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Outdoor

A Common Starling

You can find birds living just about anywhere if you stop to look around for a bit, but in most cases the actual breakdown of species is going to look different in an urban area than it is in a nature preserve, rural area, or even a park and green space with forest or field habitats. There are ...

Hunters up, harvest down for black bears

The black bear harvest declined to a 10-year low, according to state data, despite a dramatic spike in interest among hunters during that same time. The Pennsylvania Game Commission announced that 2,920 bears were killed in the 2023 seasons, an 8% drop from the 3,171 bears taken in 2022. The ...

Seeds are nearly in season in region

The recent winter warm spell has been challenging. As a gardener, I’ve been dreaming of turning over garden soil and tucking in seeds. The sunshine tempts, but I must resist. Despite the lack of snow, it’s just not time yet. The ground is still cold and many plants are still dormant. And ...

How does a moth view time?

Time flies when you are having fun, but how does a moth feel about time? These are the thoughts that wake me up in the middle of the night and make me think (and have bizarre dreams). What does a moth notice about time? They don’t have watches, clocks or phones to tell time, or lose an hour ...

The importance of friendships

As I write this, it’s Valentine’s Day; a day to celebrate relationships. While traditionally, romantic relationships are celebrated on this day, recent trends, like Galentine’s Day, have encouraged the celebration of friendships. There are many types of relationships in the natural world ...

In defense of nature’s rodents

The mammalian group gives us some of the most well-known, large, charismatic animals out there. They are fuzzy and cute, and on average have a larger body size than many other animals. If I asked you, without any context, to make a list of animals that live in the habitats closest to you, what ...