Some insects have the strangest, sci-fi-inspiring characteristics. On some dead trees in the Arb, you can sometimes see small but deep holes on the trunk. The holes can be caused by many insects, among...
(Mirror: Birding certainly is not my task. ‘Tis the binoculars whom you’d ask.)
If there are birds that perplex novices and experts alike, the warblers are sure to be among them. The complexity...
Violence, bloodshed, disease, horror and death. In the Arb, dangers lurk at every corner, and every day is a new struggle to survive, but not for humans. Unlike Arb residents, we as visitors can just...
If you take a walk around the Lyman Lakes or Cannon River these days, you can see many anglers. Indeed, with the nice weather and mosquitoes not out yet, fishing could be the most enjoyable activity in...
Northfield is in full color: blue phlox and false-rue anemone are in bloom, the wild plums are on display and hundreds of brightly-colored tropical birds are finding a temporary home in the Cowling Arboretum.
Warblers...
With temperatures rising and the sun (kind of) shining, it would seem that spring has finally sprung! With spring comes new life in many forms - wildflowers are blooming and trees around campus are finally...
As the wind picked up and chilly raindrops battered midterm-wearied faces, the student naturalists took shelter in a patch of conifers next to the McKnight Prairie. While idling beneath the safety of...
There are many “ologies” in the world that relate to living organisms. Entomology, ornithology, mammalogy; the list goes on. One lesser-known discipline is mycology: the study of fungi.
Fungi are...
I often walk down Highway 19 on my way to the Arb, and I always keep an eye out for a friend of mine — he’s a lovely blue-gray color and likes to stand in the water and rocks in the little Lyman Lakes...
Despite the unexpected snow this last week, spring is still on its way! Many forest wildflowers in the Arb have adaptations to deal with these kinds of weather disruptions and are thus able to start blooming...
On our weekly Arb walk this Friday, the Naturalists spotted the body of an opossum (Didelphis virginiana) near the entrance of the Lower Arb. Commonly known as Virginia Opossum, these critters are about...
Ubiquitous, overlooked and implicated in superstition, the American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) might be Northfield’s most fascinating organism.
American Crows range across the wildest and most...
