September 7, 2022 If you’re familiar with the Carroll College campus, you’ve probably walked past it countless times. It’s a small, bushy patch of plants […]
A flood of migration and a harassed peregrine falcon
September 13, 2022 It’s the sort of day when Spokane Bay is covered with birds and anything seems possible. A great blue heron is wading […]
Spokane Bay: mats of algae and hints of migration
September 6, 2022 The sun is high and the afternoon is hot by the time I make it over to Spokane Bay. A lone turkey […]
A silver shimmer on the water: the Gyrinus whirligig beetles
September 6, 2022 They ripple over the water in a shimmery silver school, hundreds of them darting in elegant curves across the smooth surface. The […]
Uncommonly noisy hoppers: the Great Basin crackler (Circotettix undulatus)
August 30, 2022 I’m sitting in the shade of a ponderosa pine on this hot afternoon, looking out over the bunchgrasses and sagebrush of the […]
Migration and change in late August at western Montana’s Spokane Bay
August 30, 2022 The sun is hot on this midday at the end of summer, but the breeze carries a cool hint of fall. A […]
Getting to know western aster (Symphyotrichum ascendens)
August 29, 2022 It’s a patch of pale purple among late summer’s dry crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum) and the buzzing songs of the insects. A […]
Changes in the air: confronting burnout, starting a podcast
Last week, I hit a wall with the writing. I found myself up against a self-imposed deadline, stressed out, and despising my writing process. It […]
Five late-summer wildflowers and the complex world of their bees
August 18, 2022 Sometimes, a day in the field doesn’t go as planned. I had started out this morning thinking that it would be a […]
Sevenmile Creek: restoring a stream and tracking its birds
August 10, 2022 The clouds are glowing lavender and gold as the sun climbs over the Big Belt Mountains this morning. The spring chorus of […]