The crested auklet looks like a smiling clown that never blinks. It is probably the only seabird that smells like a tangerine. Its beak — the color of a tangerine — is so bright a scientist thinks it may be fluorescent. Hector Douglas is that scientist. He teaches at Grambling State University in the pine […]
The glorious paper birch outside the window that has for the past three weeks beamed a sunny glow is losing its luster, one golden coin at a time. The 10,000 solar panels the tree has worn since early spring are releasing their grip without a sound, and spiraling to the forest floor. In deciduous plants, […]
Here in middle Alaska north of Fairbanks, a trapper wearing a flannel shirt, leather gloves, and a bushy beard tromps through the forest. He spreads his arms wide to part wild rose bushes as he steps toward his traps. On this crisp, cool fall day in 2021, this trapper — who lives in Atlanta and […]
Our Labor Day canoe trip went a day long, and almost a boat short. With our daughter traveling with teammates for a high-school cross-country meet, my wife Kristen and I had a long weekend together. We chose to paddle our canoe down the Wild and Scenic River portion of the Delta River, which neither of […]