tales from the wild metropolis
Watching a white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) cascade along the steep slope of a tree brought to mind the playground at Oakville Elementary, and made me wonder if the species' iconic bottoms-up foraging style is the result of a dare. The far corner of our grade school property was the site of many childhood rites of... Continue Reading →
How often do you come across a bird so dee-lightful, so dee-lectable that it captured the attention of characters as disparate as W.C. Fields and Cole Porter? Quite often, actually, because chickadees (Poecile spp) are far from rare in North America. In my own little corner of the world, a historic neighborhood about two miles... Continue Reading →
7 Weird Tricks for Preventing Tick Bites You Can't Afford to Ignore! 4 Dirty Secrets Borrelia spp. Bacteria Hope You Never Learn! 10 Sneaky Signs of Lyme Disease (#9 Will Blow Your Mind)! If only Peromyscus mice could read, maybe they could click through a few helpful infotainment articles to learn how to end all... Continue Reading →
[In honor of (and with apologies to) Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss.] On February the fourth, 'neath skies colored gray, In the dimming light, at the end of the day, He was walking, the sights and smells thrilling, When Dashiell the terrier heard a low trilling. Life is better with a little Next-Door Nature—click the... Continue Reading →
One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy. Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret, Never to be told. Eight for a wish, Nine for a kiss, Ten for a bird, You must not miss.* One... I'll concede to the prognosticating poet who wrote this traditional... Continue Reading →
On frosty mornings, Mercury is uncharacteristically slow to leave that snug thermometer bulb... and I can't say I blame him. I've been in no hurry to leave my own cozy bed since Winter hit town back in early November. However, my terrier and personal trainer, Dashiell Riprock, is stubbornly insistent about our regularly scheduled morning... Continue Reading →
The aliens are back. Just when I thought they were through with me they reappeared, sliding silently through walls that appear solid (but the quantum physicists know better). Suddenly they are everywhere. Staring at me from the rim of a glass when I open the cupboard. Calmly observing me as I sleep from my sweetheart’s... Continue Reading →
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we're twenty years into the Information Age so I’m pretty sure everyone in this courtroom knows that, to quote a famous New Yorker cartoon, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” The anonymity baked into the the interwebs means we’re all free to be whatever, or whomever, we... Continue Reading →
Next-Door Nature 