Nature

Bird surveys in my backyard. I look forward to doing them every morning when I wake up. What species will I get today?

Whenever you walk out your door into your yard, alley, or front stoop you will likely see them: little brown birds in raucous groups of up to 200 individuals. Many see them as pests and because they are small, brown, nondescript, and everywhere they are often overlooked. They are House Sparrows (Passer domesticus).

The Lakota call it the tree of life, due to the star, and use its branches in their Sun Dance ceremony. Dakota Native Americans tell a story of a little star who wanted to hear the sounds and songs of humans and hid in the cottonwood so as not to disturb the people as they worked.

A La Niña event typically lasts from 9 to 12 months, and occurs roughly once every three to five years, often following its counterpart, El Niño. Both events influence weather throughout North America and beyond, though these changes manifest in different ways throughout various regions.

What began as a hike to enjoy an early autumn afternoon transformed into a mission to sow and grow a stand of Pinus ponderosa from seed. I had become enthralled by this possibility as I traversed miles of trails shaded by canopies of pine in Missoula’s Rattlesnake Valley.

When air warms unevenly near the surface of the earth, it rises in giant bubbles toward colder layers in the atmosphere. Some birds seek out these rising masses of air, riding them like elevators while looking for prey.

On a warmish day the first spring we were here, I was out walking the dogs and as I passed the birch my eye was caught by the reddish-orange forewing band of dozens of red admiral butterflies lined up along a seam running down the side of the trunk.

We gripped the ice-covered railings of the large pool and submerged ourselves in the warm, welcome embrace of the 110° mineral-rich water. The cold air over the hot pools was thick with fog. Before the warm water lulled us into a floating slumber, we jumped out into the ice-cold air, our bodies steaming, to freeze a little before returning to the comfort of the pool.

Smaller than a beaver, bigger than the common rat, these curious rodents are actually aquatic voles.

"Soil creep" is the gradual movement of the substrate downhill over time. It’s a slow process, but all the soil on a slope is moving. Importantly for trees, the soil moves more quickly on the surface than deeper down.