Last week, while getting ready to climb into a bunk, I heard the yell of a raven outside. And then another, and a few more. I pulled on my boots. Outside, a steady stream of black bodies glided overhead, many of them swooping down to check me out. Their wings pushed the air in soft […]
CREAMER’S FIELD STATE MIGRATORY WATERFOWL REFUGE — Five scientists have padded their way on snowshoes into the middle of this frozen swamp in Fairbanks. They are here to measure the pillowy, perfect snowpack that has fallen here, flake by flake, since last October. Not far away, a dog musher yells “gee” to urge her lead […]
Things an Alaskan notices while standing on a road in Costa Rica: Trees are shaped like mint-green umbrellas rather than charcoal-green rocket ships. Flesh-colored flowers smell like warm honey as they fall with a plop from a tree to sticky pavement. A bird perched on a power line has turquoise eyebrows and a double tail […]
Lonely northern cliffs from which scientists have pulled the bones of Alaska dinosaurs also hold the fossilized remains of birds. Lauren Keller is studying the tiny specks of teeth and bones of birds that died more than 70 million years ago in what is now northern Alaska. Keller is a graduate student working with the […]