Bigger is always better, right? Cities and countries compete to build the tallest buildings. Gardeners vie to raise the biggest pumpkin. Anglers long for that monster bass. In the February 2011 issue of Pennsylvania Game News Mike Raykovicz writes, “The emphasis today seems to be on antlers, and the bigger they are the better.” s [...]
Shortly after my wife and I moved to the ridge back in the summer of 1985, we began exploring the surrounding woods. On one of our first outings, we took separate paths. When we met back at the house, Linda was bursting with excitement. “I got a quick look at an animal I didn’t recognize,” [...]
A few nights into the new year, three different species of owl sang within earshot of the back porch. It began shortly after 9 p.m. with the tremulous whistle of an eastern screech owl. A few minutes later a barred owl sang from deeper in the woods. “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you [...]
As we head into a new year, nothing beats a good book by the wood stove on a cold winter night. Here are some recent classics I recommend. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose (1996, Simon & Schuster) and Our Natural History: the Lessons of [...]
Back in February, as a brutal winter unfolded, I explained that feeding deer in winter is a bad idea. I quoted experts from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, and a veterinarian from the National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin. All agreed that supplemental feeding is bad deer management. That [...]
Hunters and birders may seem unlikely allies, but they share many of the same conservation goals. One is maintaining healthy populations of birds and mammals for viewing and hunting. Free roaming feral cats pose a serious threat to this objective. The University of Nebraska Extension service has just published a review of the feral cat [...]
Last month I wrote about Marcy Heacker, a research associate and forensic ornithologist in the bird division of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I met Marcy earlier this fall, and she invited me to visit for a behind-the-scenes tour. A few weeks ago my daughter, Nora, joined me for the visit. In advance of [...]
I’ve got a bookshelf of titles to recommend as holiday gifts this year, so each gets just a thumbnail description. Suffice to say, if it’s on this list, I recommend it: • Bird Feathers: A Guide to North American Species (Stackpole Books, 2010, $34.95) by S. David Scott and Casey McFarland is the first truly [...]
Recently, at a wild bird trade show in Missouri, a women approached me and thanked me for “a great idea.” She said she had read a story I had written about winter roosting boxes a few years ago. Candace Stuart, owner of a Wild Bird Center in Denver, began offering workshops for kids to build [...]
Late October brought the first hard frost to the ridge, and now the temperature dips to the low 30s most mornings. Frosty temperatures send my wife and me in search of persimmons, which ripen after a few cold nights. Ours grow in the hayfield. Persimmon Persimmon is a small, inconspicuous tree that rarely grows taller [...]
