Check the Checkoff This Tax Season
The countdown has begun, for Iowa’s income tax filing deadline. And as about 1.5 million returns are wrapping up, the call goes out, to ‘check the checkoff’. Iowa’s wildlife...
Owl Release, Meyer and RARE
It was January. A curious Labrador came within five feet of the scrawny, young owl. The terrified bird perched on a low branch, west of Solon, on public land. It didn’t move. The outlook...
Eagle Numbers Soar in an Iowa Winter
You might see a few stragglers through March; eagles moving through Iowa as they head north. They’re more often immature birds; still with the mottled dark brown and white feathers. Until...
Winter Bird Feeding
Winter bird feeding in Iowa starts now. Before heavy snow, winds and subzero cold settle in, winter birds are setting up their feeding regime; where the best choices are for ‘wild’ seed...
Guttenberg Press Deer Season Outlook
For many deer hunters, the first—or second—Saturday in December is as big a deal as Christmas morning. Opening day of the shotgun deer season is what they’ve been waiting for, over...
Pheasant Count Bounce on One Summer Route
The ‘whrrr’ of wings and the familiar cackle of a brightly colored ringneck busting cover is music to the ears of any Iowa bird hunter. It’s a combination muted in the last decade, as...
Pelicans Across Iowa
Pelicans in Iowa? Each year, more Iowans are captivated by the big white fish-scoopers, which migrate through—and in some cases live around shallows of our large lakes or backwaters of...
Sandhill Cranes in Johnson County
Seeing is believing. Add Johnson County to the areas in Iowa with rare sandhill crane reproduction. This spring, an adult pair was seen occasionally, on a wetland near Solon. A couple...
Warmer weather provides outdoor classrooms across Iowa
As the 25 kids stepped off the road into a restored prairie, a turkey exploded from the switchgrass, 50 feet away. Not a bad first minute, as Southeast Junior High’s 7th graders began...
Garlic mustard, an invasive weed spreading into Iowa
Spring morel hunters would be doing their favorite woodland a favor by packing along a big garbage bag, too…to load up with garlic mustard plants before they set their seeds. Morels are...
Iowa’s trout anglers flocking to northeast Iowa streams
With just tiny green buds coloring the stream corridors; a flash of yellow, orange and iridescent brown was a welcome sight as Sam Hodzic pulled out his first brook trout of the season....
Adapt or Die; How Wildlife Survives Winter
A week of subzero cold early in January—and more yet to come—provide a quick jolt of Iowa reality. It gets uncomfortable in the winter! Still, we humans can escape the elements when...
Midwinter Bald Eagle Counts
With ‘real’ winter closing in on Iowa now, bald eagles are in line, for state and continent-wide attention. Between now and mid-January, biologists and other conservationists will...
Crowds of Hunters for December Deer
November cold and snow made it feel like shotgun deer season early, across Iowa. The state’s busiest deer season—lately it’s busiest hunting season overall—still falls...
Winter Birds Flock to Feeders
If you were waiting for wintry weather to start stocking the bird feeder—you have it. Whether you maintain feeders year-round, or wait until the snow flies; birds set up their cold...
Iowa Waterfowlers Celebrate Return of Early Teal Season
Iowa duck hunters have 16 more reasons to get ready for the season. Iowa’s Natural Resources Commission approved an early teal-only season. The new season is in addition to the regular...
What Gives? Pheasant Counts Skyrocket!
Pheasant hunters have some good news, heading into the fields late this fall. After years of falling counts; due to habitat loss and bad weather; August roadside counts this summer show...
Higginseyes Found on Mussel Blitz
From the adjacent sandbar, it looks like a diving school gone awry. Two wet-suited divers are connected to oxygen lines. A couple others have masks and snorkels. A few more are on their...
Deer Seasons Open With Fewer Deer, Fewer Tags
Maybe you picture sunlight beaming through the October yellows and reds of walnut, ashand oak trees, as you watch the wildlife show from your tree stand. You might prefer the cold, white...
Water Quality Initiative Forms; McMahon to Head
Will Iowa’s water quality get a boost from a new agriculture alliance? Or will it be enough to stem the flow of nutrients and soil into Iowa’s rivers; eventually leading to the Dead...
NWF Appoints New President
National Wildlife Federation, America’s oldest and largest wildlife conservation and education organization, announced last night at theannual NWF Conservation Achievement Awards gala...
Midwinter Eagles
Say what you will about Iowa’s cold winter weather…it’s good for eagle watching. Not for eagles themselves. In the bitter cold we saw—and felt—as January kicked off, they need to...
Deer Harvest
As deer season across most of Iowa came to a cold, snowy finale; harvest totals and license sales were down from previous year. Most hunters have noticed fewer deer in the last couple...
Farm Bill Debate
With Congress back in Washington after the holiday break, conservationists are watching for any progress toward passage of a farm bill. Heading into the break, Congress and interest groups...
EHD suspected in deer deaths
A bone dry weather summer yielded dozens of suspected cases of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) across Iowa. Though much lower than reports in 2012, the sight of dead deer with no...