Some of the fastest and most acrobatic little birds around are the nuthatches. One of those species is the small but feisty Red-Breasted Nuthatch. These tiny, bluish-gray birds have a very distinctive face with a black cap, black eye stripe and a bright white eyebrow stripe.
Last Wednesday, I was working on a tool shed at our cabin in the Yaak in northwestern Montana. The light was fading, and I was getting a bit tired, so I turned around and headed back toward the cabin, hammer still in hand. I froze.
After decades of working and playing on the ice, I have a healthy respect for it. One poor choice can put you in deep trouble. Literally.
Have you ever seen a wood frog? Wood frogs are not as familiar to most of us as the common bullfrogs and green frogs that we see near ponds and lakes, but wood frogs live throughout much of the Midwest and northeastern United States and most of Canada.
For many people, their offshore fishing experience begins and ends with the brief federal red snapper season during the summer. However, in Texas state waters, which extend out to nine nautical miles from shore, one can catch red snapper and many other species all year long.
Everyone is familiar with squirrels. In certain areas, gray squirrels are the most common. In other areas it is the larger fox squirrel. There is another squirrel that you might see, however, and it is jet black.
It is quiet, but it is not total silence. The steady hum of insects of the night buzz like an old television stuck on the static of dead air. The air is crisp and damp, and it smells like dead leaves and dirt.
When you’re offshore fishing, the horizon seems untouchable, the vast expanse gives an immediate sense of freedom. I didn’t know another place could duplicate that feeling, until seeing the Prairies of South Dakota.
Stan Murray believes in being active. He spent more than 40 years working in the banking business and nearly 30 years as an on field official for South Eastern Conference football.
Andy Johnson has been many things in his life. He’s a successful community banker in Northeast Mississippi. He is a husband. He is a proud father of two. But it’s safe to say that his mind often wanders to the rivers and streams of the American West.
