Water. A compound unique in all the Universe. Beautiful in any of its natural states. Humans crave the stuff. We drink it, bathe in it, swim in it, float on it, boat on it, ski and snowshoe on it. We want to live next to it. It makes up well more than half of every individual's mass.
When it comes to small, hyperactive birds, the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher is right up there near the top of the list. These tiny birds are smaller than a house wren, but larger than a hummingbird. They are a bluish-gray color on their backs and head, with a white belly and a bright white eye-ring around their eyes.
Dragonflies and damselflies are common sights along the shorelines of streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and other bodies of water. Most of them are very colorful and downright beautiful, and the Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly is no exception.
One of the common forest birds of the northeastern and north-central United States is the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. This beautiful bird is slightly smaller than an American robin, but larger than a house finch.
"That's a lot of money, John." Susan was telling me something I already knew. "It is. But I don't want to walk up to the South Rim, look over, and say 'I've been there.' I want to go down into it. And when will we ever get the chance to do this again?" I replied.
There is a tremendous number of different species of lizards living in the continental United States: more than 150 different species! Every state except Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island has populations of native lizards.
One of the more distinctive-looking songbirds in the USA is the tiny common yellowthroat. These beautiful little birds are slightly smaller than a sparrow, and the males are quite colorful. Male common yellowthroats have olive-colored wings, tail and back.
The bluegill is one of the most popular species of fish in the Midwest, if not the entire country. Bluegills are part of the sunfish family, and they are often called panfish. This is because they have a relatively tall, flat-sided shape and they fit well in a frying pan when it is time to cook them for dinner!
There are many birds that spend most of their time in and around water, and the double-crested cormorant is certainly one of them. These birds are expert swimmers and they catch a wide variety of fish to eat. In fact, small fish are their favorite food and fish make up about 99% of their diet.
Southwest Maine offers paddlers all kinds of lakes and ponds in which to wet a line, with outstanding warmwater fisheries for both smallmouth and largemouth bass. The two species often live in the same lake (or pond, or river).
Summer will soon come to an end, and one of the things I will miss is the butterfly garden in our back yard. It’s a small garden planted around a trellis and garden bench, and it attracts beautiful butterflies of all kinds from April through the end of September.
One of the harbingers of spring is the return of the red-winged blackbirds. A much less common spring sighting, at least east of the Mississippi River, is the yellow-headed blackbird. In fact because they’re so uncommon, they’re listed as a species of special concern in Wisconsin.
