Booming From the Mists of Nowhere is a reading adventure -- our latest best chronicle regarding the life and times of America’s greater prairie chicken. For those who love native prairie and the prairie chickens that inhabit its open spaces, this book is a mandatory read. Written by Greg Hoch and published by the University
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Mix the sugar water; lock and load the feeders. The fall migration of ruby-throated hummingbirds has arrived in North Iowa. For anyone wishing to view good numbers of these tiny travelers; there’s no better time than now. Keeping an eye on backyard nectar feeders is one of the easiest and best ways to get a close
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  My initial exposure to the ancient art of duck hunting was a memorable occasion. I had barely settled into the blind when the first flock of web-foots appeared. They were blue-winged teal, on the deck and traveling at warp speed. As they passed the blind, the birds suddenly took interest in our decoys. Executing a
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  Iowa’s fall dove season begins Sept. 1st, when around ten thousand licensed hunters are expected to take to the fields in search of North America’s most abundant migratory gamebird. According to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service surveys, dove populations in the “Lower 48” stood at 279 million on September 1, 2016. During the 2016 dove
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    When leaves fall and autumn winds blow, Iowa duck hunters can anticipate a strong migration of southbound waterfowl during 2017. That’s the official assessment from this year’s North American Breeding Duck and Habitat Survey released today by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Conducted every year since 1955, the continent-wide annual survey measures trends in duck
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  Smelly and disgusting, the scene was anything but pretty. No one would argue that the highway cleanup crew was facing a nasty job. But in spite of sweltering summer heat, foul odor, and grisly conditions; the crew was enthusiastically engaged in the task at hand. It was a dirty job, and they were doing it. In
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  For Iowa deer hunters, it’s never too early to start thinking of fall. I was reminded of this fact this morning when, just after sunrise, I spotted a group containing four mature, bachelor bucks. Standing in an open grassland, the deer were a sight to behold. The antlers on three of the bucks had already
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      The best things are always worth fighting for. For the past several days, I’ve been fighting. Fighting with deer, fighting with robins, fighting with catbirds. We’re fighting every day. Fighting at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Perhaps competing is a better term. My – or maybe I should now say our -- favorite stands of wild
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                       With The Highest Extinction Rate of Any Animals                    Land Snails                   Are First Alert Indicators Of A Healthy Environment McGREGOR, IOWA: Extreme northeastern Iowa is a naturalist’s paradise. Everything about the region is fascinating. The rugged bluff country landscape, the fish, the wildlife, the plants – all seem to be in a league of their own.
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  With its crow-sized body, zebra striped head, and flamboyant Mohawk hair do; the spectacular pileated woodpecker would be hard to mistake for any other bird. With a voice matching its size, the pileated is the loudest bird of the forest. So much so, that the species’ maniacal call provided inspiration for the popular Woody the
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    The pileated woodpecker is one of the most fascinating, though least seen, birds of the Iowa woodlands. Although always in high demand with birders, in depth observations do not come easy. During more than four decades of outdoor photography, I’ve only had opportunity to observe three active pileated nests. One of those rare events occurred
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  Even when you’re attached to a rope that’s anchored to a tree, stepping into thin air off the top of a 200-foot vertical cliff takes no small measure of courage. But stepping off into thin air is exactly what David Kester did earlier this week at a limestone rock face located on the Mississippi River
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