Exploring Nature by Sheila Newenham
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
Should I run up this tree? Black bears seek refuge in trees from a young age. Their mothers will send them up trees for safekeeping while she forages. They learn that it’s a safe place to rest and an excellent place to avoid other bears … Continue readingA Day in the Life of Black Bears
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
Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge is not what you’d think. Alligators are rare and black bears are common. The biggest black bears in the world, in fact. It’s on an old military bombing range, parts of which are still closed to the public formed to … Continue readingAlligator River National Wildlife Refuge
There are beavers in our pond again. I’d put some crabapple cuttings in the fire pit and on the habitat behind the woodpile for my voles. The next day there was this well-worn muddy path from the pond, and most of the cuttings were … Continue readingLiving with Beavers
The Trail I’m moving purposefully up the half-mile trail from the parking lot in Point Reyes National Seashore. If I’m going to see the river otters and still find a bobcat, this detour can’t take too long. Along my way, there are birds all about … Continue readingRiver Otters
The Morning Blind As the first rays of dawn appear, I begin to see faint gray forms in front of me. The morning chorus of the sandhill cranes had already started when I arrived. Just a few voices here and there. I knew they were … Continue readingAmerica’s Greatest Migration
Fred and Ethel* are back for their twelfth season. They are a pair of Canada geese who have been raising their families on my pond year after year. In the spring, when the flocks of geese begin to stopover on their trip north, Fred and … Continue readingBackyard Geese
I’d heard that the best place to photograph bobcats in the US was at Point Reyes National Seashore. This lesser-known national park is just north of San Francisco. I immediately put it on my ever-expanding travel list. I’ve never been to northern California, but San … Continue readingPhotographing Elusive Bobcats
Gophers are everywhere in this part of Northern California. The landscape is literally pockmarked with their holes. Their vision is poor, living mostly underground, finding food by smell and navigating with their exquisitely sensitive whiskers. They eat primarily grasses, shoots and roots sometimes pulling a … Continue readingHunting Herons at Point Reyes National Seashore