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What’s This? No. 27

Animal, mineral or extra-terrestrial? Here’s your next What’s This? nature challenge.

What’s This? No. 26

My latest What’s This? nature challenge showed up Sunday, January 31, near the summit of Mt. Worcester here in Vermont’s Green Mountains. Name it and be eligible to win, uh, well, not quite as much as Powerball.

Grand Canyon Gratitude

Ruth and I had a blast during our “Naked in the Canyon” presentation in Montpelier Friday night. In case you missed it, here’s a short slide show with a fraction of what we shared during our evening together.

“Naked in the Canyon” This Friday in Montpelier

Ruth Einstein and I will bare all (almost) this Friday during tales of rock and river, of wildlife and wild walking in Grand Canyon National Park.

What’s This? No. 25

Ending yet another all-too-long hiatus, my What’s This? nature challenge is back. Name it and be eligible to win $5 off any of my nature outings or workshops.

“Mexicans” Across the Border

Here along the Rio Grande, wildlife knows no international borders. Here’s a damselfly, a butterfly and a bird with Mexican roots (and namesakes).

Life in Flight in the Rio Grande Valley

A sampling of life on the wing here in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Many of these butterflies, in profile, are no bigger than a nickle or so (but they are indeed priceless).

Messing with Texas

A bit of price-comparison shopping — a gallon of gas and a gallon of water — from just north of the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas on 2 January 2016. I report; you decide.

The Year in Flight

2015 is so almost over. It’s nearly history. So rather than offering you the predictable year-in-review, here’s 2016 in Preview — some of the life in flight that I expect to see in the new year. You might see it as well if you join me outside for a field trip or a seminar.

A Wren and a Revelation (and a Threaded Pipe)

From the canyon came a wren during the Gila River Christmas Bird count. But not just any wren. This is the wren of vertical walls, the wren of rocky dreams, the wren with a cascading serenade, here at my cabin in New Mexico.

Kinglet’s Greetings

A flash of red and green from New Mexico. Even on the shortest days of the year, male Ruby-crowned Kinglets now flash as they do during the breeding season. It’s as if flames were erupting from their head. My guess is that it’s about winter feeding turf.

Forest Gleanings: Fall Foliage in the Desert

Fall foliage and other stuff I picked up and photographed here in southwestern New Mexico. Might I get a little crowd-sourcing on this? I’m basically clueless on western botany, in large part owing to the time I devote to chasing birds and insects out here (or because of all the time I spend staring into space).