Tag Archive | Habitat
What Happens to Birds When a Tornado Strikes?
About 1,200 tornadoes slam the U.S. yearly. These tempestuous storms flatten homes, schools, and businesses, toss trucks, and hurl cars. People seek shelter to survive the ferocious and destructive winds, but what do birds do to live through tornados? We do not really know. Birds’ keen sense of hearing detects the hum of a tornado […]
Saving Wild Orchids
Out in eastern Long Island, New York, one summer’s day a colleague and I visited a bog surrounded by dunes to determine the health of the habitat. As we approached the area we noticed pinkish/purple flowers growing throughout the bog amongst bulrushes, sedges and wild grasses. At the fen, we discovered the flowers were part […]
A Wetland Violet
Walking through the red maple/black gum freshwater wetlands along the Connetquot River in New York, I see small blue-violet plants on moss hummocks, on the exposed root balls from blown over trees and along the edges of creeks and small streams. As I bend down to get a closer look, I see hairless heart-shaped leaves […]
World’s Largest Antelopes
Two species of eland hold this record; the giant eland is the largest and the common eland is the second largest antelope. (An antelope is an even-toed hoofed animal of Africa and Eurasia where there are about 25 species.) Eland prefer open forest and savanna habitats where they eat foliage and grasses. This antelope is […]