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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There are just some things that a person can’t get enough of. Like observing and listening to wild turkeys as they move about in their natural woodland habitats.  Iowa’s spring hunting seasons are over, of course. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that anyone has to quit messin’ with willing gobblers. It just means that you
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  If the sight of the first robin signals the arrival of spring; then what sign would we use to mark the beginning of summer? According to government time keepers, the answer is simple. Summer officially begins with the summer solstice which, in Iowa, will occur on June 20 at 11:24 pm. But although the solstice
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  With its elegantly crested head and spectacular plumage, the wood duck is one of Iowa’s best known and most popular waterfowl. Most folks are also familiar with the woodie’s unusual woodpecker-like habit of nesting inside natural tree cavities or nest boxes instead of on the ground like other ducks. Fewer, however, may be aware that another
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No matter how many years I’m at it, observing and photographing waterfowl never gets old.   Waterfowl are always willing to provide plenty of surprises, and sometimes you don’t know what you’ve captured until you get back home to review your work.  This month’s surprise came in the form of duck bands.  A friend of mine
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  For Iowa birding enthusiasts, it just doesn’t get any better than the month of May. The final curtain call of the spring migration, it’s a time when everything seems to arrive at once. Spring migrants come in all colors, shapes and sizes. But of the more than 200 bird species that will nest in or
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  The morel mushroom reigns as undisputed King of the Wild Edibles. In Iowa, as elsewhere, Morel Mania is rampant. The elusive fungus is in so craved, in fact, that people who can’t find them buy them. But store bought morels aren’t cheap. At roadside stands and Mississippi River fish markets, these woodland taste treats are
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      The winter and spring calls of the barred owl are among my favorite woodland sounds. While most owls reserve their calling for the nighttime hours, the signature “who cooks for you” cry of the barred owl is as likely to be heard at noon as midnight. The larger and more ferocious great horned owl is the
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