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A cold sky indeed!
Last night was bitterly cold here in central Ohio, as evidenced by my car's thermometer. Yes, it says -20 F, as in MINUS TWENTY. I knew it was going to be about as cold as I've ever experienced, and I...
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Star trails, Version II
In my last post, HERE, I wrote about the making of star trail photos on a rather frosty winter evening. I thought one of the resultant photos, above, was pretty cool. Not bad for a first time effort....
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Wildlife Diversity Conference - last call!
Wednesday, March 11 is the date of the annual Ohio Wildlife Diversity Conference and you won't want to miss it. The conference is held at the Aladdin Shriner's Complex at 3850 Stelzer Road in Columbus....
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Ohio Botanical Symposium: March 27
Tis the season for event promotion. And here's another one well worth a plug, and well worth attending. The Ohio Botanical Symposium, which like some primroses is now a biennial event, takes the stage...
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Red-breasted Mergansers
Precious little time of late to cart the camera out and snap off photos. But a window opened up this afternoon, and I spent a few hours clicking the shutter about 1,500 times at one of my favorite...
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American Coot
"Oh my, what big feet you have, Mr. Coot!"There are a lot of distinctive features to a coot, not the least of which are its feet. They are huge multi-lobed affairs, all the better for traversing spongy...
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Mothapalooza - registration open!
Registration for Mothapalooza is open! It actually opened almost two weeks ago, but I'm only now getting around to plugging it. Of the 140 available slots, there are only 30 left, so you'll want to get...
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The Harlequin Ducks of Barnegat Light, New Jersey
The long stone breakwall at Barnegat Light, New Jersey is a famous birding spot. When I find myself in that part of the world, a visit is irresistible. Such was the case last weekend, when a trip to...
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Cormorant battles giant fish!
The ominous - to a fish, anyway - black silhouettes of Great Cormorants, Phalacrocorax carbo, adorn a marker at the entrance to Barnegat Bay in New Jersey. This large species of cormorant has the...
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More astrophotography
Yesterday marked the 14th rendition of the annual Shreve Migration Sensation. I was flattered to be asked back to speak; this go-round my topic was the wetlands of Wayne County. The SMS takes place in...
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Gulls drop clam bombs
Herring Gulls are ubiquitous fixtures along the New Jersey coast, and on my recent trip to Barnegat Light and vicinity I fired off many shots of the handsome birds. It isn't hard - the gulls often sit...
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Waterfowl season!
A gorgeous blue spring sky illuminates acres of prairie grasses buffering highly productive prairie pothole wetlands at Battelle Darby Metro Park in central Ohio. I was fortunate to spend time with...
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Sapsucker, sucking sap
I spent part of this morning - a sunny, beautiful morning! - down at Green Lawn Cemetery on the south side of Columbus. This, Ohio's second largest cemetery at 360 acres, is a place that is near and...
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Ohio Ornithological Society annual conference!
 Many visitors to the fabled Shawnee State Park in southern Ohio's rugged hills will soon see this banner - or something like it - welcoming birders to the (song) birdiest region of Ohio. The weekend...
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EPN Breakfast - Salamanders! Thursday, April 9
The Cave Salamander, Eurycea lucifuga, an Ohio endangered species.If you've not heard of the [Ohio] Environmental Professionals Network (EPN), you should know about this fine organization. In just a...
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Lily, and Waterthrush
I made a much needed photographic/birding/botanizing expedition to southern Ohio last Saturday, where signs of spring abound. My route took me near the legendary Rocky Fork drainage and its isolated...
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David Sibley comes to Ohio!
Hands down, the most popular guide to American birds, by the best known contemporary birder/ornithologist in the Americas, David Sibley.Mr. Sibley is coming to Ohio, and you won't want to miss the...
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If I could be a bird...
There are many avian harbingers of spring, but my favorite is the plucky Tree Swallow. Their return to northern marshes is a sure sign that winter's grip is weakening. In Ohio, the first scout swallows...
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Dennis Profant, 1958-2015
I learned today of the death of one of Ohio's premier naturalist/biologists, Dennis Profant. The news was a shock to all, and his passing yesterday was terrible news.Dennis was a professor at Hocking...
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Life along (and in) a creek
Yesterday was a great spring day to be afield, and I was fortunate enough to be invited to help lead an outing organized by the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Our destination was a new TNC...
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