Dandelion Feast
The dandelion is one of the most widespread and widely known flowering plants there is, and while they may not be the best for agriculture or maintaining the “perfect” manicured lawn, they are very helpful for our early pollinators. Undoubtedly you have seen bees, butterflies and other flying insects feeding on them when there is little else blooming. Here’s to them! Besides, they’re pretty little things once you stop thinking about making the grass look “neat” and “tidy”. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach...
Read MoreApril Flowers
It seems this warm year brought us a lot more March showers and April flowers rather than the traditional saying – thanks, climate change! I do not know what these little ones are but they like to poke up in this same area of grass every year in the early spring. There is always, always…always…more to find out about the world around us. Look up, look down, look all around… Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreHorned Lark
Last week I showed you the Horned Lark in a bare field that very much resembled the feathers of its back and wings – brown soil with twigs and roots. Here is the opposite as one fed among a flock of its kind in the snow with only bits of grass and vegetation poking up here and there thanks to the wind and their work at the earth. I thought it was funny and perhaps rather smart when it perched on a rock for a minute. Not only did it get out of the snow but I suppose that is the best kind of camouflage it could now find. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach...
Read MoreHorned Lark Camouflage
This is not exactly the best photo of a Horned Lark ever, but it certainly depicts their unbelievable camouflage. How perfect is this field for a bird with a back like that? Remember that, for the most part, birds – at least those species that possess flight capabilities – do not have to worry about mammals on the ground. This also excludes domestic cats, an introduced creature they are still learning to deal with. Otherwise it is usually very easy to elude mammal predators as a healthy adult bird. How could a red fox or a raccoon sneak up on you in a flock in the middle of an...
Read MoreField Sparrow
Why do they call them Field Sparrows again? Oh, right. Way to blend in! It appears to be simply a more mobile assemblage of some brown blades of grass…late sparrow migrants are still on the move, so keep an eye out for them along with Vesper Sparrows and all those Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows.
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