One reads “Monday morning. You have been good to me—and I know it this morning when everyone is in their fine clothes. E.” The other is scrawled across the front of the image and continues onto the split-sided back: “Dear Mother, So pleased to get yours this A.M. Have so much to tell you and …
Images of melting polar ice caps, rampaging forest fires in Siberia, and sweltering Europeans coping with a recent record heat wave crowd the TV news and social media feeds over this scorching July and early August. Another set of victims, millions of them, are suffering without any video footage. But we know from emerging scientific …
Local Nature: Insect Armageddon-Part I (Ground Beetle) Read More »
The first days of summer herald the flowering of one of the most exotic-looking plants in the world. It is a thin, fragile vine with quarter-sized chartreuse blossoms popping out along its stems that uses curlycue tendrils to climb over other plants. A novice botanist might mistake it as an escapee from a Panamanian or …
Looking down, the crow spied a skink. It swooped from its branch in a blink. The bird grabbed the skink’s tail Forcing the lizard to bail And leave the crow a wriggling link. There is much to be admired about a fellow vertebrate as elegant as the blue-tailed skink. Or as crafty. In the Looks …
The signs of spring are everywhere for avid naturalists: the opening of mysterious purple and yellow pawpaw flowers; the voluptuous leaves of skunk cabbage emerging from the damp soil; the lusty singing of spring peepers from the vernal pools and ponds; wood ducks on the canal, male and female pairing up for nesting season. But …
Local Nature: Spring Comes Wrapped in a Mourning Cloak…or a White Petticoat Read More »
“A Good Place To Either Get Blessed or Cussed” In February, 140 residents came together for Cabin John’s Inaugural Trivia Night in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Cabin John Citizens Association. One hundred years ago, the entire population of Cabin John was not much larger than the number of residents that filled the …
Local History: 100th Anniversary of Cabin John Citizens Association Read More »
At first glance, the diminutive Winter Wren is nothing to write home about. A plump lump of a bird covered in dull dark brown, barred plumage, this winter visitor is one of our smallest North American bird species. And then there is that rather silly-looking short tail, often held in the upright position, as if …
When the weather forecast warns of a looming polar vortex, my first concern as a naturalist is: How will our overwintering songbirds survive this extreme event? We, like our neighbors, heed the public service advisories to keep our two dogs inside. But there is no precautionary measure for the birds that live outdoors 24/7. And …
Most of the birds that stick around Cabin John in winter have the dullest of plumage. Among the exceptions, there is of course the bold bon vivant, the Northern cardinal, decked out in vivid scarlet feathers. But a real treat is to see a gang of Eastern bluebirds flitting through the woods or along a …