Jan 16 2024
Beach camping sounds wonderfully simple: pitch a tent near the water, watch the sunset, fall asleep to the sound of waves, and wake up with the ocean just a few steps away. In reality, camping beside the coast comes with a few challenges that ordinary campground camping does not. Sand makes tent stakes harder to …
Jan 05 2024
Birds are among the easiest wild animals to encounter in everyday life. Cardinals visit backyard shrubs, gulls patrol beaches, hawks circle above highways, chickadees investigate winter feeders, and migrating flocks pass overhead during journeys that may cover thousands of miles. National Bird Day, observed each year on January 5, asks us to look at birds …
Nov 04 2023
Few animals are as closely tied to the landscapes and history of North America as the American bison. Once numbering in the tens of millions, enormous herds moved across grasslands, river valleys, woodlands, and mountain country from Mexico into Canada and Alaska. Their presence shaped ecosystems, influenced the lives of countless other species, and played …
Sep 24 2023
A silverback gorilla sitting quietly in a forest can be more impressive than almost any dramatic wildlife scene. These enormous primates do not need to roar or charge to command attention. A glance, a gesture, or the sight of an infant clinging to its mother is often enough. Gorillas are the largest living primates and …
Sep 01 2023
September may feel like the beginning of the end of the vegetable gardening season, but there is often plenty of growing left to do. As summer heat begins to ease, cool-season vegetables get another chance to thrive. Crops that struggled with heat, bolted quickly, or turned bitter during midsummer can perform beautifully once days become …
Aug 05 2023
Most beaches come in familiar shades of white, tan, gray, or black. Then there are the unusual coastlines where the sand appears distinctly green. Green-sand beaches can look almost unreal, especially when sunlight catches the tiny mineral grains scattered across the shore. But the color is not caused by algae, plants, or some photographic trick. …
Jul 30 2023
Whitewater rafting can look intimidating from the riverbank. The raft drops into a wave, water pours over the sides, paddlers disappear behind a wall of spray, and the guide seems perfectly calm while shouting instructions over the noise. For beginners, however, a professionally guided rafting trip can be a very different experience from tackling a …
Jul 28 2023
On a hot summer afternoon, cicadas can make a quiet neighborhood sound as though someone has switched on an enormous electrical machine in the trees. Their buzzing, whirring, rattling, and sometimes almost siren-like calls can dominate the outdoor soundscape, even when the insects themselves are nearly impossible to spot. For such relatively small animals, cicadas …
Jul 10 2023
With its bright pink skin, leafy-looking green scales, white or magenta flesh, and hundreds of tiny black seeds, dragon fruit doesn’t look much like something you’d expect to harvest from a cactus. But that’s exactly what it is. Dragon fruit—also called pitaya or pitahaya—is produced by climbing, succulent cacti in the family Cactaceae. Instead of …
Feb 02 2023
Wetlands are easy to overlook because they do not always look dramatic. Some are broad marshes filled with reeds and waterbirds. Others are wooded swamps, wet meadows, bogs, floodplain forests, prairie potholes, or seasonal pools that may appear dry for part of the year. What they have in common is water. Wetlands occur where water …
