In 1804, Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to catalog the wildlife and geography of North America. They spent two years searching the continent, documenting their finds as they asked, “What’s that? And that? And what’s that?” I conduct my expeditions the same way today. I have dozens of see-and-ID encounters every time […]
Nature
This was originally posted June 8, 2010 and probably ten people read it. I hope you don’t mind my running it again. It reminds me of my favorite Abstruse Goose. The picture’s a little alarming, but justly so. I had two trees in the front yard, and I’d watch the squirrels jump between them, across […]
Today, I give thanks for the snood. My amusement begins with the word itself, which rhymes with rude. Try enunciating it several times in a row, slowly, and you’ll see what I mean. But the snood is more than just a delightful word and common crossword puzzle answer. It’s also a comedic example of sexual […]
So the election’s over, the days are getting shorter, and it’s about time for a nice long nap. May I suggest an 80-foot-long concrete chamber, tucked neatly into a hillside in Tennessee? Clean, cool, and cozy, it’s the perfect winter hideaway … if you’re a bat, that is. Yes, The Nature Conservancy of Tennessee has […]
Owls are trending. At least that’s what a grumpy barista told my husband when he tried to get his owl coffee mug filled up. I used to like them before, she sniffed. We do seem to have accumulated a fair amount of owl paraphernalia in the last few years. Before, our house was an owl-free […]
I go to a lot of natural history museums. Something about all those pretty rocks and dead animals, and the chance that I might see something I’ve never seen before or learn something new—I can’t resist it. In the last three years, I’ve been to at least 15 natural history museums on two continents. Here’s […]
When Iben Hove Sørensen flew to Ghana for her work with Dansk Ornitologisk Forening, a partner of BirdLife International, she couldn’t help but think about the birds. The passerines that she was headed south to study follow a similar course that her plane took to their wintering grounds–over the Mediterranean, sometimes through cloud-choked skies, for […]
I have been trying to discourage my older son from chasing birds. For a while it worked—he couldn’t say much and was easily distracted by food (a family flaw). But now he’s a better conversationalist than I am, and of course the first thing he asks is, “Why?” I tried to explain something about how […]
