A gunshot echoes from the silence as I breathe in the dawn. If my ears could perk and swivel like a deer, I would alert myself to the source of the sound. It’s November and then December – hunting season in the Hilltowns. Echoing shots have become such a familiar sound to me and I…
Category Archives: Natural History
I would like you to reach back in time and give thanks to the blue-green bacteria who initiated the masses by breathing volatile oxygen, for without them we could not be here. And let us then give thanks to the plants who recognized that the sun is food, and in their breath, then give us…
Don’t think for a moment that I don’t love cats. I do! I have two of my own little loves. And… Bustle Recently a long-haired white cat with a black-and-white bustle tail showed up in our neighborhood. We know not whence this bedraggled beauty arrived but s/he is here wandering and bustling about. I have…
As the snows melt into the forest and the grasses grow in the fields, take time to stop and look and listen to the lives unfolding all around you: harried bird parents flying back and forth from the nest to feed their young; hungry chicks begging for food, with mouths agape, as their parents arrive…
The Ring-necked Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus, is a handsome-looking chap. This member of the grouse family (Phasianidae) has iridescent copper-gold plumage with a long tail – brown with black markings. He is aptly named due to the white ring around his neck. He also sports teal-colored feathers on his head as well as a red sideways…
Sunday There was a crispness that you could walk right into – and I did. The cold air caught in my throat and I swallowed winter. The ice glistened in a sunny day that couldn’t quite touch the chill. As I walked my ears were met with the tales chickadees tell one another in the…
“Dee-dee-dee” I call. My chickadee neighbors respond, “Dee-dee-dee.” They flitter in as they chatter in happy call and response. I can only imagine they are saying something to the effect of: “The Seed Lady is back; breakfast is served.” I feel like Giselle from that film Enchanted. She calls out “ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah” and from all…
