The summer solstice had barely passed, and we were within the first week of July when I saw them. It was July 7th this year, to be exact. The first day I noticed what I take to be a sign of Autumn: multiple family groups of European Starlings, or a “murmur” as a flock…

“I know something you don’t know,” isn’t the gleeful greeting you expect from someone well past elementary school, never mind retirement. And in reality, there are a lot of things I don’t know and I expect that everyone knows things that I don’t. But it didn’t bother me because it was too big a secret…

 I love watching the sun rise and set. The color shifts and ombres are unique. I’m always glad that I can see them, and miss them when I can’t see them, to the point that at times my digital photo folders are too full of sunset pictures. I also feel a little sorry for those…

 KERSPLASH! We were quietly casting jitterbugs after sunset towards the shore of what was an Ohio Power (now American Electric Power (AEP)) pond when it sounded like someone had lobbed a bowling ball into the water towards our jon boat. We were fairly remote, and there weren’t any other campers around. Flashlights didn’t reveal Bigfoot…

Being outdoors in southwest Ohio has its blessings. While we don’t have snowcapped mountains or sweeping oceans, it’s also relatively safe. Walking outside doesn’t mean prepping against a host of lethal things trying to stick, sting, bite, or eat you immediately. There are no alligators in the pond. Poisonous snakes are rare. Maybe an occasional…

  Sometime during my elementary school years, a guy built a pond on his land in the middle of our neighborhood. I don’t know all of what was said or discussed about having a pond in the middle of a neighborhood, but I’m sure it was a lot. But he did it anyway. And there…

“If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.” That’s great advice and a truism for almost all wildlife, something even a four-year-old can recognize. It’s especially true for Ohio’s longest reptile, the Grey Ratsnake (Pantherophis obsoletus), previously called the Black Ratsnake. Recent advancements in genetic research have led to a deeper understanding of snake…

 It’s been technically “spring” for weeks now, but we’re just now passing into the frost free zone in Southwest Ohio. The morning chill is less biting and the afternoon highs haven’t pick up the humidity to come later. Tucked beneath a canopy of trees or out an in an open meadow you, you’ll find relatively…

“If you get out, you’ll find them.” That’s what Clark County morel mushroom hunter Jim Neff told me. It’s great this year, with the big yellows starting now. If we get some rain, they will really pop,” he said. “But I bet if you go look right now, you’d find some.” If you haven’t looked…

They blocked out the sun. That’s a phrase writers in the 1800s used to describe several natural events, including migrations of passenger pigeons, Carolina parakeets, and Rocky Mountain locust. All of which were extinct a relatively short time later. The environment is always changing, going through a series of contractions and renewals. Change happens; the…