Discovering the world around me.
After I bought Owl Acres, I loved to come out to the country and enjoy the soundscape, barbecue over a fire in an old washing machine tub we found in the fence row, and think about the house I would build. On one of those beautiful summer evenings I invited the kids to come out […]
Continue reading Things That Go Zoom in the Night: Little Brown Bats
On a lovely May morning Dave and I are strolling along the road when a beautiful song seems to be aimed right at us from a tree a short distance away. Its tone is kind of like a robin’s, but it starts its song with a clear whit-whit sort of whistle, and then follows it […]
Continue reading Seed Cracker: Rose-Breasted Grosbeak
On a cool spring morning, we roll out of bed at 4:30. The goal is to watch the sun rise over Owl Acres. It’s been doing that forever, but I don’t remember many times, if ever, that I’ve paid attention to the sunrise per se. Today I have asked Bryan to narrate the event. We […]
Continue reading Prairie Sunrise
For several days in late April, I’ve heard kinglets in the trees. A golden-crowned kinglet (Regulus satrapa) one day, and a ruby-crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula) a few days later. The ruby-crowned song is loud, rapid and full of excitement. Their golden-crowned cousins sing more sedately and at a higher pitch. First of all, they are […]
Continue reading North American Royalty: Golden-Crowned and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets
On a morning walk, I hear a high-pitched whistle, and a rapid chatter seeming to come from the same tree. My Merlyn Bird ID tells me that what we have here is a brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater). He is shiny black on his body with a dull brown head. He’s courting the smaller, drab brown […]
Continue reading Easy Pickings: Brown-headed Cowbird
When I was a little girl, we had a huge lilac bush in the yard. It was big enough to play in, hide under, and explore. And whenever we came in from that play, Mom started searching in our hair for ticks. When she found one, which she often did, she lit a cigarette, kept […]
Continue reading Little Vampires: Ticks
Spring is finally showing itself here on Owl Acres. The cherry trees and the apple tree are in bloom. Catkins hang from other, less showy trees like the elms. We haven’t mowed yet, so the yard is loaded with little flowers. Yellow dandelions, purple henbit, and bluish-purple violets. There are at least 600 species of […]
Continue reading Another Yard Flower: Common Blue Violet
I’m sitting out on the deck, enjoying an evening chorus and glass of wine when that familiar trilling floats through the soundscape. There are lots of birds out there, but this isn’t a bird. It’s an American toad. He’s been hibernating over the winter, and now the ground temperature tells him that spring has arrived. […]
Continue reading Toad Breath: American Toad
Dandelions. they’re everywhere in the yard shining their yellow faces to the sun, brightening the ground along with the deadnettle, henbit and violets. Extermination is the plan for most lawn owners. Those bright yellow flowers scattered across a lush green monochrome seem to disturb the senses of the modern eye. This is a fairly new […]
Continue reading Little Soldiers: Dandelions
I’ve always discounted bees as nuisances, little demons wanting to sting me. My closest encounters have been with bumblebees and sweat bees, but there are between 300 and 400 different species of bees in Iowa alone. Worldwide the number of species is in the ten thousands. Bees branched off from wasps some 120 million years […]
Continue reading Buzz: Bumblebees