Oct 31, 2024
An odd series of hollow little clucks and rattles emanated from a patch of lichen-crusted rocks. Was there a friendly alien hiding nearby? Or maybe a Star Wars character that only Han Solo can understand? With short, jerking movements, the camouflaged chatterboxes revealed their identity: ptarmigans.
Oct 24, 2024
The wool of my favorite old rusty orange sweater felt warm and scratchy as I stuffed it into my backpack next to a jacket and camera. The low gray clouds hung onto their rain, but wind gusts flung water drops off the trees as I walked to my car. As soon as I turned onto the gravel road, though, I knew I’d made the...
Oct 17, 2024
Ever since I discovered how to read the glaciated landscape of Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, I’ve been fascinated by these massive forces of nature. Admiring them from afar, seeing them up close, paddling among icebergs, touching their ice…glaciers are even more amazing than I’d expected. This week I’ve been...
Oct 10, 2024
By Elliot Witscher with Emily Stone
In the bright sunlight and heat of the afternoon, the cool, fresh,
flowing water from a pipe in Prentice Park in Ashland, WI, was a
welcome treat. I wasn’t expecting to find a unique geological
feature in an unassuming city park. But walking down the hill from
the parking lot, we...
Oct 3, 2024
As our water taxi motored into the harbor, a gray-headed water
bird floated around the corner of a barnacle-crusted rock. A
Pacific Loon!
Having spotted one new species of loon, my interest in seeing the
others grew. The afternoon that I arrived at the Toolik Field
Station to prepare for doing caribou research, I took a...