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Return of the butterflies
The warming of spring brings out a new crop of butterflies, and their appearance is much welcomed by many, including your narrator. These stunning male Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Papilio glaucus, are...
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No Finish Line - a fascinating new book on birding ( and more)
Hot off the presses is this excellent book that all birders will enjoy devouring. It is the biography of Dr. Bernard Master, renowned world birder, conservationist, physician, and businessman. In the...
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Migration erupts
Cerulean Warbler, one of many in Shawnee State Forest, Scioto County, Ohio, last Saturday. The Ohio Ornithological Society held their annual conference at Shawnee over the weekend, and we found lots of...
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New River Birding & Nature Festival
I'm just back from eight (8!) days of nonstop immersion into Nature. Sorry if I've not responded to emails etc. but I've mostly been off the grid or too busy to deal with the usual stuff. First up was...
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Great Horned Owl owlet
A gargantuan white oak, Quercus alba, towers over a central Ohio park. Its gnarled boughs predate the founding of the City of Columbus, the municipality in which the tree resides. Over its centuries of...
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Magee Marsh warbler madness
A tiny fraction of the thousands of birders that descended upon Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in Lucas and Ottawa counties, Ohio, last Friday. Even more people were in the area the next day, which was...
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Dragonfly in flight, and the new Canon 7D Mark II
A female Common Green Darner, Anax junius,Ā at rest, showing the bulls-eye mark on top of the frons (nose). This is a large, common, and spectacular species.Last Saturday, while at Magee Marsh Wildlife...
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Native azaleas attract swarms of pollinators
I had a very interesting field trip today. It involved a "life orchid", among many other interesting finds. More on some of that later, I hope. A brief peregrination into Shawnee State Forest also...
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Caterpillar season!
Ā On recent forays, I have been noticing caterpillars everywhere. Most are small early instars - just little tubes that are easily missed. Those that survive will grow dozens of times bigger and more...
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The ferocious dragon hunter
Dragon hunters, even as youngsters, are ferociousĀ Columbus DispatchĀ NATUREJim McCormacļ»æMay 17, 2015The first column I wrote for this newspaper ā appearing Aug. 16, 2005 ā was about the dragon hunter,...
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Northern Michigan birds
Greetings from northern Michigan's Presque Isle County. I've been up here for a week, so far, and have been burning the candle at both ends. Doug Tallamy and John MacIntosh were up for a few days, and...
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Eastern Meadowlark, calm before the storm
Finally home, after eleven days afield in northern Michigan. This was my sixth consecutive year of leading field forays in Presque Isle County, based out of the beautiful Nettie Bay Lodge, ably managed...
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Once thought lost, rare orchid reappears in Ohio
Heart-leaved twayblade, Listera cordataOnce thought lost, rare orchid reappears in OhioCOLUMBUS DISPATCHMay 31, 2015NATUREJim McCormacThe orchid family is gargantuan, with an estimated 22,000 species....
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Life mammal! A burly burrowing beast!
The gorgeous Ocqueoc Falls, just minutes from Nettie Bay Lodge in Presque Isle County, Michigan. These are the largest falls in the Lower Peninsula. I've been coming to Nettie Bay for six years now, to...
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Common Mergansers on the rise
Photo: Bob LaneĀ Bob Lane sent along some wonderful photos of a hen Common Merganser attending her large brood of chicks. Looks eleven of the little fuzzballs in all. The little ones stay closely...
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Doug Tallamy speaks in Columbus, June 14
Doug Tallamy (left) and your blogger pose with some heavy artillery in Michigan's jack pine country back on May 30. Doug and his buddy John McIntyre came up for a few days prior to my Nettie Bay Lodge...
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Nest boxes helping slow decline of state's kestrels
Photo courtesy Bernard MasterCOLUMBUS DISPATCHJune 14, 2015NATUREJim McCormacNest boxes helping slow decline of state's kestrelsOn March 17, 2013, The Dispatch ran a story describing the initiation of...
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Mothapalooza III concludes, and it was grand!
A giant banner strung across the entryway to the Shawnee State Park lodge in southern Ohio proclaims the arrival of Mothapalooza. It may also have scared off the non-moth'ers, or at least made them...
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Some Mothapalooza highlights, Part 1
The Tuliptree Silkmoth, Callosamia angulifera, is an impressive beast indeed, andĀ attendees of the recent Mothapalooza conference saw many of them. And scores of other moths, of a great many species....
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Some more Mothapalooza highlights
A Rosy Maple Moth, Dryocampa rubicunda, glares menacingly at your blogger. Well, as menacingly as a pink and yellow animal can manage.Our extreme mothing efforts at the recent Mothapalooza conference...
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