natureswondersbyclyde

     Arctic wolves and Arctic foxes are magnificent canids that live in the treeless high Arctic tundra, above the Arctic Circle, of North America.  And because they share that freezing northern habitat the year around, they have characteristics in common.         Both these regal, adaptable canines have adjusted to extreme cold by growing layers of dense fur that traps body heat.  Both species have small ears, and short muzzles and legs, all of which release less heat.  During the short summers on the tundra, they bury food in shallow holes and put on fat, both tactics that help sustain them through brutal winters.  They have dense, white fur in winter, which camouflages them so they can better ambush prey animals on the shelter-less tundra.  They both hunt day and night, the year around.  And they are opportunistic feeders, ingesting rodents, carrion, nesting birds, birds' eggs and other edibles, when available....

     Lake Onalaska is backwater off the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.  There thousands of water-loving birds of several kinds gather on its mud flats and shallows every October and November, before the lake freezers shut, wall to wall.  And those critters can be seen 24/7 by a live camera and a computer screen.        Some of the more common, post-breeding species of birds on Onalaska in fall are flocks of Canada geese, tundra swans, a variety of dabbling ducks, including mallards, northern pintails, American wigeons, gadwalls, northern shovelers and green-winged teal.  All these birds rest on the flats and "tip-up" to scrape aquatic vegetation with their shovel-like beaks from the muddy bottoms of the shallows.  The longer-necked geese and swans reach deeper for plants, thus reducing competition with the ducks for that food.        Thousands each of post-breeding ring-billed gulls and Franklin's gull...

     November is THEE month to see dabbling ducks, geese and tundra swans in large numbers on the shallows of freshwater marshes, ponds and lakes across North America.  There they "tip-up" in the shallows to ingest aquatic greens, roots and seeds from the water and their bottoms.        Years ago, in winter, I visited, in person, wildlife refuges in and near home in southeastern Pennsylvania, and mostly saw big numbers of Canada geese, snow geese and tundra swans there.  In recent winters, I visit wildlife refuges via a live camera at each refuge and our home computer screen.  And during November of 2024, I saw hordes of northern pintail ducks, snow geese and white-fronted geese at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge in Central California.  Masses of pintails and snow geese are the most populous waterfowl there in November.  In fact, I've seen more myriads of pintails in that 35,000-acre refuge this November than I ever saw bef...

     Late October into November in southeastern Pennsylvania has a special, wild feeling rather than the warm, easy feeling of summer and early fall.  The sun is now low in the southern sky all day and daylight each succeeding day continues to get shorter.  The sun now appears to be setting as early as 3:30 P.M.  The average temperature per day is lower and the air is crisp and fresh, unlike the uncomfortable humidity of summer and early fall.  All this is a dramatic change that indicates that winter is approaching.         From late October, into November, green evergreen trees slowly become more visible as curtains of innumerable, warm-colored deciduous leaves fall to the ground, reminding me of a snowfall.  It's fun to kick through multi-colored, leafy carpets of dead, fallen foliage on the ground.       Most conifers are planted in southeastern Pennsylvania, mostly on lawns, in parks and elsewhere....

     In the last few years, from early September to early November, I have been watching for a variety of migrating birds and insects from our back deck in New Holland, Pennsylvania.  Our deck is not a good place to look for fall migrants, but it is as good as any other spot in a lowland suburb.  Migrants could be anywhere, and they are exciting to see, wherever they may be.        I don't watch every day and I only look for migrants a couple of hours in the afternoons when I am on the deck.  But I've seen some interesting birds and insects during the limited times I'm "on duty".       I have seen a few each of bald eagles and ospreys migrating over our deck to the southwest, and a variety of hawks as well.  I have seen a few sharp-shinned hawks rocketing over, and a few merlins, all of which zipped by individually.  One of the merlins perched on top of our spruce tree, before continuing on.  Durin...

     Several years ago, we planted a pyracantha, or firethorn, bush and a beautyberry bush on our back lawn in New Holland, Pennsylvania.  But those shrubs never did as well as they could have because they were shaded by two large Norway spruce trees in a neighbor's yard.        However, in the summer of 2023, those two spruce trees were cut down and removed, allowing more sunlight to reach the ground, and those two shrubs.  During the spring and summer of 2024, that firethorn and the beautyberry grew larger, produced many more flowers, to the delight of certain tiny insects, and, of course, produced many more berries than ever before.  And by mid-September, the firethorn had multitudes of striking, bright-orange berries and the beautyberry had many more delightfully-lovely, light-purple ones.  All those berries in one spot were a joy to experience.       Nature everywhere is always dynamic, always changing, to t...

     In mid-October of this year, I visited an abandoned, overgrown meadow in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania farmland to enjoy the wild plants and animals flourishing there.  I had been in that same bottomland pasture early in September when several patches of five-foot tall ironweed plants sported thousands of hot-pink blooms and four-foot high Canada goldenrods had innumerable tiny, yellow blossoms.  Both those species of plants were nestled in patches of tall reed-canary grass.  And many bees, beautiful butterflies, digger wasps and other kinds of interesting insects visited ironweed and goldeneye flowers to sip nectar, pollinating those blooms in the process.        But in mid-October, only clumps of asters with small, white blossoms and patches of another kind of aster with lovely, pale-lavender flowers were blooming in abundance in that overgrown meadow.  Again, several species of insects, including pearl crescent butterf...