How animals survive the winter

white-tail deer at the bird feeders

Humans often hole themselves up in their houses to survive the winter in front of the fire with hot chocolate. However, animals have to survive the frigid chill outside in the elements, and they have different ways of dealing with the change in seasons. Let’s take a quick look at how these Iowa animals survive. Read More »

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Spring and winter coloring page

colored winter scene

When you sit down to color a picture, it’s usually pretty obvious what you’re coloring. What’s fun about folding pictures is that you have to finish it before you can see exactly what you’ve done. As we transition from winter into spring, we thought it would be timely to create a folding picture that encompasses Read More »

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How honeybees survive the winter

bee box

The numbers of bees in the indoor beehive have gone down. But that’s pretty normal this time of year. It just means that our bees have entered winter mode and are getting ready to survive cold weather. Baby, it’s cold outside. As the weather cools down, a honeybee hive starts to change. One of the Read More »

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Grackles, blackbirds and starlings don’t like safflower

nuthatch at a nut feeder

Dark-eyed junco Dark-eyed juncos have made their way to northwest Iowa to overwinter. Black-capped chickadees are flocking to feeders. White-breasted nuthatches are looking for nuts to get fat and ready for the cold. Food is a constant necessity for birds to survive through Iowa winters. Their feathers are wonderful insulators, but the food is what Read More »

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Frogs are the real living dead

leopard frog

The title “living dead” is very Halloween-appropriate. And that’s exactly what northern leopard frogs are in the wintertime. Photo by Eva Brown Northern leopard frogs are native to northwest Iowa and are aquatic creatures, meaning they live in the water. Like American bullfrogs, which are not native to northern Iowa, northern leopard frogs will hibernate Read More »

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Top 10 winter activities in our county parks

deer hoof print in the snow

We live in Iowa because we like seasons. If we didn’t like seeing leaves bud in the spring and fall in autumn, if we didn’t like to see snowflakes dust the ground, if we didn’t like to a warm fire outside on a cool evening, we would all live in the tropics. This winter has Read More »

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