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
I stopped in my tracks. I’ve never seen so much beaver sign! Trampled, packed down snow, chewed limbs, and huge shavings from felling trees.. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I knew that the beavers were back. I’d seen signs of activity at their … Continue readingThe Beavers Next Door
I’m saying goodbye to this land that I’ve loved and nurtured, and that has nurtured me back. We arrived in June 2009 to a sterile, weedy landscape. Morning glory vines had overrun all of the landscape beds, their long tendril roots anchored firmly through the … Continue readingSaying Goodbye
When the weather prevents snorkeling, there is still ocean life to see. The difference here between low tide and high tide is one foot, yet it exposes twenty yards or so of seafloor. If these were the extreme tides like they get in Alaska (twenty … Continue readingLow Tide Meander
They’re the size of a big dog only with bigger, soft, brown, pleading eyes; no wonder people want to feed them. The federally endangered Key deer only exist in the lower Florida Keys. They are a subspecies of the common white-tailed deer. Like most animals … Continue readingFlorida’s Key Deer
The Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit is more rugged than the expansive South Unit. Sixty-five miles of private land separate the two. There is one 14-mile out-and-back road in the North Unit that snakes up to acrophobic overlooks along the river gorge. In light … Continue readingTheodore Roosevelt National Park – North Unit
A guest post by Rob I went out fishing during our most recent stay in Alaska at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge in Lake Clark National Park. One afternoon I went out with a guide and another couple to fish. We fished a bend in the … Continue readingA Fed Bear
Getting There Driving west on I-94, it’s fast and flat through Minnesota and most of North Dakota. I pass crowded fields of sunflowers, their dry seed heads fixed toward the sky, flat terrain pockmarked by small lakes and rolling fallow crop fields. Until suddenly, the … Continue readingTheodore Roosevelt National Park – South Unit
I’ve been cooped up for too long, whiling away the days on social media, too tired to focus on even sedentary tasks. For the last week, I’m mentally brighter consistently but still short of breath. Over the last few weeks sick with COVID, I’ve had … Continue readingWhat Heals You
Don’t Mess with Mama Bear Mama bears are notoriously, fiercely protective of their cubs. It’s unusual for adult male bears (boars) to hang out here. In other places where I’ve watched bears fish, the opposite is true; sows with cubs are rare. This stretch of … Continue readingBrown Bear Stories (Part Two)