Monarchs Mating
Here are a couple more mating Monarch pairs photographed in the last week – the continuation of the cycle of life for a species that so needs it! What are you doing to help the emblematic butterfly rebound?
Read MoreDay Moon
We tend to think of migration as a nightly event as we enter the spring – watching birds pass in front of the moon on a clear evening, catching them on radar, hearing flight calls in the darkness or finding new faces have joined us in our yards and patches when we wake up in the morning. While we often ignore the moon shining in the bright blue sky all day we also ignore the fact many birds are flying over us then, too. Yes, we see geese and certainly are aware of hawk watches and the many raptors that use thermals, but shorebirds might be migrating nonstop over the continent, while...
Read MoreSuperb Sky
There was a superb sky around the moon after sunset one night last week, though only for a few minutes. It was a case of the atmosphere looking better through the camera lens and polarizer with the latter enabling the former to see what we could not with our eyes. I thought the view looked otherworldly to say the least. I guarantee that I was on Earth, but it felt like another planet. It helps to remind us how much is truly going on around us in nature and the atmosphere, all of it impacting the life of thousands upon thousands of species that we must work to keep protecting…including...
Read MoreSpring Sunset
The sun is setting on the spring soon as the longest days of the year are here. We hope you get outdoors to enjoy all of the light and life surrounding us in our Wild America this weekend. Have a wonderful time!
Read MoreLightning Strike
There has been a lot of inclement weather lately! One good thing about all of the heavy rain and thunderstorms is that our waterways will be filled for reptiles, amphibians, odonates, and many other creatures. It may not make our work easier – for example, the Spiny Softshell Turtles are going to be a tough study for now – but it is certainly a far better fate than the droughts of places like California. Thankfully for them we have signs of a strengthening El Niño, the periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean’s surface temperatures, that may already be giving them slight...
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