Well, this is embarrassing. My last blog post was on August 14: bees hard at work in the blazing sun. Now it’s Thanksgiving. The trees are mostly bare, the ground is mostly covered with leaves. Chilly winds whip dark clouds across the sky, easing from time to time to let woodsmoke tickle the nose. Life is full of turkey anticipation, apple cider wishes, and pumpkin-spice everything. I have just one question:
Where the heck did Summer go?
A melody drifts over the meadows, to the accompaniment of cicadas and crickets and birdsong. The tune is deep purple and golden, and it calls to the small creatures of the air with a silken voice: “Come to me! Feed on my rich nectar while you may!” The little aerialists are happy to oblige, raising their voices in sweet harmony to the music of the wildflowers until all the world is ablaze with the Song of September.
It was a dark and steamy morning…The clouds offered conflicting gifts. Limited light made photography a challenge. On the other hand, with dew points in the 70s, the absence of the blazing sun was a relief. There was a dense layer of mist hovering over the surface of the creek, and the woods were cool. But my destination this morning was the meadows where patches of milkweed could be found. Continue reading
BUZZ BIXBY: Good Morning and Happy Harvest to you! 
Welcome to Critter Radio’s broadcast of the 73rd Annual Harvest Festival Pollinator Parade, right here on 99.9 KRTR!
I’m Buzz Bixby…
CECILY SWALLOWTAIL: … and I’m Cecily Swallowtail…
BUZZ BIXBY: …and we’re your hosts for this wonderful panorama of floats, performers, balloons and marching bands, all celebrating pollinating insects and their buggy friends. It’s a beautiful day for a parade… Continue reading
WANTED: Eastern Moose, Alces alces americana
Place: Adirondack Mountains, New York
Time: Early July
Dossier: Standing 5 to 6 ½ feet tall at the shoulder and weighing 600 to 1500 pounds, the Eastern Moose can be identified by its large, bulbous nose, heavy body, long spindly legs, and the enormously broad, flat antlers worn by the male of the species.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Join an elite team of Expeditionary Agents to track down this ungainly critter, isolate it, and shoot it. With a camera.
This will be no walk in the park. Despite its size, the Moose is not easily seen. Previous searches at Upper Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake, Bog River Falls, Simon Pond and Pitchoff Mountain have failed to produce moose. Where to next? The fate of the expedition lies in your hands.
Choose wisely.
Well, hel-loooo to all you birds, bugs and beasties out there in Critter Land. You’re tuned to KRTR 99.9 FM, Critter Radio. I’m Opal White, that’s right, white hot and bright. So glad you could join me tonight for the Guest Request Fest.
Yes, boys and gulls, it’s time for you loyal listeners to let us know what you want to hear. Don’t wait, don’t hesitate! Call, text or tweet now with your requests. Miss Opal will make all your dreams take flight, that’s right.
We’ll start right in on the ground floor, shall we? Master Grasshopper brings our first entreaty of the hour: “Kung Fu Fighting”.
The butterfly brigade chimes in with this weighty wish from slim Ms. Tiger Swallowtail. She’s an edgy sort of dame, that’s right. Her fave tune? “Edge of Seventeen”.
For a Red-spotted Purple, what could be more appropriate than “Blue On Black”? How apt.
Well, what have we here – a twin tweet! A pair of lookalikes indeed, the Monarch…
… and the Viceroy.
Monarchs taste bad, Viceroys don’t, but most butterfly gourmets will shun both. Viceroys are big copycats, and more than once that has saved their silly little – oh, excuse me, family show, that’s right.
Let’s get back to their song, “Me and My Shadow”, shall we?
Is that the phone ringing? Yes, I think it is. And who have we here? Why it’s the Rev. Green Frog, he of the roly-poly peepers. What dark secrets have been confessed to the good preacher?
He wants to hear “Your Lying Eyes”.
On the other side of town, someone is lonely tonight. Jeremiah Bullfrog feels he’s lost his only friend. Here’s a little ditty for his melancholy blues as he contemplates the vastness of the pond – “It’s Not Easy Being Green”.
Miss Opal could cheer up this sprite, that’s right.
Mr. Pondhawk has a request…
…and wait, we’ve got Mrs. Pondhawk on the other line. What a lovely couple – they’ve both asked for that romantic oldie, “I Got You Babe”.
We have time for one more rhythmic requisition, and it comes tonight from a croaker immersed in self reflection. “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You”, how true!
Oh, my, my, Miss Opal hears her theme song; it’s always too soon to leave you. Another splendiferous edition of the musical petition, the Guest Request Fest, has come to a close.
Until next time, I’m Opal White, that’s right, white hot and bright, and this is KRTR 99.9 FM, Critter Radio. I bid you farewell with Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, like me, doing it “My Way”.
“Egrets, I’ve had a few…”
Skipper butterfly, John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, PA
Wild rice, Heinz NWR
Osprey, Heinz NWR
Cabbage white butterflies, Heinz NWR
Queen Anne’s lace, Heinz NWR
Red-eyed Vireo, Heinz NWR
Zebra swallowtail, Elk Neck State Park, MD
Passion vine flower, Bartram’s Garden, PA
Skipper butterfly, Heinz NWR
Great Blue Heron, Heinz NWR
Black swallowtail, Heinz NWR
Great Egrets, Heinz NWR
Skyline and marsh view, Heinz NWR
Blue dasher dragonfly, Heinz NWR
No cathedral built by man could match the majesty of this forest sanctuary.
