Wild About Utah: Recent Episodes
Wild About Utah
Wild About Utah is a Utah Public Radio production featuring contributors who share a love of nature, preservation and education. Contributors include Bridgerland Audubon Society, Cache Valley Wildlife Association, Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University, Stokes Nature Center, and the Utah Master Naturalists Program from the USU Cooperative Extension Service.
Ever since I started centering my entire 2nd-grade classroom instruction around a bird theme, one of the most important benefits I’ve seen is how learning at school suddenly becomes important and valuable to students outside the school walls, and because of that, students become advocates for learning to their families. My birding classroom goes well … Continue reading "Connecting Classroom Learning to the World"
Today’s Wild About Utah is in both Spanish and English. The Spanish version is read by Carlos Ramos and can be found online or you can listen to the Spanish version this Wednesday evening between 9:01-9:06pm. I love people who love bugs. I love how quickly these fine folks can turn a creature you have … Continue reading "Aquatic Macroinvertebrates"
In 1962, Rachael Carson rocked the bird watching world with her book Silent Spring. She identified the commonly used pesticide DDT as the culprit responsible for declining populations of eagles, falcons and hawks. Rachael was able to prove that once DDT got into the food chain, it fatally weakened the eggshells of these birds. DDT … Continue reading "Falconry Terms"
In keeping with our nation’s 250-year celebration, Red, White, and Blue have decorated Utah’s higher elevations, from Tony Grove in the north to Cedar Breaks in the south. Sprinkled in between are mountain meadows carpeted with wildflowers, Indian paintbrush, penstemons, columbine, patriots of the loveliest hues. Additionally, nature’s erosional forces have created monuments found in … Continue reading "Elkweed/Green Gentian"
When I started teaching at Preston High School, one of the first books my English class read was The Diary of Anne Frank. I remember asking the class if they had any family stories of their own to share about those war years. A young woman raised her hand and said her grandparents had a … Continue reading "Sugar Beets and German POWs in Cache Valley"
Leaves have fallen and are falling- it’s Fall!! Their beauty, crunchiness, and odors excite my senses. Consider the leaf, these lovely little solar collectors! How can any device imagined by the human brain collect light energy from the sun and convert it to food and oxygen while sequestering carbon? A tall order, even with AI! … Continue reading "Leaves have fallen and are falling- it’s Fall!!"
I lost a beloved friend and mentor two weeks ago in a fluke canyoneering accident in Zion National Park. I first met Eric Jones when I was four years old. My family had just moved to Sugarhouse, in the Salt Lake Valley. I rode my red, yellow, and blue Big Wheel Speedster down the sidewalk … Continue reading "Chasing a Legend: Eric Jones"
Marie and Her Yellow Jacket. Today’s story is in both Spanish and English. To hear an English version listen on Monday Morning after 7:41 am and again in the 8 o’clock hour, or online here and at UPR.org Hemos pasado dias de calor, en los cuales hemos podido disfrutar de rios, lagos, piscinas, pero lo … Continue reading "Marie y su chaqueta amarilla."
The Ginormous Pumpkin Regatta began in Daybreak, Utah on Oct 18 with eight 600 lb pumpkins lined up on the edge of the community’s lake. The action began at 8:30 am when a forklift driver picked up Pumpkin #1 and eased it into the water. The pumpkin slid off its pallet and floated away from … Continue reading "When Pumpkins Become Boats"
Fall bird migration is well underway! Our winter residents and migrating dropins are now beginning to populate our feeders and lower landscapes. So what sweet treats will decorate our feeder this year? We’re always hoping for a few surprises like eastern blue jays, perhaps a gray crowned rosy finch, or green tail towhee. The old … Continue reading "Winter Birds"
“Look, up on that pole! There’s a huge bird! I think it’s a hawk!” A storm of students put their half-eaten PB & Js down, grabbed binoculars, and raced to get a better view. One of my 2nd-grade students, while eating lunch under the King’s Nature Park gazebo, had spotted the special visitor. Students bustled … Continue reading "A Friend to Guide the Way"
I was in the process of taking a video of a Gila Monster in Washington County’s Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. It was walking toward me and backed me into a Creosote Bush. That’s when I heard the buzz. It sounded like I had alarmed a rattlesnake, but I had been fooled before by a bull … Continue reading "Washington County Rattlesnakes"
If you’ve listened to these Wild About Utah segments for a while, you’ll have noticed that we tend to focus on places where humans don’t live. But what we call “nature” can flourish almost anywhere, including the places where people dominate. I’m an avid runner and walker. And my town has done a lot of … Continue reading "Nature Out Your Front Door"
Many years ago on a gorgeous fall day, I was standing on the bank of Green River in the Split Mountain campground in Dinosaur National Monument. I was visiting the site for our upcoming Utah Envirothon competition to assess the lay of the land and all it contained- plants, wildlife, soils, and aquatics. These were … Continue reading "My Fishing River Otter"
