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Sylvan Runkel State Preserve   “The Hills.” When you see those undulating ridges, accented with dark-green trees and lighter green grassland, you know you’re back in Iowa’s Loess Hills. The annual Loess Hills Prairie Seminar provides an unparalleled opportunity to get in touch with some of Iowa’s wildest land. You can hike steep trails, enjoy […]

The waning moon hangs in the haze just above the treetops, and a thin band of gray creeps above the eastern horizon. A robin has already begun its merry “chir-up, chur-eep, cher-ip” carols and warbles – even though sunup is still an hour away. It seemed pitch black when the alarm clock jolted you awake

Despite the snow, and ice, and cold – spring MUST be here! Our goldfinches are turning GOLD! OK, so the males look more motley than golden today – but they are molting their drab winter feathers, and bit-by-bit becoming the brilliant-yellow birds that my Dad appropriately called “wild canaries.” They have been with us all

After three more deer from Allamakee County have tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), Iowa DNR officials hope to use “a surgical approach” to head off a more widespread outbreak of the always-fatal disease that affects deer, elk, and moose. The three animals were among 309 tested in Allamakee County after the 2014 hunting

The birds didn’t need the TV meteorologists’ hype – or the legendary ground hog’s prognostication – to tell them a storm was coming. Sensing the snow and cold and wind that were approaching, the goldfinches crowded onto the tray of sunflower hearts to stoke up. Juncos and tree sparrows anxiously gathered on the ground under

Heat wave! That was the first thought when the thermometer crept back above zero. But, in retrospect, why the surprise? January? Iowa? Did we expect T-shirt weather? We tossed another log into the wood stove, savored the sunshine streaming through the south windows, and occasionally made a quick trip outside to feed the birds. The

Patience. Determination. Preparation. A good guide, spelled D-A-D. OK, and a little luck never hurts. My grandson Isaac used a good dose of all those ingredients to shoot his first deer during Iowa’s 2014 shotgun season. Do you know how hard it can be for a 12-year-old to sit quietly in the woods with his

The first juncos from the north arrive as the last tardy hummingbird heads south. Orange maples peek above the morning fog that hangs in the valley, beckoning paddlers to float the low, clear, cool waters of the river. The huge, bright harvest moon hovers near the eastern horizon at twilight, and lingers in the west

Carrying a canoe across a rocky portage, paddling into a stiff breeze, stepping into the muck while traversing a beaver flowage, and sleeping on a rocky point with rain pattering on your tent can give you stiff muscles and wet feet. But those experiences in canoe country also bring a sense of accomplishment and the