I love cedar waxwings. They seem so unobtrusive at first glance—heck, often you don’t even see them on first, or second, or even fifth glance because they camouflage themselves so well. But they’re subtly colorful, with pale yellow bellies and those bright yellow or orange tail tips, and some with those red spots like bangles on their wings. Read more …
I saw this adorable little bird a few days ago while we were on her afternoon walk. We were near the river and I noticed a small, speckled bird with a brown back and white underside on the trunk of a tree. Read more …
We’ve been seeing a lot of woodpeckers now that the leaves have fallen. A few days ago I counted close to a dozen downy woodpeckers on one of the trees near my house, and red-breasted woodpeckers have been coming around to peck at the locust tree outside my kitchen window. I’m not sure why hairy woodpeckers are called “hairy.” I guess it’s because the feathers on their bellies are fine and hair-like, but so are the feathers on the bellies of many other woodpeckers.
Sometimes you can choose your family… by choosing to love a cat! But just because they’re animals it doesn’t mean they won’t be as complex and individual as anyone else around. Our cats can be so good, and then they can be not-so-good, but boy do they give us great stories! This collection of 101 funny, heartwarming, and sometimes mind-boggling stories … Read more
It’s that time of the year for great blue heron sightings, so if it shows up as bird of the day more than once, don’t blame me. We saw this one on the lakeshore during our afternoon walk, near sunset. Read more …
I saw a great blue heron today, which means I’ll probably start seeing sandhill cranes again soon, as well. The heron was hunting on the edge of a pond, and it found a frog … or maybe it was a piece of mulch. Read more …
Have you ever been walking peacefully along on a warm afternoon, enjoying the sounds of nature, when suddenly a grating sound not unlike the popping of a flame starter on a gas stove, but about one hundred times louder, pierces your ears?
It’s probably a chipmunk.
We saw this duck today on the edge of the lake while we were on our walk. We argued for a while over what kind of bird it was (Companion was convinced it was a gull until he caught the color of the bill), because white ducks are not a common thing around here. While it could be a leucistic (partially albino) mallard … Read more …
It’s summer, and birds of a certain age—too old to be fledglings and too young to be independent juveniles—are all around if you know where to look: usually upwards, particularly if you hear a high-pitched peep-peep. Read more …
