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By BILL DANIELSON

It was Wednesday afternoon of last week and I had just returned home from a long day at work. I spent most of the drive home pondering the topic of this week’s column and reflecting on just how tired and worn out I felt. By the time I pulled down my...

By BILL DANIELSON

It was the Friday of my spring break week and the weather had finally improved. The previous weekend had been beautiful with record-setting high temperatures, but I had been fortunate enough to pick up a case of strep throat from one of my students...

By BILL DANIELSON

I am sure that some of you may have looked at today’s photo and thought, “That’s not a plant.” I know that I had made a New Year’s resolution to focus more attention on plants this year, but Nature herself threw me a curveball when this gorgeous male...

By BILL DANIELSON

My office is located in a loft above the main room of my house. The ceiling is basically the same shape as the roof and if I reach up from my chair I can touch the wood that separates me from the outside. As I sit here in the early morning hours,...

By BILL DANIELSON

As the days continue to lengthen and the birds outside start ramping up their activities for the breeding season it is time for some of our resident species to start house hunting. A large number of the species that we see at our wintertime feeders...

By BILL DANIELSON

One thing that I must remember to be mindful of is that my readers live in different places. Some weather events can be quite localized and others express themselves in different ways depending on latitude and elevation. Thus, what happens in...

By BILL DANIELSON

In the year 1500, just a blink of an eye before Europeans started migrating into North America in large numbers, the ecology of the “New World” was relatively stable. Forests of various types dominated the eastern third of the continent, forests of...

By BILL DANIELSON

So far, this winter has been remarkably average. Some areas might be a little low on snowfall levels, but the temperature has been about average for most days. I’d say it has been a cloudy, gray winter, but nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to...

By BILL DANIELSON

We’ve reached that point in the school year when my biology students have learned about Gregor Mendel, his experiments with pea plants and the general concepts of genes and heredity. We’ve also taken a look at the structures and basic functions of DNA...

By BILL DANIELSON

One of the things I really like about the beginning of any calendar year is the delightful process of beginning new lists. I keep track of all sorts of things, from bird sightings, to temperature readings, to the blooming dates of flowers, but the one...

By BILL DANIELSON

In last week’s column, I featured the American red squirrel and I shared a photo of one of these rascals solving the puzzle of one of my birdfeeders. “How, do I get those peanuts?” it must have wondered and in relatively short order it managed to get...

By BILL DANIELSON

As the days begin to lengthen, I find myself wistfully looking out the window of my car and watching the forests go by as I drive to work. The prolonged period of warmer-than-average weather that we have experienced this winter has also left the...

By BILL DANIELSON

In last week’s column, I featured the American red squirrel and I shared a photo of one of these rascals solving the puzzle of one of my birdfeeders. “How, do I get those peanuts?” it must have wondered and in relatively short order it managed to get...

By BILL DANIELSON

Friends, Romans, birders, lend me your ears. I am delighted to say that I am back from a horrible experience with kidney stones. It started off, rather innocently, as a slight pain in my back that I couldn’t quite account for, but as time progressed I...

By BILL DANIELSON

I have no idea how many photos exist in my personal collection, nor, I am afraid, will I ever know. I can say (definitively) that in the past 6 years I have taken exactly 104,308 photos, but that is where “exact” comes to a close. My records prior to...

By BILL DANIELSON

In keeping with my New Years resolution to focus some more attention on the plants that live around us I decided to look for a list that I was convinced must exist somewhere. You see, I am a compulsive list-maker. The blood of a scientist runs through...

By BILL DANIELSON

For the past couple weeks I have found myself grumbling during my mornings at the kitchen window.For some reason my yard has become popular with a flock of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and I am not at all pleased. The house sparrow is an...

By BILL DANIELSON

Welcome to 2023! Another calendar has been used, another red journal finished and safely tucked away on a shelf and newness has taken over. I place a brand new desk blotter calendar on my office desk, I unwrap a brand new red journal and begin to...

By BILL DANIELSON

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  If I could have one wish for you on this day, it would be that you are able to spend some quiet time sitting outside on a beautiful morning in a place filled with birds. Perhaps that means you are sitting in the backyard...

By BILL DANIELSON

Last week, I started a two-part segment on woodpeckers. I took a look at the northern flicker, which is a bird that is somewhat uncommon in our area during the winter months. This is because flickers like to eat ants and they like to look for them on...