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THE RUSH OF SPRING Waterfowl migrating. Bluebirds nesting. Turkeys gobbling Flowers blooming. Tree buds bursting. Late-frost warnings. First thunderstorms. Morels popping. Farmers planting. Garden needs tilling. It happens every year: We’re so busy trying to savor the arrival of spring that we can get swept away by the avalanche of changes that highlight March, April, […]

Although this male red-bellied woodpecker somehow lost most of the top half of his beak, the resourceful bird has managed to stay otherwise healthy. Perhaps it’s because he’s learned to gorge himself on chunks of sunflower hearts from our bird feeder. By tipping his head and shooting out that l-o-n-g tongue, the bird scoops seed

Maybe that wasn’t the bluebirds’ intent, when they sat on the branch, sunning themselves on a balmy March afternoon. But I took it upon myself to anthropomorphize. I’d just finished the spring clean-out of our bluebird boxes, prompted by occasional bluebird whistles I’d been hearing from the edge of the woods. Within minutes, the male

“Peter, Peter, Peter!” declare the tufted titmice. “Cheer! Cheer! Cheer!” chimes in the cardinal. The bluebirds chortle quietly in agreement. Turkeys explore the hayfield hilltop – perhaps staking out territories for soon-to-come strutting and gobbling and showing off for the hens. Further south, there are reports of killdeer, red-winged blackbirds, song sparrows, mergansers, white-fronted geese,

Bush clover heads persist through the prairie winter Winter at last! As much as I may have enjoyed the lower heating bills or not having to shovel or avoiding the hassle of slick roads, it just didn’t seem like winter – at least until the recent sub-zero cold and 6-inch snow. Finally, I was able

We need to ask more questions about our food. Where is it produced? Who is raising it? How much energy is used to grow it? What chemicals are applied to it? Is the land used sustainably, so it can continue to produce the crops? That was a take-away message from the recent annual conference of

If you’re eager for winter, it’s always refreshing to see the season’s first Rough-legged Hawk. Seldom very common in Iowa, occasional rough-legs may drift into the state in October, and remain as late as March. These striking, black-and-white raptors, which nest on the Arctic tundra, seem to adjust readily to winter hunting in Iowa grasslands.

DEER HUNTIN’ WITH PAPA “Where are the deer, Papa? Maybe we should go another place if there aren’t any deer here.” When you’re 7, and have been sitting in a deer blind for at least half an hour, patience may not be one of your strongest traits. “How about if I walk over the hill

We started this month with a balmy stroll in the woods, where lingering bronze oak leaves glowed in the warm sun. A day or two later, bluebirds serenaded us as we worked up a sweat while cleaning the dead tomato vines off the garden. At night, a few katydids continued to sing, albeit v-e-r-y slowly.

Fog drifts above the valleys at dawn. The gray wisps sparkle in the first rays of sun, and frame the golden glow of the distant cottonwoods, maples, and oaks. Dew gilds the purple asters and bronze Indiangrass in the prairie. Goldfinches at the feeder chatter as they have all summer – but the males have