feeders helped them learn colors, numbers and how to observe and describe behaviors. They learned art by drawing pictures of birds. But even they never got excited [...]

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Scott Shalaway: Looking back to 9/11; nature is the place to be

Ten years ago, in the aftermath of 9/11, I wrote about nature’s September highlights. I touched on fall colors, shorter days, cooler nights, and the migration of birds and monarch butterflies

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Scott Shalaway: No one has to tell the birds summer is over

On Aug. 25 at a high school football game on Wheeling Island in the Ohio River, a flock of high flying birds distracted my attention from the game. Shortly before sunset, I counted about 50 common nighthawks swirling and feeding above the stadium lights. I watched until they disappeared in the darkening night sky.

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Cicada killers are vampires of the insect world

On hot summer days, the pulsing drone of dog day cicadas reminds us that outside temperatures flirt with 90 degrees. It’s also fair warning to be on the lookout for a monstrous insect, the cicada killer.

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A-maizing corn has been around for centuries

For the next few weeks fresh sweet corn will be available at roadside stands, farmers markets and even grocery stores. When the corn is fresh and sweet, it can set off a buying frenzy among shoppers. Everyone wants a dozen ears of corn when it’s fresh and sweet. Ancient origins A taste for sweet corn [...]

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Keep your cat inside to protect it and the birds

Since 1989 I have written several times about domestic cats and the havoc they wreak on native wildlife populations. On July 11 cats made the national “fake” news on John Stewart’s The Daily Show.

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House wrens can be nasty neighbors

House wrens are extremely territorial and aggressive. While most birds limit their aggression to members of their own species, house wrens are interspecifically antisocial.

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Summer is finally here: wildflowers are in bloom

Everyone knows the ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum). The flower’s bright yellow central disk is surrounded by white petals. It grows almost anywhere brightening hayfields, rural road sides, and even my gravel driveway. It’s almost as ubiquitous as dandelion. Definition of summer To me, ox-eye daisies are the wildflower that defines the beginning of summer. There [...]

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Belted Kingfishers, easy to identify, hard to forget

I’m not an avid angler. It’s probably because I’m so easily distracted. Dragonflies and damselflies patrol their territories along cattail-lined shorelines. Bullfrogs bellow from the shoreline, and there’s often at least one snapping turtle coming up for air or a water snake swimming toward me. Attention getter More often, however, it’s the machine gun-like rattle [...]

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Thankfully, whip-poor-will’s song is hard to forget

“Whip-poor-will! Whip-poor-will! Whip-poor-will!” The song wakes me at first light. It’s why I keep the bedroom windows open. The song of the whip-poor-will is my favorite alarm. I suppose I value it because I hear it so rarely. Over the last 25 years, I’ve heard it just a handful of times, and just for a [...]

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Looking for summer reading; look no further

A good book can make or break a summer vacation. Whether under a beach umbrella or in a comfortable easy chair, any curious naturalist will enjoy these recent titles. Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World’s Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler (2011, William Morrow, $25.99) is the latest book by Jessica Speart. For more than decade, [...]

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Warblers galore at Magee Marsh in Oak Harbor

Like most birders, I keep a life list. It is simply a list of the first time and place I saw any particular species. Compared to some, I’m a casual lister; my U.S. list is 500-plus, but I don’t know the exact number. It’s not that important. But I still get excited when I add [...]

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Jamaica: Surprising and rewarding destination for birdwatchers

Biologists love to see species they have never seen before. The best places to see endemic species (those that occur only in isolated geographic areas) are islands. Remote islands far from mainland areas are often most famous for their endemic species. For example, 13 species of Darwin’s finches, 15 other birds and giant tortoises are [...]

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Golfing is ‘Master’ful time to bird watch

I haven’t played a round of golf since college, but each spring I try to catch a few hours of the televised weekend portions of the Master’s golf tournament. The competition can be dramatic, but I tune in to hear bird song. The Master’s takes place at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, so spring [...]

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Use your iPad or iPod to learn more about birding

Want to know what bird’s singing beside you in the park? Yep, there’s an app for that.

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Nest boxes are simple — don’t complicate things

The first day of spring always reminds me that it’s nest box season. It’s time to build and place a few more nest boxes for my favorite birds — the cavity-nesters. This group includes bluebirds, chickadees, titmice, house wrens, tree swallows, screech-owls, kestrels and wood ducks. Most people love bluebirds, but they nest only in [...]

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Disregard robins when looking for signs of spring

When I was a kid, one of the things I learned on television was that, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” Apparently, however, it’s OK for Mother Nature to fool me. Blue skies, sunshine and temperatures in the 50s put a smile on my face March 2 and 3. Robins, bluebirds, cardinals, chickadees and [...]

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The Crossley ID Guide to eastern birds

More than 30 bird identification guides line my book shelves, so I guess I’m a collector. Most are very good. Some even include CDs. But they all follow the same basic format — artwork or photos of a few individuals along with a range map and brief written description. Which guide is best is an [...]

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Have a few minutes? Take part in the bird count

The 14th annual Great Backyard Bird Count takes place Feb. 18-21. A joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society and Bird Studies Canada, this popular citizen science project is an opportunity for all to discover the wonders of nature we call birds. Begun in 1998, the GBBC enlists birders of [...]

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