Twelve sweaty, 2nd-grade birders and one worn out teacher stumbled into the shade of the Green Canyon trailhead bathroom facility. It was nearly 90 degrees under the bluebird Utah sky. No one had been quite prepared for the sun, heat, and amount of water they’d need for the journey; they were only halfway done with … Continue reading "Spontaneous Moments"
The most important lessons I can give my daughter are not through me, but instead those found best in the wild. Though she can’t talk, I know she still listens. Though her childhood amnesia is inevitable, I know that neural circuits are still being formed. Those circuits will do her good one day. Our favorite … Continue reading "The Tenacity of Beavers"
Birdwatching is a fun hobby for all ages and it is a great way to connect with nature and increase self-efficacy, so let’s discuss the benefits and the importance of a safe environment for feeding our backyard birds. First, the benefits of supplemental feeding, and second, preventable deaths from cats and window collisions. Supplemental food … Continue reading "Ripple Effects: Enhance Backyard Birdwatching When You Feed & Protect Birds"
“West Nile Virus Found in Mendon.” This warning, printed in big block letters, definitely caught my attention when I walked into the Mendon Post Office. The poster included a picture of a mosquito and a message saying “Please take the necessary precautions to protect yourself and your loved ones.” The warning came from the Cache … Continue reading "West Nile Virus found in Mendon"
As I hike the high country, there is a non-bird call that always brightens my way. A mini rabbit, or rock rabbit in Jack vernacular, the pika, has been declared North America’s cutest mammal. I won’t argue with this declaration, unless it’s compared to my grandkids. On a scramble up two gnarly peaks above Alta … Continue reading "American Pika"
One September day when I was a fifth grader, my dad pulled me out of school to climb the Pfeifferhorn, an 11,000 foot peak in the Wasatch Range. That was the most meaningful and defining day of my elementary school experience. Years later, when I first arrived in Logan, my younger sister Heather and I … Continue reading "Naomi Peak"
I’d like to tell you a crime story. At least, it would be a crime story if told from a human perspective. But is it still a crime story if it’s about the natural world? I’ll tell it and then let you decide for yourself. First let me set the stage: Not long ago I … Continue reading "Cuckoo bees"
Never one to say no to an adventure, this month I found myself sitting in the front row at the Bug Bar at the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake. I was waiting for the Bug Bar to open and serve up some insects. This was the first day of the museum’s annual Bug Festival, … Continue reading "I Ate A Bug"
Mountain meadows- where clouds of flowers can transport the human occupant to a state of nirvana, which enveloped my comrades and I on a recent hike in the Bear River Range of Northern Utah. I’ve experienced similar moments on many occasions from top to bottom of our meadowed state- Cedar Breaks National Monument, Mt. Timpanogos, … Continue reading "Mountain Meadows"
I was raised in Laramie, WY, which boasts many qualities making it a pleasant place to live. It’s got a safe hometown feel, cool summers, a relatively close proximity to Colorado’s front range, and access to outdoor recreation opportunities such as the geologically magnificent Vedauwoo. However, Gem City is extremely dry and windy, making gardening … Continue reading "A Place for Growth"
Here it’s just called, The Canyon, like there is no other. It’s a place we go to get away from, or get into, it. It’s a place that still lets us trust each other’s word, and have plans on when we should be back. For those waiting on The Canyon, we practice patience and balance … Continue reading "The Canyon"
It’s a warm summer evening on the west side of Cache Valley, where a small group of volunteers has gathered beside a green pasture. We hear the rattling bugle calls of sandhill cranes in the distance. A Swainson’s hawk scolds us as it circles overhead. As we walk into the field, our steps disturb dragonflies … Continue reading "Ute Ladies’ Tresses – Utah Orchids"
In 1928 Elmer Cook, a rancher in Hagerman, Idaho, noticed an interesting bone sticking our of the hillside on his land overlooking the Snake River. Intrigued, he started to dig around and discovered it was a fossilized bone and there were plenty more like it. Elmer alerted the National Smithsonian Museum, who sent out a … Continue reading "Galloping Thru Time"
The secret service takes to the sky as we paddle our canoe into a full moonlit Bear River. Our magic sonagram device collects hidden sounds of myriad bats, as they devour tens of thousands of insects. We’re floating through Wuda Ogwa, the Bear River Massacre site now owned by the NW band of the Shoshone … Continue reading "Utah’s Guardian Bats"
Mid-September, 2016, while rambling in a seldom-traveled area of the Mount Naomi Wilderness, my son Nate asked, “Dad, what’s the coolest animal you’ve ever seen in the Bear River Mountains?” “Oh, all the regular creatures you’d expect,” I said. “Deer, elk, moose, coyotes, porcupines, lots of cat tracks, and a couple of badgers.” We took … Continue reading "Mountain Goats in Northern Utah?"
