It’s been a banner year for wildlife in my backyard, and each evening my wife and I enjoy the show from the back porch.
Pairs of bluebirds, robins, phoebes, chipping sparrows and Carolina wrens tend to their second nests of the season, while the young of their first broods search the backyard for insects and […]
There are a few outdoor adventures I’ve never tried and never will. Skydiving, rock climbing, and bungee jumping come immediately to mind.
Noodling is another. I try to avoid activities that put my life or body parts at risk.
Noodling, also called hand-grabbing, is a form of extreme catfishing that’s popular and legal in some southern […]
Whether you’re planning a stay-cation in the backyard or a getaway to the shore or mountains this summer, a good book makes a great companion. Here are a few titles you might enjoy as you settle into a favorite reading chair.
- Birdsong by the Seasons: A Year of Listening to Birds by Donald […]
Visit a farm pond ringed with dense vegetation this month, and you’re sure to hear two distinctive sounds.
A booming “Jug-o’-rummm!” signals the presence of bullfrogs. The sound of a loose banjo string comes from an amorous male green frog. Though similar in appearance, bullfrogs can reach a length of seven inches; green frogs top […]
About a week ago while sitting on the back porch watching night fall, I saw the first golden flash of summer. Soon a dozen fireflies, or lightning bugs as they are often called, patrolled the backyard. Another handful flashed from perches in the tall grass on the edge of the yard.
Flashing fireflies mean summer […]
Of all the birds that sing their own name, the eastern wood-pewee does it best. Every morning as I lie in bed just before dawn, I hear the usual spring chorus dominated by robins, cardinals and Carolina wrens.
In the background, from deeper in the woods, comes the pewee’s plaintive, two-part song — “pee-a-weee,” followed […]
Finding an ovenbird nest is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Unless you follow this drably colored warbler to its domed, oven-like nest on the ground, you’ve got to be lucky.
As I pressed my luck a few days ago, I followed an ovenbird with binoculars as it moved along the forest floor. […]
The sight of four fledgling American robins on the lawn reminded me that robins are thrushes, a family of birds that has a handful of representatives likely to be seen in spring.
Most familiar members
Most have spotted breasts and most sing impressively. Robins and bluebirds, both plain breasted as adults, are probably the most familiar […]
Nothing excites birders like the month of May. Spring migration peaks. New birds arrive almost every day. Colorful warblers and tanagers monopolize the attention, but several groups of less spectacular birds are equally interesting.
Escape the spotlight
A red-eyed vireo, for example, is a drab tree top dweller, but its return is just as notable as […]
May brings the best transitions of the year. Neotropical migrants return, wildflowers bloom and butterflies emerge. It’s my favorite month. I find it hard not to smile all month long.
Only get so many
But each year also reminds me that we get only so many Mays. The older I get, the more precious each May […]
