Iced Maple
These maple tree buds had a good coating of freezing rain covering them up in ice, too – I cannot imagine this is good for the trees or the wildlife that depends on them! But it was probably not as bad as the prolonged sub-freezing temperatures of the last couple of days… Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreMaple Leaves Emerging
These maple tree leaves are about to pop…here we go, spring is on the way, and for real. No more snow for us! Right? Um, right! It’s only May…
Read MoreNorthern Flickers
Earlier this week we were looking for a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) photo because, as you have likely seen, over 99% of the content we use we make ourselves. This is something we take pride in at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. We write, we photograph, we record, we film, and we create. We do not use outside materials except when there is no other alternative…and then we immediately try to get out and get the missing content ourselves. Twan and I did not have many Northern Flicker pictures, each of us with only one real usable image. They fall into that...
Read MorePerpetual golden shades
It seems like we cannot stop producing yellow and bright golden shades this autumn as many trees are still hanging on to leaves. The seemingly perpetual color is certainly welcome to stick around for as long as it likes. Even a few maples are continuing to produce a lot of bright hues at this late fall foliage date. Go outside and enjoy it all this weekend, even with the chillier November air!
Read MoreJuvenile Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
This juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) had landed only moments before I snapped this photo on Monday morning. Oak trees like this one, in contrast to the maple branch you can see, shed their leaves late in the autumn foliage season. As such they are an ideal spot for a young migrant like this one to stop on the way south while staying out of sight. I snapped a few photos of the bird while on the phone with RTPI’s Conservation Technician Elyse Henshaw. By the time we were off and I looked back it was already gone. Ships in the night… Scott Kruitbosch Conservation &...
Read More
