The largest member of the pike family, Esox masquiniongy got the name muskellunge from an Ojibway expression meaning “big fish.” True to its name, a musky grows bigger than any other fish in its habitat. Read the Full Story >>
Appreciating Nature
Local voices share observations, experiences, and thoughts about the living world that surround us and the many ways to connect with and enjoy nature.
Drama at the Nest
They were all set to start a family. The nursery was almost ready. Then one day everything changed when a young stranger appeared. Is this the trailer for a new soap opera? No, it’s part of the drama that’s unfolded over the past month keeping viewers tuned in to the live camera feed at the Shepherdstown eagle nest. Read the Full Story >>
The Bradford Pear Outgrows Its Welcome
It sounded like springtime in December. Three dozen robins were singing and scolding on Christmas morning. They had gathered to feed on the fruits of a Bradford pear, an ornamental tree that was the darling of landscapers thirty years ago but is now black-listed by many gardeners and nature lovers. Read the Full Story >>
Barred Owls Hoot a Duet
As a new year starts, I love to step outside at dusk and see the twigs of the bare trees etched against the greenish afterglow of sunset. I was about to call the dogs back into the house when I heard two barred owls hooting. We don’t hear barred owls too often. Hearing them makes me smile. Read the Full Story >>
The Singing Foxes
I’ve come to recognize some cries foxes make as their love songs. Winter is their mating season and, like birds in the spring, foxes communicate by vocalizing. Late November and early December is when you’re most likely to hear foxes sing. Read the Full Story >>
Woolly Bears and Giant Leopards
What do the giant woolly bear and the great leopard moth have in common? Quite a lot, it turns out. Read the Full Story >>
The Prairie Grass Season
Years ago the highway department scraped and graded a steep bank along the road past our property. In order to prevent erosion and to enhance the area as wildlife habitat, we seeded the bare clay soil with a mixture of native perennial plants and warm season grasses. Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi) and Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans) are both useful and dramatically beautiful native grasses. Read the Full Story >>
On Seeing Uncommon Butterflies
Pennsylvania. There was a bath house where electric lights burned all night in the middle of the woods. Each morning and evening, countless insects covered the side of the building around the beam of the flood lights. Read the Full Story >>
A Tree Finds A New Life
For the past five years, we worried that every time it stormed a big limb would break off of our beloved old Kentucky coffee tree and destroy our entryway fence. Now our property is safe from that disaster and a magnificent old tree remains as wildlife habitat. Read the Full Story >>
Sounds Of Summer: The Wood Pewee
As spring turns into summer, I listen for a bird song I’ve loved since childhood. I remember hearing, as soon as school closed for the summer, a rather lazy, sentimental birdsong coming from the woods across the road. Whenever I hear it now, it invokes memories of long summer days. Read the Full Story >>
At Home With a Special Tulip Tree
For about a century, a magnificent tulip tree has stood in the front yard of our house. Read the Full Story >>
A Look at The Blue-Eyed Cicada
By the time you read this story, tens of thousands of cicadas may have already appeared in the Eastern Panhandle, filling the air with their buzzing. Read the Full Story >>
Keep Your Bird Feeders Clean
Feeding the birds has helped people young and old to get through this pandemic winter. For many home-bound Americans, this backyard hobby has helped lighten the loneliness and depression brought about by the isolation of the pandemic quarantine. But in recent months, all these bird feeders may have brought the birds an epidemic of their own. Thankfully, the solution to this problem is simple Read the Full Story >>
Feeling The Heartbeat Of Spring Emerging
During my sixty-odd years as a naturalist, I’ve learned spring actually starts long before the first of March. I write this in mid-February as it seems winter has yet to loosen its grip, until you listen and look closely. Read the Full Story >>
The Flow Must Go On
No creatures on earth can change their environment more drastically than humans and beavers. In the natural world, beaver dams create new wetland habitat for a variety of wildlife. Fishermen, hunters, bird watchers, hikers and outdoor recreationists love to visit beaver dams. But when beavers cut down trees, obstruct and divert waterways, and flood fields, septic systems and basements, their “damming” activities place beavers in direct conflict with humans. Read the Full Story >>