natureswondersbyclyde

      Most folks in the eastern United States are familiar with the handsome American robins and eastern bluebirds, and some parts of their life histories.  Those species of birds are in the thrush family, and have counterpart thrush relatives, namely varied thrushes and mountain bluebirds that do the same jobs as American robins and eastern bluebirds, but in the higher altitudes of western North America.       Though related, and nesting in the upper altitudes of western North America, the attractive varied thrushes and mountain bluebirds don't compete with each other for food and nesting sites.  The former species raises young in open, mud and grass cradles on tree limbs in the dense, dark understories of moist, mixed coniferous/deciduous forests, while the bluebirds rear offspring in abandoned tree cavities and erected bird houses in mountain meadows.  Their American robin and eastern bluebird counterparts nest the same ways, except r...

      Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are a kind of North American woodpecker that nest in mixed coniferous/deciduous woodlands in the northern tier states of the United States and across Canada.  And they winter in the southern United States, north to the Middle Atlantic States, including here in southeastern Pennsylvania.        These sapsuckers are typical woodpeckers.  They raise young in tree cavities they chip from dead wood.  They have stiff tail feathers and two toes in front and two in back of each foot to brace themselves upright on vertical tree trunks while they drill into dead wood after invertebrates to eat.  And like all woodpeckers, they have long, sticky tongues they insert into the holes they chisel into wood to pull out invertebrates they consume.  Small birds like chickadees, kinglets and wrens can also reach into those wounds the sapsuckers created to pull out invertebrates to ingest.     ...

      Every winter I watch waterfowl on various impoundments in the United States, through a live camera at each location and our computer screen.  I used too watch ducks, geese and swans "in the flesh" when I was younger, but today I get as much fun seeing those birds on our computer screen.  For example, just two weeks ago, on December 4th and 5th, 2025, I saw waterfowl thriving in winter's beauties on a couple of lakes quite distant from each other.        On December 4, I saw in the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania newspaper that the moon would "rise" over this area about 5:00 pm, which would be soon after sunset on that sunny day.  I knew from past experience that I could see, on our computer screen, the moon rising above a 400-qcre lake at MIddle Creek Wildlife Management Area that straddles both Lancaster and Lebanon Counties.  And I knew that ducks, Canada geese and tundra swans rested on that lake between feeding forays ...

      The sky has several beauties, day and night,  through the year, but particularly in winter when the atmosphere is often dry.  And the sky provides much entertainment to anyone who will look for it.        The brilliant glows of winter sunrises and sunsets are especially striking.  But their reds, oranges and yellows add false warmth to the sky.  Part of the beauty of winter sunrises and sunsets is how they color the edges of dark clouds, and handsomely silhouette black trees and tall weeds and grasses.  Noisy flocks of airborne swans, geese and ducks, racing across the sky, or spiraling down to impoundments or feeding fields, are also beautifully silhouetted black before brilliant sunrises and sunsets, creating inspiring scenes.      Large, cottony, white and gray cumulus clouds are lovely in themselves, and in the way they enhance blue skies.  Their whiteness highlights soaring hawks and vultures...

     Over the years, I've had the thrill of seeing several kinds of nocturnal mammals crossing roads and streets at night in southeastern Pennsylvania.  These adaptable, common critters, including striped skunks, opossums, red foxes, house cats, white-tailed deer, cottontail rabbits, raccoons, muskrats and mink, are seldom seen during days in human-made habitats, including suburbs, farmland and roadsides.  But these interesting mammals can be quickly identified in headlights at night by their sizes, shapes, the way they move, and their tails.  Their eye shine, caused by their eyes reflecting vehicle lights, might be the first clue of their presence on the road ahead,  a clue to avoid collision with the creatures.        Skunks are easy to identify crossing roads at night because of their black fur, with white stripes, and black and white, plumed tails.  They move along slowly because of their confidence in their ability to...

      By the end of November every year, in the woods of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I hear pairs of great horned owls hooting to each other as the start of their courtships.  And through December each year, I continue to hear the romantic owls back in the woodlands, and see pairs of bald eagles and red-tailed hawks perched together on large, lone trees in local, human-made cropland, or soaring together over that farmland, to which the eagles and hawks have adapted well.      In January, these three kinds of raptors start adding sticks and twigs to their open cradles in tall trees, in woods in the case of the owls, and in farmland for the eagles and hawks.  Young pairs of each kind might usurp stick nurseries from herons, crows, ospreys, or other pairs of their own kinds, or build new nests.  The cradles of all those birds are big, made of sticks and twigs, and placed in treetops.  I'm sure there is some competition among these large...