I recently drove through the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Auto Route Tour alongside Sheri Quinn and Colleen Meidt. Come along with us as we weave around the wetlands of Great Salt Lake with prime viewing of thousands of migratory birds. ‘Birding’ often gets a reputation as a hobby for elderly people or something that … Continue reading "The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Auto Tour Safari"
At the end of last February, I was delighted to see hundreds of Canada geese settling into the swampy fields by the Logan airport. There was still snow on the ground, but the message was clear: Spring was just around the corner. Soon the mated pairs would be building their nests and raising their families. … Continue reading "Canada Geese"
We all love pleasant surprises! I especially enjoy nature’s offerings, both pleasant and less so. I wish to share a few from a very long list! Snakes may be at the top. I believe we have an innate fear of this special reptile, which has imparted indelible memories. Great Basin gopher snakes have repeatedly shown … Continue reading "Pleasant Surprises!"
A hot, sunny, May day was Christmas for my avid 2nd-grade birders, when 35 pairs of high-quality Vortex binoculars and chest harnesses were delivered to our Edith Bowen Laboratory School classroom. We had secured a grant from the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation to purchase supplies to enrich our school’s outdoor education program, specifically my … Continue reading "Outdoor Experiences in High-Def"
Birdwatching is a fun hobby for all ages and it is a great way to connect with nature and increase self-efficacy, so let’s discuss the benefits and the importance of a safe environment for feeding our backyard birds. First, the benefits of supplemental feeding, and second, preventable deaths from cats and window collisions. Supplemental food … Continue reading "Enhance Backyard Birdwatching When You Feed & Protect Birds"
Early this spring, a semi-truck with a long flat bed pulled into the USU parking lot next to the cemetery and parked. Lashed down firmly on the flat bed was 43 foot railroad spike, covered in gold leaf and very impressive from a distance. But walking up to it, I could see it was covered … Continue reading "Outdoor Public Art Retells Utah’s Golden Spike Story"
I’m going to go beyond birds a few hundred million years to their precursors, who thrived long before our feathered mini-dinosaurs evolved. These ancient beings continue to thrive to this day, which lured 14 USU students and I to join them in the Mojave wilds of southwestern Utah. We camped at the Gunlock State Park, … Continue reading "Southwestern Utah Herps"
I arrived in Logan, Utah for winter quarter in 1994—after history professor Ross Peterson recruited my three sisters and I to Utah State University, despite the fact that our dad was a University of Utah professor and Dean. I was the final piece of Ross’ coup and he flashed a satiating grin when I first … Continue reading "A Sense of Where You Are"
Songbirds migrate at night to avoid predators, air turbulence, and daytime heat. Down here on the ground we are unaware of the miraculous and essential voyagers flying up to 10,000 feet above us, but thanks to dedicated scientists collaborating for years on end we have free access to the data and graphs of these massive … Continue reading "Dashboard Shows
Peak Need for Dark Skies
and the Mantra to
Dim the Lights for Birds at Night"
My formal introduction to great-tailed grackles was on a birding trip to Box Elder County. We stopped at the Walmart parking lot in Brigham City where Dick Hurren took a cup of cat food and tossed it out in front of our parked car. Then we watched the grackles fly in. We joked, at the … Continue reading "Great-tailed Grackles"
If you like drinking carbonated water as much as I do, you’ll be happy to hear you can drink as much as you’d like, -absolutely for free- just north of the Utah border in Soda Springs, Idaho. When settlers heading to California passed through this area on the Oregon Trail, they saw the many bubbling … Continue reading "Naturally Flowing Carbonated Water"
I believe we’re all aware that the amount of light has major influence on wildlife activity, as it does our own, triggering everything from breeding and feeding activity and various behaviors in general. Thus the very short period of light variation during a solar eclipse has piqued my interest. When a total eclipse crossed over … Continue reading "Solar Eclipse Behaviors"