Rugged russet trunks rise straight and true to the arched ceiling of deep verdant green.
All is hushed but for the small rustlings of squirrel and chipmunk congregants below, and the whisperings of the wind in the pines that tower above.
The floor is laid, not with stone, but lush ferns and wildflowers. Where some old giant has fallen, light streams through the canopy as through stained glass. Porcupines, pine martens and bears have all walked the aisles of this forest older than time.
The air is still, the mood solemn, the spirit mysterious, eerie, primeval.
Once upon a time, pine forests covered 10 million acres of the North Country. Now only small remnants remain. This 49 acre old growth white pine forest endures at Hartwick Pines State Park in Michigan.
The pines here are thought to be over 300 years old, stand 120 feet or more, and may reach four feet in diameter at breast height. Eastern hemlocks and red pines attend these kings. Below them is a shaded understory so dark, it seems eternally twilight.
At the edges, where maples and beeches mingle with the pines, rests a small chapel.
A church within a church.
Quaint and cozy, yet somehow superfluous.
Are not the pines themselves enough to inspire reverence in such a setting?
Must people seek the Creator within walls while all of Creation stands without?
Step from the forest cathedral, and other mysteries beckon the soul.
This dirt road, for instance.
Don’t you want to know what’s around the next bend?
Let’s see what we can find.
The Au Sable River meanders its way through wetlands and woods, singing a soft hymn as it goes.
Two very different dragonflies share a pew.
A Northern Crescent butterfly preaches from a sunflower lectern.
A choir of brightly cloaked angels.
Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!
Glory Lake reflects the glory of northern Michigan in the colors of azure sky, cobalt water, and emerald pines. At the top of a tall tree nearby perches an Osprey, looking for prey.
Glory Lake, and its sister, Bright Lake, are kettle ponds formed during Michigan’s glacier period. Ice blocks that broke off from the glaciers formed depressions that filled with water after the glaciers retreated.
A trail leads from the ponds into a diverse woodland.
Besides the aspen at left, there are white, red and jack pines.
Spruce, hemlock, and cedar.
Beech, maple and oak trees.
Shrubs, ferns, wildflowers, and a potpourri of plants are also abundant.
It’s a botanist’s dream.
Behold! – Lycopodium!
These are club mosses, but don’t be fooled by that name. They are not true mosses at all, but vascular plants.
Like teeny tiny Christmas trees a few inches high, they bring joy to those who spot them.
These little plants are much favored by the true of heart.
At trail’s end, a quiet spot for contemplation. From towering pine trees to miniscule club mosses, ferocious dragonflies to gentle butterflies, the mysteries of the land inspire reverence and wonder.
May Nature’s blessings be with you all. Go in peace.
Good evening, critters! This is KRTR 99.9 FM Critter Radio!
I’m Thrasher Locke, the top jock on the avian block. Welcome to the Five O’clock Flock Rock, where we take stock every Thursday of the tunes that make our listeners swoon. Now that spring has finally sprung, our intrepid band of roving reporters is roaming the Refuge, rounding up requests from right and left.
Well, waddya know?
A request is coming through my Egret tech’s earpiece right now!
Let’s get this party started, shall we?
And here’s the perfect party-starter, requested by a hearty Blue-gray Gnatcatcher smartly darting from branch to branch: “Jump! (For My Love)”.
All day long the Downy Woodpecker has been a-hammerin’ and a-drillin’ on the job. Now that the whistle’s blown, it’s time to blow off steam with “If I Had A Hammer”.
Red-winged Blackbirds have always been smart-alecky showoffs, posturing and preening in the tree tops. What would this puffed up poser admiring his reflection at the pond’s perimeter suggest but “I’m Too Sexy”?
Dinnertime is nigh, and for an Osprey on the sly, fish are no small fry. Time to fly high in the deep blue sky to “Take A Look Around”.
There’s a controversial newcomer in the Tinicum Marsh. He claims to be a new subspecies of Yellow Warbler. The locals say he’s full of hot air. Scolding songbirds suppose that “Rubber Duckie” will set him straight.
Horned Grebes are groovy dudes. This bohemian bird by the boardwalk can’t bear the bickering and believes “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” will smooth some ruffled feathers.
Butterflies are similarly sensitive, the gentle peacemakers of meadows and woods.
This Spring Azure means to maintain the mellow mood with “Blue Velvet”.
Back on the lake, it’s make or break for a Wood Duck drake with romance on his mind. “I Only Have Eyes For You” is the song of choice to woo his lady love. Surely this champion charmer will sweep her off her webbed feet.
No such luck! This lady duck has too much pluck to be stuck with sappy love songs. She just wants to dance! Cue up “Shake Your Groove Thing” for this disco mama!
The feathered flock has the final word as the Five O’clock Flock Rock comes to a close. As the swallows knock their socks off to “Rock Around The Clock”, we’ll shimmy off into the shadows. Never fear, our roving reporters will be here, out and about next Thursday to see who’s rockin’ at the Refuge! I’m Thrasher Locke the avian jock here on KRTR 99.9 FM, Critter Radio, keeping it funky and keeping it wild!
The Wild Edge 