The Nature of Things

Pollination is something that’s happening in the natural world 24 hours a day. Its ordinariness might be why we forget how vital it is to our everyday…

There may be no bug creepier than a tick.These sesame-seed-sized parasites crawl slowly and silently up our bodies, surround their mouth-parts in our…

I don’t watch a lot of TV. But I do watch a lot of animal webcams. And one of my favorites is the Chesapeake Conservancy’s osprey cam, which has had a lot…

On weekends, I love to play with my three, big Labrador retrievers. Homer, Fletcher and Violet are great dogs, and they live for the days when we’re all…

With its intimidating yellow-eyed stare and deep hooting voice, the great horned owl is the quintessential owl of storybooks. In fact, one of my…

Spring is officially here, and I’m starting to notice the days feeling longer. For me, the increased daylight is a signal that it’s time to break out the…

Because of its history as a game bird in North America, the northern bobwhite is one of the most intensively studied bird species in the world. We know…

I recently had the chance to join some of the students from the Nature Preschool at Irvine on an early spring walk. It was beautiful out, and we stopped…

Just imagine this.There. At the bottom of the river.There’s a 7-and-½-foot-long, 170-pound, armor-covered behemoth. Its brown, sandpaper-like hide has…

One of the more peculiar native animals in our listening area seems like it could have come from the inspired imagination of a Hollywood director.This…