The Bear River Mountains near the Utah/Idaho border are the headwaters of the Logan River, which flows southwest through Logan Canyon, works its way westward through Logan, and converges with the Little Bear and Bear River about 5 miles west of town. All three rivers are halted by Cutler Dam to form Cutler Reservoir. The … Continue reading "Mallard Musings"
Water Inspires Writing & Drawing to Learn: The Little Logan River Anabranch & the PBS Utah Writers & Illustrators Contest for youth from Kindergarten through 6th Grade Throughout history, cities and towns have often been established along the banks of rivers, because these waterways provide a source of drinking water, power, and transport links to … Continue reading "Water Inspires Writing & Drawing to Learn"
Every Spring the city of Delta, Utah puts out a call to come on down to the annual Snow Goose Festival. Right on schedule thousands of snow geese fly in from as far south as Mexico to fatten up on the spilled grain in the local farmer’s fields, and rest a bit before continuing their … Continue reading "Delta’s Snow Goose Festival"
For many, this is the season transition between summer and back to school. This month, along with the generous gifts of caramel apples, whiteboard markers, and number 2 pencils, a child handed me a green notebook and a request. One of the greatest compliments a teacher could possibly receive, in my opinion, from a student … Continue reading "Cattail and Teasel"
The Wild About Utah archives were one of the first local resources I learned of as a newcomer curious about the large birds striding across my backyard, so it should come as no surprise to learn that it drew me to Utah Public Radio and the Bridgerland Audubon Society, where I am learning all the … Continue reading "Wild About Utah Wildlife
and the Places They Need"
If you stop at the overlook above Bear Lake on a sunny summer day, you may be as surprised as I was to find out that the gray limestone rocks in Logan Canyon are responsible for the brilliant blue color of the lake. Among the wealth of information displayed at the overlook is the fact … Continue reading "Bear Lake Limestone"
Shorebirds in August? I’d been told there was a robust migration during that time, but hadn’t tested the validity of such until a week ago. Three other young ladies joined me to do a count at the Salt Creek Wildlife Management Area near Tremonton Utah. And boy did I need their younger eyes and energy … Continue reading "Shorebirds"
On an Edith Bowen Laboratory School teacher professional development retreat last summer rafting the San Juan River, a specific experience made me question my instructional style. I was sitting in the front of what they call a Ducky – a tandem inflatable raft with the passenger in the front and the experienced rower in the … Continue reading "Slow Down, Paddle Backwards! An Educators Reflection on Instructional Style"
Here in Utah, early explorers and native peoples knew of saline deposits, springs and lakes long before the pioneers arrived in 1847. For example, more than 1300 years ago, the Fremont traded salt, found near Redmond, Utah, to the cliff-dwelling Anasazi of Mesa Verde. Necessary for life, salt is found across the State of Utah, … Continue reading "Salty Connections"
Disclaimer What you’re about to hear Is the opinion of someone who really does care I oscillate between an optimist And a pessimist who doesn’t want his dreams to come true Maybe you’re like me But hopefully you’re like you Now I may and often do complain, critique, and crack But it’s because I want … Continue reading "Vignettes of a Utah Summer"
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the puppet show is about to begin! It was Pioneer Day in Mendon, and the puppeteer’s loud cry brought the little kids running to the puppet theater on the town square. They settled down on the grass in a hushed silence as the narrator began: This is a true … Continue reading "A Mendon Bear Story"
The year of the tiger. Our mountains, canyons, and valleys are replete with tigers-there’s no escaping them, tiger swallowtail butterflies! Even my grandkids captured one, which entertained them for days. It had a damaged wing and preferred crawling to flying. It’s angelic beauty transfixed the onlookers. Although injured, it hung on for a week- about … Continue reading "Tigers"
If you’re like me, you’re always on the lookout for new outdoor activities! I would love to draw your attention to a sport that has many names, but that many have not had the pleasure to enjoy. I’m talking about the great hucking and slinging adventure, the sport of roll-aways and tree hits, the family … Continue reading "Frisbee Fun!"
