Exploring Nature by Sheila Newenham
The Sound The noise is shocking. The intense background hum of thousands – millions? – of 17-year cicadas humming their love song. As I move away from the parking lot at Highbanks Metro Park in Ohio, the sound fades. I’m used to the rising drone … Continue reading17-Year Cicadas
The car ahead of me is braking. A deer? No, a coyote. No, it’s a wolf!! A timber wolf is trotting across the highway! If that’s not a good omen, I don’t know what is! It was the long legs that made me think deer, … Continue readingVince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary
Wonderment I often get distracted walking past my patio doors by the sights outside: songbirds eating, bluejays demanding their peanuts, ducks waddling in the lawn, a swimming muskrat, a foraging beaver, hunting herons, coyotes passing through, deer, geese, anything and everything. My camera sits on … Continue readingBackyard Drama: Coyote versus Geese
I often write about hidden gems – those wonderful things that have been right under our noses all along. That’s because when we make the time to stop and look, there is wonder all around us. A friend recently suggested a village park that has … Continue readingA Local Wonderland
e·phem·er·al (əˈfem(ə)rəl): lasting for a very short time. They brighten the dull brown forest floors even before winter has really left. Spring ephemerals put all of their energy into carpeting the woodland in color and then fade away under the shade of the full canopy. … Continue readingWoodland Ephemerals: Hope Springs Eternal
If you find yourself on a human trail in the woods, look off to the side to find a wildlife trail. This is where the riches are. Treasures in the woods can be found off the beaten path just about anywhere. Here are the things … Continue readingTreasures Found in the Woods
It’s November 21, 2019, day 252 of the Flood of 2019. The flooding began on March 15th with a late winter “bomb cyclone” snow and rainstorm. Four days later, on March 17, the Missouri River at Nebraska City, Nebraska reached a record high of 30.1 … Continue readingThe Power of Nature: the 2019 Missouri River Flood
Waubonsie State Park is not what I expected. I didn’t expect to fall in love with a 2000 acre park in the southwest corner of Iowa. But that’s what happened during my first ever Artist-in-Residency. From the moment I entered the park and saw its … Continue readingWaubonsie Artist-in-Residence
A single, high-pitched yelp pierced the silence. I spun around. A wild coyote stood next to my 80 pound Labrador, Tybee. They were inches apart. Both were frozen, each seemingly unsure of what the next move should be. The coyote’s posture was non-threatening; head down, … Continue readingPolite Suburban Coyote
This is literally a hidden gem. Bluff Spring Fen in South Elgin, IL, is tucked between a cemetery, the Metra train tracks, a gravel pit/industrial park, and a well-traveled road. Even as I tell you about it, driving up, it seems unreal – dump trucks, … Continue readingConeflower Prairie