natureswondersbyclyde

      Barn swallows, tree swallows and other kinds of swallows live and migrate across much of North and South America.  And barn swallows, and house martins, which are another species of swallow, live and migrate between Europe and Africa.  These swallows migrate from central Africa, north over the Sahara Desert to nest in Europe during spring, and do the opposite in late summer to spend the winter in Africa.           But getting across the Sahara would be a big problem for both these species if there were not palm tree-lined oases among the unending and dry sand dunes along the way.   Those swallows get food and drink from those oases that will refresh them, and sustain them in their travels.  Without those oases that bubble to the surface, here and there, from ground water, the swallows would die along the way.        Many oases, however, have water more salty than the oceans because it is stag...

     Rock-climbing napili gobies are seven-inch, amphidromous fish that are another of innumerable miracles on Earth.  They hatch in stony-bottomed, clear-running, freshwater streams in Hawaii's forested mountains and slopes, but are soon swept over waterfalls by the current and on down to the Pacific Ocean where they live as juveniles and filter-feed on plankton for about six months.  Then swarms of them swim back to the mouths of their nursery waterways where, within two days, their mouths turn down and become suction-cup-like, and they each develop a suction cup on each enlarged, front fin.  Now those juvenile gobies are ready to ascend wet, slippery rock walls right beside and just behind waterfalls on their birth waterways.  And what an arduous climb it is, too.      Alternately using their down-turned, sucker-like mouths and the suction cups on their front fins to create suction to adhere to the wet rocks, groups of them slowly inc...

      Northern copperhead snakes and timber rattlesnakes are poisonous species that sparingly inhabit woodlands in southeastern Pennsylvania, as well as much of the rest of the state and the eastern United States.  I have been thrilled to see a few of each of these beautifully-color-patterned snakes in southeastern Pennsylvania's woods.  I've seen copperheads in the wooded Susquehanna River hills of Lancaster County and York County and the Furnace Hills of Lancaster County and Lebanon County.  And I saw a few timber rattlesnakes in the forested Blue Ridge Mountains of Berks County and Dauphin County.  Both these snake species also live sparingly in the wooded hills of northern Lebanon and Cumberland Counties.         I think these beautiful snakes are particularly exciting to observe because they usually stay well hidden under the cover of  fallen logs, crevices between boulders and piles of fallen leaves in woodlands, and...

      The well-known American alligators and the not-so-well-known alligator snapping turtles have several characteristics in common.  Both are massive reptiles that look like relics of the dinosaur age, which they are. Both species have thick scales, massive heads, long tails, powerful legs, webbed toes and long claws.  Both species are cold-blooded, apex predators, carnivorous and scavengers, and camouflaged in rivers, lakes and wetlands.  Both are fairly common in the southeastern and southcentral United States and are potentially dangerous to people.  Both are exciting to see, but not often seen because they blend into their habitats well.  And females of both kinds annually lay clutches of several eggs on land.       But these reptile species also have unique traits.  Alligators have long, powerful swimming tails and lengthy snouts, each with a mouthful of teeth they use to grab any kind of creature they can subdue....

      Lake Onalaska is a large backwater off the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.  Onalaska is composed of deep and shallow waters, mud flats, islands covered by tall grass and other islands dominated by deciduous, floodplain trees.      In spring, that lake is a staging area for migrating ducks, swans, ring-billed gulls, white pelicans, a variety of shorebirds and other kinds of northbound birds.  Many bald eagles congregate there as well.  All those birds create exciting times for human observers.  I see all these intriguing birds, beautiful scenery, breath-taking sunrises and sunsets, and other interesting species of life through a live camera, 24/7, and our computer screen.  I enjoy seeing those beauties around Onalaska through each year.  But, through our computer, I also like to watch for nocturnal creatures that live along the lake.         The live camera and a spotlight are aimed at a large, dea...

      For an hour one afternoon during this mid-August, I stopped driving to do errands to view several intermittent lines and clumps of tall, stately Joe-Pye plants standing in moist soil between a half-mile stretch of country road I was on and a nearby woodland edge.  Each stalwart Joe-Pye had at least a few whorls of elongated leaves at intervals on its stout stem.  And each Joe-Pye was crowned with a bushy head of many small, dusty-pink blossoms that were quite attractive in themselves.  Some of those flowers were being visited by a small variety of busy insects bent on sipping sugary nectar.        All those insects fluttering or buzzing, depending upon the kind,  among Joe-Pye blooms that day, had lovely color patterns that added to the beauties of the blossoms.  Those insects included monarch, tiger swallowtail and pearl crescent butterflies, and honey, bumble and carpenter bees.  The large monarchs had deep-or...

          The day after a few days of storms and heavy rains in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in July of 2025, I visited a couple of  brooks in a local woodland.  Unlike the muddy water that flooded farmland, roads and towns in Lancaster County, the water in those woodland brooks ran clear and was within its normal water level.  Carpets of dead, fallen leaves, and the roots of trees and other plants, plus networks of fungi in forest floors, held the soil down in the woods.  I could see the rocky bottoms of both brooks, and some of the aquatic creatures that live in them.      Several beautiful male black-winged damselflies were the first critters I saw.  Some of them were  "dancing" in the sunlight, low over the flowing waters of the brooks.  Those striking insects have four black wings and a long, thin abdomen that glows iridescent-green in the sunlight.  The males' dancing [fluttering] intimidates other m...