Deer and other wildlife have been migrating across our state much longer than humans. When people drove horse-drawn wagons and slower vehicles, wildlife could easily pass without a problem. However, with the introduction of fenced highways and their increased speed and traffic, problems quickly arose. In this case, the problem is mostly with mule deer, … Continue reading "Escape: Wildlife vs. Traffic"
All of last year, the news about the Great Salt Lake was going from bad to worse. We began to hear dire predictions that the shrinking lake might disappear altogether. Then, finally, with some legislative action and a big boost from record snow and rain, the water level began to rise. The marina on the … Continue reading "Sheep, Salt and the Great Salt Lake"
I just returned from southern Indiana, another “land of Lincoln” where I visited a beautiful monument featuring Abraham Lincoln’s early life on a farm carved from the Indiana wilderness. In 1818, Abe’s “angel mother” as he described her, suffered a violent death called milk sickness. Further reading on the interpretive sign told how a plant … Continue reading "Toxic Plants"
If I were to ask you to craft a list of words that represent your connection to the natural world, which words immediately pop into your mind? Of course, President Theodore Roosevelt said, “There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its … Continue reading "What’s On Your List?"
https://youtu.be/yDqrKg223zY Hi, I’m Holly Strand from the Utah Division of Emergency Management. The roar you hear in the background is Ashley Creek flowing underneath Highway 191 in Vernal. Rivers and creeks all over the state have been running high with melted snow from the biggest snowpack ever recorded in Utah. 1983 was last time … Continue reading "One Percent Chance Flood!!!"
Morning for the spring dandelion is gentle and calm The world is no longer a struggle but instead a serendipitous balm Your yellow buds open upon you, sneaking between others some pink, some white More colors even still in the waxing new day’s light There is no better time for the dandelion than when … Continue reading "Spring Dandelion Power"
When I arrived at the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point I was informed by a guide that the tulips were running late. “No tulips?” I asked. I had heard they had planted 250,000. “It has everything to do with the soil temperature,” my guide explained. It was April 14. She wasn’t expecting the tulips to … Continue reading "Tulips and Daffodils- It’s Spring!"
“I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree” Joyce Kilmore. I’m a forest person, my psyche deeply rooted in the forests of northern Wisconsin from my toddler days forward. Now as an octogenarian tree committee chair for Smithfield, Utah, trees have once again invaded my mental space and I feel … Continue reading "Community Trees"
In their picture book “Everywhere, Wonder,” Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr challenge readers to find a story in places and phenomena both ordinary and extraordinary. Black ants marching in a line have a story just as interesting as red-rock canyons and a footprint on the moon. Sunlight patterns through a window are just as beautiful … Continue reading "Find the Story"
When we think about World Migratory Bird Day, we often think about providing for their needs with water, bird feeders, and native plants, and hopefully we are keeping cats indoors and taking steps to prevent the lethal danger of window-collisions. We may even think about the importance of sponge city landscaping and beaver dams to … Continue reading "Mountain Lions Are Keystone Providers for Birds!"
Back in October 2019, the ranger at the Great Salt Lake State Park began to notice a white mound forming on the sand flats behind the visitor center. The white mounds turned out to be hydrated sodium sulfate – known as mirabilite- which was being carried to the surface by the upwelling of a fresh … Continue reading "Great Salt Lake Mirabilite Mounds"
With another Earth Day in the offing, my reflections travel to one of the Earthier parts of my long life, that of helping to launch several nature centers. I was first exposed to the nature center concept while residing in Michigan. My prior mindset was seeing nature through my gunsights and on the end of … Continue reading "Nature Centers"
Growing up, I was surrounded by rural friends and family. Much of their livelihoods and lifestyles revolved around the outdoors, and it was commonplace to enter their homes or ranches to see spindly antlers laying on mantles, mounted above doors, or carefully placed in gardens to add a western feel. Over the years, I made … Continue reading "Antler Math and Memories"
When cold weather sets into Cache Valley, I usually begin to grumble. But this year, when the weather warmed up and the snow turned to rain, my grumbling got a lot louder. Everywhere I looked, the sidewalks and roads were covered in ice. I announced that falling on ice was my least favorite activity. I … Continue reading "Sliding on Ice can be Fun"
The Rocky Mountain elk is Utah’s state mammal for good reason. No one can deny its majesty and uncanny intelligence while being hunted, and the spine tingling bugle released in fall mountain splendor. My introductory encounter with Rocky Mountain elk came during my first deer hunt in Utah on the east side of Mt. Nebo. … Continue reading "Rocky Mountain Elk"
Snow. Tiny specks of dust and other particles in the air that attract water vapor to become ice crystals. That is what fascinated a man named Wilson ‘Snowflake’ Bentley enough to capture thousands of one-of-a-kind snowflake photographs and what drew my friend Alf to Utah. In the winter and early spring of 1989, I sat … Continue reading "Why, It Was Definitely the Snow!"
