From Janelle: Roadrunners must swallow whole, too. I watched one in my driveway catch a finch or sparrow; it proceeded to hold it by the head and beat it into a pulp on the concrete border of the driveway. Once the bones were all soft enough, it threw its head up in the air and […]
Author: Kieran Lindsey
Kieran Lindsey loves looking for wild things in all the wrong places... so she became an urban biologist. Her quest to entice others to share this passion led to flirtations with (gasp!) the media—as a columnist for the Houston Chronicle; as host of KUNM-FM’s Wild Things; as producer of an Emmy® winning wildlife documentary; and at her Next-Door Nature blog. Kieran has way too much fun as official Animal-Vehicle Biologist for NPR's Car Talk, and she isn’t ashamed to admit it.
Barnstormers
. WITNESSastounding tricks of precision flying! THRILL to the sight of daring aerial capers! Come one, come ALL! The Flying Circus is winging its way to a backyard near YOU!! Critics are raving about this summer’s must-see event. Word to the wise, though—in addition to a lawn chair you’ll definitely want to bring some binoculars. […]
Prodigal sons (and daughters)
Cougars are one of several predator species returning to historic ranges, even when they include highly developed areas (Photo: Wayne Dumbleton, Creative Commons license) Midwesterners are welcoming the return of some long-absent natives. On second thought, “welcoming” is probably an overstatement… because just as in the famous biblical parable, not everyone is thrilled about this […]
Hot and cold
Everyone, even fence lizards and other ectothermic creatures, are feeling the heat these days (Photo: Bandelier National Monument, Creative Commons license) . Temperatures across the southern half of the U.S. are soaring into triple digits, so I was trying to think of creative solutions to beat the heat when it hit me—why not become cold-blooded! […]
Cape vacay
A young male black bear (Ursus americanus) that made a surprise appearance on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, has been returned to the mainland by state wildlife officials. The isolated peninsula is a popular vacation spot but not for bears. The 180-pound bruin became a minor celebrity after completing a refreshing swim across the 500-foot-wide Cape Cod […]
Fungus among us
More bad news for bats, I’m afraid—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has confirmed that white-nose syndrome (WNS) has now spread to the endangered gray bat. The fungus, which has devastated large populations of North American bats, was detected in Tennessee gray bats although biologists did not find evidence that it had killed any animals […]
Wind and wings
A coalition of energy companies, conservations groups and government agencies has developed a set of wind energy recommendations aimed at increasing production while protecting New Mexico wildlife—primarily birds and bats—and habitat. The New Mexico Wind and Wildlife Collaborative’s (NMWWC) met for over two years to create a list of “best management practices” for designing and […]
The sound of silence
. Silent Spring, the ground-breaking book by Rachel Carson on the negative effects of DDT and other pesticides, celebrates its 50th birthday this year. Carson’s genius, in part, was in personalizing a difficult and somewhat esoteric subject using a humble and ubiquitous example—nearly everyone, regardless of age, education or political leaning, could easily grasp the […]