The vernal equinox did not disappoint in officially kicking off spring this year. I woke that fine day to the welcome if monotonous sound of my eastern phoebes (Sayornis phoebe) signaling their return — at least this is probably the same pair as last year, since they’re loyal to their nesting sites. […]
“Off with their heads” is not a good idea when pruning. […]
I don’t care what the calendar says, here in the western Piedmont, spring begins March 1. This year, however, the winter was cold, dry and windy, and seemed endless. […]
A lot of bird species have what we humans consider bizarre courtship displays (although I think Homo sapiens could easily beat them in that department). In Virginia, the strangest belongs to the American Woodcock (Scolopax […]
When I was a kid, I fancied myself to be a great tracker. When I was roaming the forests and meadows near my suburban home, I imagined I was a Native American, since we kids learned from Westerns that they were the best trackers. The goal was to find and observe animals, and ultimately to become part of their world. […]
Even as a kid, I was an avid frog watcher. Even before the Spring Peepers’ chorus heralded the arrival of spring, I’d pull on my boots and go to still-icy pools to listen for the […]
The North American Raccoon (Procyon lotor) is smart, curious, bold, omnivorous, and opportunistic — like a small bear in a mask. Our relationship with them has been a conflicted one. We’ve been captivated by the raccoon’s antics, confounded by some of its behavior and annoyed at its skillful thievery. Not only have we captured and kept them as pets, we’ve hunted them for their fur and meat, and for sport, and we’ve waged war against them because they eat our food, invade our homes, and share our susceptibility to rabies. […]
A recent question about the name of my company, Nighthawk Communications, brought to mind hot summer nights in Wyoming and one warm, damp spring evening here in Rappahannock County. That evening in Rappahannock, as I […]
I’m not one to sit out in the cold, especially at night, but I made an exception for last month’s lunar eclipse. The last time the lunar eclipse coincided with the winter solstice, in 1648, […]
Some people fear spiders in general — or are just sure that venomous Brown Recluse or Black Widow spiders are lurking in the dark corners of our houses waiting to pounce on us. The truth […]
I’m really not a winter person. As the days get shorter, the nights longer, and the temperature drops, all I want to do is hibernate. I like to be lulled to sleep by a full chorus of cicadas, crickets, tree frogs, and the occasional whip-poor-will, so I find the winter nocturnal silence, with the occasional burst of bizarre and even blood-curdling noises, to be a lot less restful than the sounds of a summer’s night. […]
As the leaves have fallen off, the green wall of oak-hickory forest behind my house has given way to glimpses of mountains and valleys to the south and west. With the lush green of summer […]
You like birds. You want to see them up close. You’d like to help them survive through the winter. For any or all of these reasons, you’ve decided to feed your wild feathered neighbors, but doing it so that you and the birds get the most out of it can be complicated. […]
Say “turkey” and most people conjure up the image of the cooked bird that graces holiday tables. Others think of the magnificent fowl roaming our forests. A rafter of wild turkeys regularly forages through the […]
It’s that time of year. The days are getting shorter and colder, and in the face of oncoming winter, most of us start thinking about being warm in our abodes with plenty of food at […]
A lot of us in Virginia enjoy feeding hummingbirds, putting our nectar feeders out in the spring at the first sign of their arrival, and taking them in after the last hummer disappears for its […]
When you live in a rural county in Virginia, you don’t have to go far to see wildlife. The numerous critters on my back deck and within view in the forest beyond have offered me […]
Except for poison ivy, thorny vines and the occasional venomous rattlesnake, the Virginia Piedmont forest is usually not too hazardous. This autumn, however, danger has been raining down from above. The instigators are trees, releasing […]
When Scrabble residents Kevin and Stacy Finch Drake learned of EarthCraft Virginia, a new certification program for sustainable building, they took the training to become “approved” builders. The owners of Drake Custom Builders wanted to stay ahead of the curve and add to their own knowledge.
“We’re all about living naturally, and EarthCraft is a very natural approach — very holistic,” Stacy Drake said. […]
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