Winter is the season of withholdings come free and taboos undone. Those things we tell ourselves which are not for the warm months come to roost, and our allowances to ourselves grow as the season’s light shrinks. Winter is when we get to have a sit by the fire and exhale from our work like … Continue reading "Winter is Vinegar Honeydew"
When I saw my first giant dinosaur footprint a the Natural History Museum of Utah, I said it was terrific. “Dime a dozen, “ said my father-in-law, who was standing next to me. “The ceiling of the coal mine is littered with them.” My ears perked right up. “Really,?” I said. “Maybe I could get … Continue reading "Dinosaurs in Our Past"
I’m Giving thanks for a Wild Utah, which is all around us- in our yards, downtown, and even in our homes. I will make my case with the following vignettes. Box elder bugs are my nemesis, reproducing numbers far beyond what their predators can control. But my grandkids adore them. Calling them “Boxies”, they are … Continue reading "A Wild Utah Thanksgiving"
I remember my father on wintery Saturdays mounting his fly tying vice on the kitchen table, and then, from the cavern under the stairs, he’d emerge with his hooks, pheasant and peacock feathers, and other magical threads. I’d watch him spin intricate flies but never realized as a child that they were imitations of creatures … Continue reading "Hands on Stoneflies and Sculpin"
In the fall of 1995, having already successfully envisioned and fostered the establishment of the Ogden Nature Center, and undaunted by multiple false-starts, Bridgerland Audubon Society Trustee and Education Chair Jack Greene launched a final successful round of appeals to establish a nature center in Logan Canyon. The first step of partnering with the First … Continue reading "25th Anniversary Nutshell History of the Founding of the Stokes Nature Center"
One of the greatest magics of these late autumn evenings is that of midges, gnats, flies, mosquitoes, and bugs which flitter about in the humble stratosphere of their world between the intermittent cold snaps. They loop and spiral, as if on spiritual roller coasters, gently refracting the setting sun through and upon their bodies so … Continue reading "You and I and the Winged Things"
When I walked into the Potato Museum in Blackfoot, Idaho, the first thing that caught my eye was a drawing of a farmer in the High Andes of Peru working the ground with a foot harrow. This is exactly what the Spanish Conquistadors saw when they marched into the area in the 1500’s looking for … Continue reading "Potato Museum"
Primates of the northlands. I consider tree squirrels to be on par with many primates for intelligence and agility. Those who have bird feeders may agree with me as they vainly attempt to thwart squirrel’s from invading their feeders. We have red squirrels visiting our bird feeder regularly. I’ve outsmarted them for the moment, but … Continue reading "Intelligent Tree Squirrels"
When life throws scary at you, what do you do? As we increasingly consider mental and emotional health issues and strategies, I find that my answer is that I go to the forest. Of course, I go there when things are going smoothly too, but I agree with Henry David Thoreau when he wrote, “When … Continue reading "Haunted in the Forest"
Birdwatching is a fun hobby for all ages and it is a great way to connect with nature and increase self-efficacy, so let’s discuss the benefits and the importance of a safe environment for feeding our backyard birds. First, the benefits of supplemental feeding, and second, preventable deaths from cats and window collisions. Supplemental food … Continue reading "Ripple Effects: Enhance Backyard Birdwatching When You Feed & Protect Birds"
One of the most important lessons I learned during last summer’s long hot afternoons was that the best place to appreciate Utah’s natural beauty can sometimes be inside an art museum. As I stepped off the blistering hot sidewalk and through the doors of the Brigham City art and history museum, I breathed a sigh … Continue reading "Inside Look at Fire, Water, Wind"
The berry season is upon us- huckleberries, raspberries, gooseberries, chokecherries (not a berry but close enough), elderberries, bearberries, while early berries have faded- golden current, serviceberries, thimble berries are now fruit leather. Berry picking during my youth in the North woods of Wisconsin was a wonderful tradition that I, and our black bear neighbors, looked … Continue reading "Berries"
