natureswondersbyclyde

      Generally, from late February to early April, up to a few hundred thousand sandhill cranes gather on the mud flats and shallows of the Platte River in Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary in southcentral Nebraska.  I see them, often upclose, through a live camera on the sanctuary, which operates 24/7, and our home computer screen .           Through the live camera at night, I see those four-foot cranes by the thousands standing together on the flats and in the shallows, huddled together and sleeping.  Most of them have their beak and head tucked under a wing, but some are awake with heads up when I can see outdoor lights reflecting from their open eyes.  And I can hear the short, gutterel trills of some of the awake cranes.      At first light, the cranes become restless, and vocal.  Now I can see that many ribbon-like flats and shallows are wall to wall sandhills, all standing and ready for the day.  Before...

      From mid-February to the middle of May in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, many short-grass lawns have beautiful bouquets of flowers on common feral, or wild, plants, which make those lawns more interesting.  Most of these plants are from Eurasia, but a few species are native to North America.  All of them are adapted to short-grass lawns with their regular mowing, and ample sunlight.  And some kinds of these plants feed various species of adaptable wildlife.            Some of these plants, like Veronicas and yellow wood sorrel, are so tight to the soil that mower blades miss cutting them.  Some plants, like dandelions , grow rapidly between weekly mowings.  And other kinds of wild, lawn plants grow, flower and go to seed before mowing time.  These are all ways of living, seeding and spreading on regularly mowed lawns.      Snowdrops with white, bell-shaped flowers, winter aconites that ...

     Through a live camera and our home computer screen, on February1, 2026, this Pennsylvanian was happy to see large flocks of cackling geese, with sprinklings of Canada geese, snow geese, white-fronted geese and mallard ducks on the mostly frozen Platte River in Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary in southcentral Nebraska.  Those waterfowl species carpeted the flats and shallows of the broad, shallow Platte, wall to wall, to rest, preen and socialize between feeding times in nearby harvested cornfields.  But they will move on to their nesting territories as soon as spring catches up to them.  Meanwhile, those great gatherings of handsome waterfowl were inspiring to see and hear on the computer screen at home.  Few cackling geese are seen here in the eastern United States.          On February 2, I was thrilled to see excellent, close-up views of the elegant geese and ducks on our computer screen.  Masses of stately cackling g...

      Five kinds of birch tree species in northeastern North America include black, yellow, gray, paper and river birches.  The beautiful bark of these birches is most noticeable and enjoyable in winter when the trees are devoid of foliage.        Being related, these birches have several traits in common, other than attractive bark.  They are all trees on the small side.  Male and female flowers are on each tree in all these species, and open in spring.  Male blooms, (catkins) dangle two to three inches from twigs and sway gracefully in the wind that also disperses their pollen to female blossoms.  Female flowers are upright and one inch tall.  And each female bloom, when pollinated, produces a stack of tiny, two-winged seeds that blow away on the wind.        Each type of birch tree has its own niche, which spreads the species, and almost eliminates competition for space in the sun.  Bl...

     Daily, from March 4 to March 9, 2026, I had been watching a few kinds of migrant waterfowl species gathering on large impoundments in Blackwater Wildlife Refuge in Maryland and Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Pennsylvania, through live computers at each location, 24/7, and our home computer screen by switching the computer back and forth between those refuges.  The thousands each of majestic tundra swans, Canada geese and northern pintail ducks at both refuges, and thousands of handsome snow geese at Middle Creek were noticeably restless and constantly vocal, day and night.  And adding to the excitement of experiencing those stately birds was their flocks daily going and coming from nearby feeding fields of winter rye and corn kernels in harvested corn fields.  All those elegant, migrating birds obviously rested on those impoundments a short time before migrating farther north to their annual nesting territories.  But they were exciting a...

       While driving through a foggy, soggy, bottomland woods of deciduous trees one rainy afternoon in early March of 2026, I noticed several trees had dead leaves still clinging to their twigs.  I stopped to admire more closely the ginger-hued foliage on pin oak trees and white oak trees and pale-beige-colored leaves on American beech trees in that woodland.  Those dead, dried leaves still attached to their twig moorings added another bit of color to the gray woods, as they had all winter.  And I could see how many trees of each kind were living in that bottomland woods because of the dried foliage still clinging to them.      As I admired the dead foliage on hose trees I remembered that pin oaks, white oaks and beeches have much in common.  Obviously, they share wooded bottomland habitats with their moist soil.  They all bear nuts that are consumed by squirrels, deer, bears, jays, wild turkeys and other kinds of woodland wil...