With the warmer, thawing weather, I came across about a hundred swans at Cone’s Marsh the other day. Trumpeters have no choice…if they want to fly…they have to run first. They’re big, heavy birds that take a lot of gusto to get airborne. You can hear the unmistakable slap of their wing tips on the … Read more
So common…the American Mourning Dove…they number in the millions around us. They are not colorful or vibrant. Nor do they do they broadcast a loud and boisterous voice or a demanding demeanor. But like all things in nature, there is nothing really common about them. To the Native Americans, the mourning dove represents spirit and … Read more
It’s awesome to have the colorful Cardinal in the backyard. On days when it snows they can become particularly numerous and active. Otherwise, it can be a challenge to get a good photograph, in good light, as they tend to feed really early, and really late, just before dark. Of course you’ll catch them from … Read more
The early winter of 2017 had many reports of Snowy Owl sightings around much of Iowa…and this kind of news would get any midwest birder excited. We simply don’t see them here very much. In fact, I had never viewed a Snowy before in my life. I had certainly tried. Countless trips, chasing any lead that seemed reasonable, amounted to nothing for over a month. But with the help of friends, on the eve of Christmas, this almost mythical bird of the arctic tundra would stare back at me, eye to eye, for the first time.
“Now there is more to a bluejay than any other animal. He has got more different kinds of feeling. Whatever a bluejay feels he can put into language, and not mere commonplace language, but straight out and out book talk, and there is such a command of language. You never saw a bluejay get stuck … Read more
I recently got contacted by a local magazine who wanted to use this image on their winter cover. I like this magazine, it’s a good thing for the community and always look forward to its latest edition. So I was happy to oblige. But their request caused me to go back into some older files … Read more