tales from the wild metropolis
Last autumn, I walked along a popular path that circles a nearby neighborhood pond, taking note of the other humans who had ventured outdoors on this lovely fall afternoon to stretch their legs or do a little fishing after work. I always notice the waterfowl who gather here as well... mallards, Canada geese, and a... Continue Reading →
Wedding celebrations are June's claim to fame, so this month seems like the perfect time to talk about garters and ribbons, don't you agree? Garter snakes and Ribbon snakes, of course — this is Next-Door Nature, after all. But serpentine romance is not a meet-cute boy-meets-girl fairy tale.
Chromatically muted though they may be, Gadwalls aren't as conventional as they may first appear. For one thing, they've got a pirate streak that's fitting for a bird who lives the life aquatic, but surprisingly uncommon among their waterfowl kin.
I'll bet you'd recognize this fella even if you've never met face-to-face. He's a night owl, a lounge lizard straight out of Central Casting, complete with rakish Salvador Dali mustache and goatee. He's been hanging around the dimly lit watering holes of cities, suburbs, and sylvan landscapes all across North America for as long as... Continue Reading →
The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm, btw) are generally given credit for publishing the first collection of fairy tales. I hate to quibble, but Mother Nature is the OG spinner of stories full of abandonment, alchemy, metamorphosis, maturity quests, enchanted slumbers, and awakenings. Read closely, and you'll discover that folksy sagas don't use forests, meadows,... Continue Reading →
Big things come in small packages, we're told... and if you'd like some evidence to support that theory, boy-howdy, have I got a potent little parcel for you! Measuring 3-4" (8-11 cm) from beak to tail-tip, and tipping the scale at 0.1-0.3 oz (4-8 g), less than 2 cents worth of copper, the Golden-Crowned Kinglet... Continue Reading →
Strolling through Lafayette Park early one evening, I took note of the usual suspects distributed along the edge of the centerpiece man-made lake as they waited patiently for red-and-white bobbers to disappear below the surface. The fisher-folk are a common fixture here — the reservoir is stocked by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) every... Continue Reading →
Sleep is gaining new respect among human health researchers. They've observed correlations between 6-7 hours of quality shut-eye and longevity, improved mood and memory, as well as restoration of immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems. But getting enough sleep is a challenge in the modern era of artificial lighting and smart devices that PING! their... Continue Reading →
Next-Door Nature 