Recent long-term studies revealed a three-quarters reduction of insects in parts of Germany and an 80 percent decline of pollinating flies at a field site… Continue reading
Most birds build some sort of nest where the eggs are incubated. In many species, the female does that job, and in many others both… Continue reading
Mid-June, and a few days ago we saw a wood duck with two tiny chicks on Moose Lake. Another female with two fluffy ones came… Continue reading
Spring temperatures were cool this year, but the lengthening days gave birds the signals they needed to start the baby business. By mid-May, a few… Continue reading
Egg-dumping refers to the behavior of a female who puts her eggs in another animal’s nest, leaving all other parental behavior to the host. Some… Continue reading
The sun came out! So it was a day for me and a friend to head to the Boy Scout Camp Trail, dodging rain puddles… Continue reading
I went on the Audubon cruise to Berners Bay in May, on a drizzly, breezy day. On the outbound trip, we enjoyed some of the… Continue reading
A parental duty of feeding the offspring can be very expensive in terms of energy expenditure and sometimes risks of predation. Many animals avoid that… Continue reading
Kevin White has placed his hands on the long, white fur of more than 400 Alaska mountain goats during the past 20 years. His diligence… Continue reading
These are some natural history tidbits about three of the several species I’ve enjoyed seeing this spring. Yellow-rumped warblers Usually the earliest warblers to arrive,… Continue reading
Two college students will soon be stuffing snow from the slopes of Alaska’s highest mountain into Nalgene bottles. Their goal is to see if that… Continue reading
A walk at Fish Creek was productive, as it usually is. The marine side of the point was full of ducks: widgeon, green-wing teal, mallards,… Continue reading
A spate of fine, sunny weather in mid-April was most welcome. Those clear skies, however, meant that the nights were still about crispy, and at… Continue reading
A bit of exploration of the rocky intertidal zone near Shaman Island yielded lots of big sea stars (mostly five-armed), little green sea urchins, and… Continue reading
POKER FLAT RESEARCH RANGE — Under a bluebird sky and perched above a resilient winter snowpack, two sounding rockets point upward, ready to blast through… Continue reading
Flowers influence their visitors in several ways. Visitors may be attracted by floral color, shape, or scents. Flowers offer rewards — nectar and pollen. But… Continue reading
Every late afternoon, a bunch of mallards is in the habit of coming to snack on fallen birdseed that accumulates on my ice-covered pond. And… Continue reading
To showcase our readers’ work to the widest possible audience, Wild Shots have been moved in front of the Juneau Empire’s paywall. Don’t have a… Continue reading
Spring comes, quite reliably, but sometimes reluctantly, by fits and starts. Every year we go through a process of counting the increasing hours of daylight,… Continue reading
In an orchestra, drums are a central feature of the percussion section, in which sounds are made by an object striking another one, creating aerial… Continue reading
