Exploring Nature by Sheila Newenham
How have I lived this long without knowing about needle ice!? Late last fall, I was on a hike when I first saw it. When it’s intact, it camouflages with the surrounding soil. Footfalls crunch over the top of it like ordinary frozen ground. Yet, … Continue readingNeedle Ice
Two miles, two hours. That’s a good wander. It’s hazy, with a strong breeze off the Gulf of Mexico pushing the waves further up on the soft sand of Surfside Beach. Although the thermometer reads 72°, this cool wind necessitates a sweatshirt. I roll up … Continue readingSurfside Beach Wander
A Pictorial On the rolling hills of Point Reyes National Seashore, gophers drive the ecosystem. In addition to sustaining coyotes, foxes, weasels, and bobcats, this makes for happy hunting for all manner of raptors: kestrels, red-tail hawks, great horned owls, white-tailed kites, northern harriers, and … Continue readingThe Birds of Point Reyes National Seashore
Day Two “Delusional in the Woods” Swan River, Montana First Location Since we got through so many questions yesterday, we started at 9 am today. Piling into the SUVs again, we drove to the nearby Swan River. River habitats attract so much life. Water is … Continue readingTrack and Sign Certification (day two)
I’m at the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Bison Range, formerly the National Bison Range in Montana. In 2020, the US government returned the 18,766-acre range and its bison, located on the Flathead Indian Reservation, to the local tribes. It is now called the … Continue readingNational Bison Range
The Canyon Basalt columns rise from the Tieton river valley providing protected roosts and nest sites for ravens and golden eagles. Climbers are also drawn to the sheer rise, crawling like ants up the walls. Lichens decorate the gray and brown rocks in yellow … Continue readingBirds and Snakes on the Tieton River Trail
The Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge website lists among their 45 species of mammals elk, deer, moose, badgers, river otters, porcupines, beavers, bobcats, and cougars. I set my alarm for the following morning. Fog hung in the mountain valleys highlighting the ridges and trees as I … Continue readingTurnbull National Wildlife Refuge
Winter and spring all in one walk. Round Lake State Park in North Idaho is a 200-acre preserve surrounding a 58-acre lake with hiking trails, multi-use trails, and a campground. It was chilly when I started out on the 1.8-mile Trapper’s trail roughly circling the … Continue readingRound Lake State Park, Idaho
They said there’d be armadillos. They weren’t wrong. I arrived at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, a 2760 acre mix of saltwater marsh, pine and deciduous woods, and grasslands, midmorning on a gorgeous, mostly sunny spring day. Before its establishment as a refuge, Harris Neck … Continue readingHarris Neck National Wildlife Refuge
If you google “Corkscrew Audubon Swamp” plus “Florida Panther”, you’ll find videos of startled people and startled cats like this one on You Tube by Andrea Wipperfurth (March 2016). So when I saw that Audubon Corkscrew Swamp was near where we’d be staying in Florida, … Continue readingAudubon Corkscrew Swamp