My proofreader’s eye has often spotted “dessert” misspelled as “desert,” and to some, those two concepts couldn’t be more dissimilar. During my three days in and along a short 27-river-mile stretch of Utah’s San Juan River this month though, I marveled at the menu. Terry Tempest Williams captures what she calls “small devotions of the … Continue reading "Desert Desserts"
There’s a place I like to walk, when I don’t know where else to go, up a Fork in the Cache National Forest. It’s got all that I want, and all my dog needs: good views and plenty of fast clear water.Up a Fork in the Cache National Forest It starts off hot and dry, … Continue reading "Up a Fork in the National Forest"
Recently, I accompanied Friend Weller, chief radio engineer for Utah Public Radio, on a visit to what local radio engineers affectionately call Spider Mountain. We sought to determine why the Utah County translator would intermittently go off air for minutes to hours. Friend speculated that wasps or spiders were to blame. He explained that this … Continue reading "Spider Mountain"
In 1928 Elmer Cook, a rancher in Hagerman, Idaho, noticed an interesting bone sticking our of the hillside on his land overlooking the Snake River. Intrigued, he started to dig around and discovered it was a fossilized bone and there were plenty more like it. Elmer alerted the National Smithsonian Museum, who sent out a … Continue reading "Gallop Thru Time"
Before E. B. White set about crafting Charlotte’s Web in 1949, according to Melissa Sweet’s biography Some Writer, he was “bringing a pail of slops to the barn” that he loved in Maine and thinking about a time not long before when he observed a barn spider spinning her egg sac and depositing her eggs. … Continue reading "Face to Face with a Longhorned Beetle"
Children’s author George Selden described the impact of a cricket’s chirping in the bustle of a subway station in his book “The Cricket in Times Square” like this: “Like ripples around a stone dropped into still water, the circles of silence spread out. …Eyes that looked worried grew soft and peaceful; tongues left off chattering; … Continue reading "Our Mormon Crickets"
All year I wait for the summer evenings. All year I long for the oddity of ‘warm and dark,’ of trilling owls flickering from treetop to treetop, and for the scent of hot baked earth cooling as on a sill. Summer evenings evoke in me joy in being out of doors, living within the intact … Continue reading "I’m At Home in the Dark"
The minute I heard there was a well stacked community fishing pond just five miles down the road from where I live, I dusted off my old fishing pole, slipped out of the house, and threw my line into the Wellsville Reservoir. I had the place to myself. There was snow on the ground but … Continue reading "I’m Out Fishing"
I’ve known of John Muir much of my life. A recent kayaking trip to Glacier Bay in Alaska added to my appreciation for this remarkable early American naturalist, author, and Wilderness advocate. Muir first visited Glacier Bay in 1879, where he witnessed firsthand how glaciers transform the landscape, bolstering his prescient theory of glaciology. Upon … Continue reading "John Muir and Wilderness"
There are two lines in the patriotic hymn “America the Beautiful” that really sing to me. One is “Who more than self their country loved,” honoring history’s heroes, and the other I exclaim each time I stumble upon an alpine meadow in bloom. Decades ago my friend Amberly and I borrowed the phrase “purple mountain … Continue reading "Purple Wildflower Poetry"
I have a new spider roommate that I’ve decided to let stay. This is a bit of a development for me, though, since I’ve never been too keen on spiders, primarily because they’re spiders. They’re those strange land-lobsters that fall from the shower curtains, or appear behind a shelf; those horrid hairy hands that hole … Continue reading "Hi there, I’m a monster"
I first met the Great Salt Lake in 1964 with two Central Michigan University college buddies on our way to Los Angeles. We heard you could float in its magical waters. Sure enough- it worked and we bobbed in its gentle waves oblivious to the many other virtues of this extraordinary water body. This saltwater … Continue reading "The Great Salt Lake: Important for Birds"
When Jay Wilde graduated from Preston High School in 1963, he took off to see the world. Thirty years later he came back, bought out his siblings, and moved into the family homestead in the hills above Preston, Idaho. He had acres of pasture and two hundred mother cows. But one thing was missing. Water. … Continue reading "Birch Creek Beaver Restoration"