Animal Curiosity

Small, croaking chirps emanated from a tidy pile of mounded vegetation. A huge hulking dinosaur raised its bony skull to investigate and plodded to the mound. With a careful nudge, the dinosaur, a Maiasaura, uncovered her hatchlings with her wide duckbill-like nose. The chirps grew louder and louder as the first hatchling’s brothers and sisters emerged as well. What once were 30 large eggs had become a group of hungry dinosaurs imploring their mother for a meal.

5/4/14 & 5/5/14: This week on "Fieldnotes:" "Of Driftwood and Journeys," by Anna McNairy.

4/27/14 & 4/28/14: This week on "Fieldnotes:"Watermelon Snow," by Boo Curry.

4/20/14 & 4/21/14: This week on "Fieldnotes:" "Horsetails," written by Kim Todd, read by Caroline Kurtz.

4/14/14: This week on "Fieldnotes:" "Dirt," by Deborah Tanner.

4/6/14 & 4/7/14: This week on "Fieldnotes:" "Chickadee Songs," by Archie McMillan.

"Pretty Shield, a medicine woman born to the Crow Nation 160 years ago, heard the bird saying, 'Summer's near, summer's near!' She taught that the bird has a single tongue in the fall, and then, as the seasons progress, more tongues each month until spring, when it has seven...

3/30/14 and 3/31/14: This week on "Fieldnotes:" "Mammal Insulation," by Carol Alette.

3/23/14  &  3/24/14: This week on "Fieldnotes:" "Canada Thistle," by Heather Sarantis.

Migration is one of the many adaptations used by birds and other animals to cope with the cold temperatures and scarcity of food that winter can bring. As scientists and naturalists we are interested not only in where birds go in the winter, but in how we know where birds go in search of more hospitable conditions. Traditionally, scientists captured, tagged and released individual birds and hoped that someone, somewhere, would find this bird and report its whereabouts.

3/9/14 and 3/10/14: This week on "Fieldnotes:" "Bird Social Behavior," by Mark Hanson.

"Except when mating and nesting, Bohemian and Cedar waxwings are simply highly social birds. They seek food and water supplies large enough for the entire flock. Even more remarkably, they will sometimes pass berries from bird to bird down a line until a berry is finally swallowed. They not only eat together, but they may also become intoxicated together, indulging their tendency to gorge themselves on overripe berries."

"Fieldnotes," March 2nd & 3rd, 2014: “Moose in Montana," by Matt Hannon. http://www.montananaturalist.org/

"Fieldnotes," February 23rd & 24th, 2014: "Mule Deer Scent Behavior," by Beverly Dupree. http://www.montananaturalist.org/

"It would be easy to assume, looking at those ears, that the mule deer's most important sense is hearing. But then I noticed a curious behavior that led me to the conclusion that mule deer depend just as much on smell as on hearing.

"Fieldnotes," February 16th & 17th, 2014: "Chinook Winds," by Stephanie Gripne & Caroline Kurtz. http://www.montananaturalist.org/

"Fieldnotes," February 9th & 10th, 2014: "Owl Afternoon," by Caroline Kurtz. http://www.montananaturalist.org/