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shrew party

The phrase, “live fast, die young” could be dedicated to shrews. These small carnivorous mammals have supercharged metabolisms, and spend all their waking moments hunting and eating. Despite being quite numerous in the right habitat, shrews are rarely encountered –…

Bootstrap Public Service Announcement #3: Tubes used to protect young trees can trap and kill birds. Since bluebirds aren’t especially common right around home, I was not aware that they can become easily trapped in the tubes people use to…

bag of crossbills

The other day, I found a plastic grocery bag tied to my mailbox, with a softball-sized wad of … something inside. I admit my first thought was that someone had left me a bag of dog crap. I looked inside…

Many of you may have read the recent coverage of the effort to save amphibians from a fungal infection by creating safe captive populations. This is a topic I’ve covered previously, and you can read an update here at Mongabay….

Do you know of any signs mounted on those metal posts that have holes all down the middle? If the sign isn’t fastened in the top holes, they remain exposed and have been found to trap raptors, which get their…

Via Invasive Species Weblog, a story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the Wisconsin DNR will allow citizens in three southern counties in that state to “adopt” wild Mute Swans and spare them from approved lethal control measures, provided they…

misbehaving

Here are some excerpts from the American Birding Association’s Code of Ethics: Avoid stressing birds or exposing them to danger, exercise restraint and caution during observation, photography, sound recording, or filming. Stay on roads, trails, and paths where they exist….

snowy owl

It has only been a week since winter rudely and abruptly arrived in Michigan. And what more appropriate bird to ease our transition to Arctic-like weather than a Snowy Owl? This bird was found by a friend who was driving…

I will confess right now to not being a huge fan of the holidays. However, I am very fond of both natural history and kissing, and that has led me to investigate the botanical life history of mistletoe.

Seeing a Peregrine Falcon is not very unusual in southeast Michigan. Although they were not historically found in these parts, they were introduced into the city of Detroit beginning in 1987 as part of the Midwest Peregrine Restoration Program (MPRS)….