A carpenter ant wrestled with a wood chip.
She pushed, pulled, and flipped the chip, sometimes sinking her jaws into the wood. I could not imagine why.
Continue reading An Ant MysteryImage Credits: Carol Doeringer.
Category: Favorite Science and Nature Kids’ Non-fiction Books and Authors
Ee-Oh-Lay!
Haunting. Flute-like. Ethereal.
These are words commonly used to describe the song of a Wood Thrush. They’re all accurate.
Continue reading Ee-Oh-Lay!Image Credits: Carol Doeringer.
A Wood Thrush Story
Nooooooo!
That was me, early on the morning of June 13.
I’d been watching and filming a Wood Thrush nest, expecting nestlings to fledge at any time. This morning, I set up my video gear at the first light. I positioned my tripod and zoomed in on the nest… almost ready to record… then, crash! I knocked over my big stainless steel coffee cup, which landed on a flagstone. The startled nestlings squawked and leaped in unison.
My eyes witnessed the fledge. My camera did not.
Continue reading A Wood Thrush StoryImage Credits: Carol Doeringer.
Duck Drama
Wood ducks seemed to be studying our squirrel tree.
We call it that because squirrels like to shelter inside. And each spring, at least one new family grows up there. One year, a pregnant raccoon took over the entire tree. But otherwise, for some twenty years, we have watched squirrel mamas, and eventually their pups, scurry in and out of the largely hollow tree.
But last week, I wondered if wood ducks might be moving in.
Continue reading Duck Drama
One Batty Night
I felt a nudge. “Hey, wake up!”
It was my husband, Bert.
“Huh?”
“Something’s flying around in here!”
Here was our bedroom. Something was a bat.
Image Credits: ErinAdventure.
The Not-So-Sneaky Squirrel
Squirrels are known to spy on each other.
Usually, they’re watching another squirrel bury a nut. Then, when the coast is clear, they steal it. But food larceny didn’t explain the behavior of one little sneak I watched out my window.
Continue reading The Not-So-Sneaky SquirrelImage Credits: Carol Doeringer.
Dear Stink Bugs: Let’s Negotiate.
Here’s my best offer.
Continue reading Dear Stink Bugs: Let’s Negotiate.Image Credits: Carol Doeringer.
Call CSI: It’s an Insect Murder Mystery
A strange-looking fly caught my eye.
It stood upright, balanced not on its legs but on its wingtips. I leaned in for a closer look.
The fly wasn’t standing. It wasn’t even alive.
The poor creature had been stabbed.
Continue reading Call CSI: It’s an Insect Murder MysteryImage Credits: Carol Doeringer.
When the Poo Piles Up
Globs of disgusting doo dotted our gate.
The poo’s origin was no mystery. Robins had nested overhead, on our pergola. But still, I wondered why I was seeing so much of the sticky stuff. Robins, like many bird parents, remove their nestlings’ excrement after each feeding. It comes out wrapped in a fecal sac—a convenient package that parents swallow during the first week and then carry away from the nest as fecal quantities grow. In addition to helping keep the young ones healthy, nest sanitation minimizes any scent trail that might lead predators to the nest. And yet, just a few feet directly below the nestlings lay a stinking pile of poop.
Was I looking at the dereliction of parental doo-ty?
Continue reading When the Poo Piles UpImage Credits: Carol Doeringer.
A Squirrely Show of Color
The black squirrel stopped me in my tracks.
Black is a common color morph in eastern gray squirrels, especially in northern areas like Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario.
But this black squirrel had a most uncommon feature: a cinnamon-colored tail.
Continue reading A Squirrely Show of ColorImage Credits: Carol Doeringer.