On a dark and dismal day in late September, I cheered myself up by remembering some pleasing observations in recent weeks: • On the dike… Continue reading
“I’m so tired.” I had no idea how to reply. As a basketball coach you tell players to push through. As a high school teacher… Continue reading
People often think of fungi as dietary items or as agents of rot and decay. Fair enough, but those are only two small windows into… Continue reading
Their staccato voices can make a muskeg bog as loud as a city street, though most are so small they could sit in a coffee… Continue reading
In late August I went on a day cruise to Tracy Arm. The weather was good for observing: gray, overcast skies to reduce the glare… Continue reading
On a gray morning in early September, with no cruise ships in town(!), I wandered up Basin Road and the first part of the Perseverance… Continue reading
On a recent river trip in northern Alaska, scientists from the University of Alaska Museum of the North found a lost world, a time of… Continue reading
I haven’t seen much bird activity along my mid-August trails recently, but here at home there is always something going on. The suet block, seed… Continue reading
This essay was launched by reading an almost unintelligible (to me) scientific paper about chiton eyes. Nevertheless, that paper led to others, and here I… Continue reading
LACK RAPIDS OF THE DELTA RIVER — If we climb high enough above this tumble of gray water, we can see a wedge of blue-white… Continue reading
Mid-August and the berry crops of wild currants are ripe. The stink currant (reportedly so-called for the smell of crushed leaves) sometimes bears large crops… Continue reading
In June of 1867 — a few months before Alaska would become part of the United States with the transfer of $7.2 million to Russia… Continue reading
I hadn’t been over there for several years, and it was time to refresh some old memories of forest walks and boat or kayak trips… Continue reading
Now as quiet as wind whispering through grass, a plateau rising from the flats of northern Alaska was for thousands of years a lookout for… Continue reading
Light rain fell as I left the Valley but, as usual, it fell more heavily as I neared the downtown area. Fog lay thick over… Continue reading
There are more than 20,000 species of ants, including such noticables as picnic ants, sidewalk ants, carpenter ants, and so on. Less noted by most… Continue reading
Most organisms have one of two basic, genetically programmed life histories. Some can (potentially) reproduce several times during their lives; they are said to be… Continue reading
Cow parsnip is known in our field guides as Heracleum lanatum, although it sometimes has other names. The flowers are typically displayed in big, flattish… Continue reading
I recently learned about a mysterious, relatively rare affliction of plants called “fasciation.” A fireweed plant at the Point Bridget trailhead had not developed the… Continue reading
The spring and summer flower show at Cowee Meadows (way out on the Point Bridget Trail) is always a treat, and the broad uplift meadows… Continue reading
