Our nights are becoming cooler; the days growing shorter.  Right on schedule, monarch butterflies are winging their way across the Iowa skies.  Enroute to ancestral wintering grounds, the migration provides an annual explosion of color.  Of all the wonders the Iowa outdoors has to offer, perhaps none is greater; perhaps none is harder to fathom

This year’s multi-segmented duck hunting seasons kick off with a special, 16-day teal-only hunt beginning September 1.  Providing outdoor enthusiasts with more than two weeks of bonus, back-to-back, sunrise to sunset recreational opportunities, Iowa’s special teal seasons haven proven to be the best single change in waterfowl regulations in the past fifty years.  A flock of

On the Hunt – A red-sided garter searches for prey. Leopard frogs and American toads provide common summer menu items. Spend much time exploring Iowa’s summer marshlands, and you’re likely to encounter a somewhat colorful reptile known as the red-sided garter snake.  The species is named for the obvious red dash marks that occur between the

For those who enjoy outdoor foraging, July is the month that keeps on giving.  As we roll into midsummer, North Iowans are presented with an abundance of wild, healthy, and highly nutritional foods that are free for the taking.  Summer woodlands currently abound with an array of wild edibles including several varieties of mushrooms, raspberries,

The wood duck is one of the Mississippi Flyway’s – and Iowa’s -- most recreationally important waterfowl.  This fact is especially true for me.  During the course of a year, I spend more time hunting, observing, photographing and working with wood ducks than any other single species. Drake wood duck In addition to its elegantly crested head

Letting go can be hard to do – especially when it’s something you love.     McGregor,IA -- It was a brilliant spring day, and my wife Carol and I were admiring the view from atop the highest bluff at Clayton County’s Pike’s Peak State Park.  Five hundred feet below, the sprawling island studded expanse of the

I’m not one of those people who is big on naming wildlife.  But in the case of Bobtail, it was hard to resist. Bobtail is a white-tailed doe that, at some point in her life, has literally had her tail chopped in half.  The squared off portion that remains makes her easy to identify. Bobtail [bringing up

For Iowa birding enthusiasts, the month of May is a time like no other -- the absolute high-water mark of the annual outdoor calendar.  The reason is simple.  After spending the winter months in food rich habitats in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, millions of neotropical songbirds are making their way to northern

The final segment of Iowa’s four-part spring turkey season is currently underway.  The season ends May 15. As is the case with most outdoor activities, turkey hunting success depends largely on local weather conditions.  Like most of us, spring gobblers prefer clear skies, warm sunrises and light or no wind.  Generally speaking, toms spend more time

For Iowa mushroom hunters, it’s been a cold, dark, and windy spring.  At a time when succulent morels should begin emerging in numbers, nighttime temps hover near or below freezing on an all too frequent basis.  As popular woodlands remain void of emerging foliage, some enthusiasts are giving up hope.  If it gets much later,

The white-hot stars of a spring night were rapidly fading into nothingness.  Meanwhile, the eastern horizon was being set ablaze by strengthening hues of the impending sunrise.  A new day was beginning at the Ventura Marsh. The transition was greeted by a symphony of familiar wetland sounds – the soft splashing of waves, the brittle rustle

To paraphrase former U.S. President, Ronald Reagan, “Here we go again.” A new wave of highly pathogenic avian influenza [HPAI] is currently sweeping across North America.  Similar to the outbreak which occurred during 2015, a Eurasian-origin strain of HPAI [commonly known as bird flu] was first detected in a captive, multi-species Canadian bird flock in December