An Ozark Naturalist

They say that familiarity breeds contempt and when it comes to Dickcissels, I’m afraid that’s the case for me. If you’re in the appropriate habitat at the right time of the year, they’re all over the place, singing out in the open and generally not shy or flighty. I have so many Dickcissel photos that I […]

Swallow-tailed Kites are residents of South America, but each summer a part of the population comes north to breed. They nest in Florida, the Gulf Coast to Louisiana and the Atlantic to South Carolina; they’re considered vagrant throughout the rest of the United States east of the Rockies.

Last August, one showed up at Duck Creek Conservation […]

Everyone is familiar with House Sparrows, right? Even non-birds must be aware of them since the pestiferous little bastards are everywhere.

North America’s first encounter with this species took place in Brooklyn in the early 1850s. A number of birds were released in the hope that they would stop an outbreak of linden moth caterpillars. But intentionally […]

One evening in early February, I filled the bird feeders one last time before the day faded into darkness. Cold gripped the Ozarks and the birds would appreciate the easy calories. On a lark, I sat in the truck, using it for a blind to wait for my customers to return. As the minutes passed, snow […]