What animal ambassador are you?

[wp_quiz id=”6319″] Are You Smarter Than a Naturalist? By kiley | April 13, 2020 Personality quiz: Which pollinator are you? By kiley | June 10, 2019 Earth Day trivia quiz By kiley | April 24, 2018 What animal ambassador are you? By kiley | February 26, 2018

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The majestic monarch’s magnificent life cycle

monarch butterfly hanging from its chrysalis

A few more weeks and the monarch butterflies that are overwintering in Mexico will start making their way north. Once coming out of hibernation, a female monarch will find a male with which to reproduce. Around the Texas/Mexico border, the female monarch will find milkweed plants on which to lay her eggs. She can lay Read More »

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Are snowflakes all unique?

Did you know? One cubic foot of snow can contain 1 billion crystals.

We’re in the middle of a blizzard in northwest Iowa. Look outside, and the white stuff looks like a blanket, like it’s all just one mass. But it’s not. In each cubic foot — that’s a box that is 1 foot on each side — there could be as many as 1 billion snowflakes. Use Read More »

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My Giving Tree craft

thankfulness tree

Crafts don’t always come together the way you think they will. I had a brilliant idea this morning to make place cards with leaf etchings on them, and I tried it out. Yikes. Ugly. If you come up with something pretty with that idea, let me know. So instead, I decided to post how to Read More »

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Osprey Diary: Koi fish make blustery days taste sweeter

osprey sitting on the nest

It’s so cold. I’ve overheard the crazy birds that live here in Kenue Park year-round call us that fly south for the winter snowbirds. In reality, I think that they’re the snowbirds. They actually live here when it gets below freezing and the snow flies. I’ve only seen snow a few times when it has flurried Read More »

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Make your own backyard birding binoculars

goldfinch

Birding is such a popular hobby because everyone can do it. Whether you are backyard birding, taking a hike or even boating, you can always catalogue the birds that you see. The he Dickinson County Nature Center features nests of some of the most common birds you might see right outside your window. (Grackles, blackbirds Read More »

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