A Yellow-headed Blackbird, Of Course! With its bright golden mantle and jet-black body, it would be hard to mistake the yellow-headed blackbird for any other species.  An inhabitant of Iowa marshlands, the yellow-head has a unique and complex life history.  That, along with the male’s distinctive buzzing song, makes the yellow-headed blackbird one of my
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Spring is in the air -- literally.  Leaving their winter homes, millions of neotropical songbirds are now winging their way to northern nesting grounds.  For many species, the flight between South American wintering areas and Canadian nesting grounds is a rigorous journey that traverses thousands of miles.  Hidden from human eyes, the migration miracle occurs
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Birding enthusiasts are always on the lookout for something out of the ordinary – a new or rare species that they’ve never seen before.  North Iowans got their wish this week when a migrating flock of nine white-faced ibis made a three day stop at Cerro Gordo County’s Haugen Wildlife Area, located north of Ventura. Feeding
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For Iowa’s wild turkeys, the lengthening days of spring bring on a dramatic change in attitude.  Gobblers that have peacefully spent the entire winter residing in close knit bachelor groups are suddenly defriending their associates.  It’s the spring nesting season and for long bearded, ill-tempered toms, the wooing of hens has become a far greater
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A seldom observed survivor of Iowa’s historic past, the rare and delicate pasque flower is currently on full display across the state’s also rare native prairie remnants.  Pasque flowers are the very first prairie species to display their pastel shades of blue, white and lavender colorings each spring.  For most prairie enthusiasts, finding just two
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The courtship antics of the American woodcock is one of the Iowa woodland’s most remarkable spring rituals.  The prelude to these daily performances begins as solitary males – also known as Timberdoodles -- begin emitting a series of off key, nasal calls referred to as “peenting”.  There is no other sound that compares.  American Woodcock –
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Iowa’s spring turkey seasons are just around the corner.  Hunters are counting the minutes as Iowa woodlands are already rocking with the staccato daybreak gobbling of the state’s most challenging gamebird.  This year’s turkey fest kicks off with a special youth hunt beginning April 11.  The first segment of the state’s four-part regular hunting seasons
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You could feel the excitement in the weathercaster’s voice as she described the intense spring thunderstorm currently building to the south.  Surging northward at breakneck speed, the storm was scheduled to sweep into the northern half of Iowa by late afternoon, March 14.  It was just the kind of dramatic change in weather that longtime
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The white-tailed deer is Iowa’s only species of big game wildlife.  One of the traits that sets white-tails apart from all other Iowa wildlife is their noteworthy ability to grow antlers.  Generally speaking, the longer a buck lives, the larger and more impressive his antlers become -- with the annual growth usually peaking at five
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It’s been more than a month since Iowa’s multi-faceted deer hunting seasons concluded on January 10.  Since then, I’ve been scouring the landscape in an effort to lay eyes on what has become my favorite white-tail – a doe I call Bobtail.  I call her Bobtail because, at some point in her danger filled life,
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The Mid-Winter Waterfowl Survey is one of North America’s most important, longest running wildlife counts.  Coordinated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the annual survey is conducted through the cooperative efforts of federal, state, and provisional wildlife agencies.  Conducted each January, the continentwide counts are designed to monitor ducks, geese, and swans whose populations
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When I was a kid, squirrel hunting was listed among Iowa’s most popular outdoor pastimes.  Not just for young hunters, but for adults as well.  Then, as now, you looked for squirrels in places where newly fallen acorns covered the forest floor like a carpet of marbles.  In a time preceding road ditch to road
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