Turn your garden into a hummingbird hotspot, a haven for butterflies, and a thriving ecosystem. This family-friendly guide is my most personal book yet, sharing the wildlife gardening knowledge that Jeff and I have gained over the years. (more…)

There was a TED talk recently about vultures.  I think educators might be interested in seeing it for their own background research. It’s only a little over six minutes long.  You’ll want to look it over first before deciding whether it is appropriate for your elementary school students. The humor at the beginning would probably raise more sidetracking questions than it would actual vulture inquiry. So take a look and perhaps start two minutes twenty seconds in (2:20). Because the rest of it is good stuff for older elementary, middle school, and high school. There are quite a few carcasses involved and it is frank in environmental threats to vultures worldwide.

I had the pleasure of visiting Pioneer Elementary in March. Wow, the art teacher was a burst of creativity, working on such incredible projects with the kids. Many other teachers were doing amazing work, as well. See some of it below! Click on each photo to see it in greater detail. (more…)

This is one of my favorite animals. Here in northern Indiana, and in much of the U.S., they call in Spring and made terrific spiral flights.  To see it calling, check out the site of  great wildlife recordist Lang Elliott:

http://www.musicofnature.org/home/test_youtube_embed/

Time for some desert animals. Jeff and I drove all the way to Phoenix so I could give talks at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. LOVE this place. Full of plants. Wild birds, butterflies, squirrels, and bunnies wander freely. These Gambell’s Quail strut around, then dash, dash, dash when startled.

Author/educator Shirley Duke’s Simply Science blog has a lovely review of Vulture View and some follow up activities.  Hooray!  Check the link here.

http://simplyscience.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/vulture-view/

Birds hop, too. Here are some Sandhill Cranes doing their hopping dance during their migration rest stop. This happens here in Indiana at Jasper-Pulaski.

There’s a blue one, a green one, and this one. The two parts of its common name rhyme. I photographed this bird in Yellowstone. It stashes pine nuts. Sometimes finds food from careless campers. It is in the Corvidae (crow) family. Still stumped? Find its identity here.

What is this creature scratching an itch? This animal can hold 3 gallons of water in its mouth.  I photographed it in Monterey, CA, on the docks before I took a whale watch trip. Click photo for answer.